Monday, July 30, 2018

The Stolen Bicycle

Ming-Yi Wu
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Longlisted for the 2018 Man Booker International Prize

 A writer embarks on an epic quest in search of his missing father’s stolen bicycle and soon finds himself ensnared in the strangely intertwined stories of Lin Wang, the oldest elephant who ever lived, the soldiers who fought in the jungles of South-East Asia during World War II, and the secret world of butterfly handicraft makers in Taiwan. The result is both a majestic historical novel and an intimate meditation on memory, family and home. Wu’s writing has been compared to that of Margaret Atwood, Haruki Murakami, W.G. Sebald and Yann Martel.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

歐洲的心臟:德國如何改變自己

林育立
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資深駐德記者深入德國的肌理
從政治、能源政策與轉型正義三大面向
剖析統一後的德國如何在困境中擁抱改變
重返歐洲的中心 

二戰結束,戰敗的德國在美蘇兩大陣營的角力下一分為二,東、西德隔著柏林圍牆各自發展;直到一九八九年,受東歐民主化浪潮影響,柏林圍牆倒塌,一九九〇年,兩德正式統一。然而慶祝的氛圍尚未退去,在國內,德國要面對東、西德整併問題;國際上,因二戰時的種種罪行,德國仍需反省與尋求和解。統一後的德國會怎麼走,全世界都在看。

二十多年過去,繼受過往傲人文化與罪愆的德國,奮力擁抱改變、面對轉型:人口組成變得繽紛多元;原本破敗的前東德區成為最受歡迎的居住地點;率全球之先推動能源轉型,讓世界看見非核家園的實踐可能;直面過往之不義,認真處理納粹與東德時期對於人權的迫害……統一後的德國再次變得強大,不過不再以軍國主義的姿態,而是以自身的政治經濟實力、科技與產業創新以及人道關懷重返世界舞臺,成為驅使歐盟持續向前的心臟。

本書由駐德資深記者林育立歷經多年採訪而成,以冷靜而熱情的視角,講述的是一個遭遇各種極端困境卻始終勇於面對的國家,從廢墟中重建,重返榮耀的故事。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 23, 2018

City Squares: Eighteen Writers on the Spirit and Significance of Squares Around the World

by Catie Marron
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In this important collection, eighteen renowned writers, including David Remnick, Zadie Smith, Rebecca Skloot, Rory Stewart, and Adam Gopnik evoke the spirit and history of some of the world’s most recognized and significant city squares, accompanied by illustrations from equally distinguished photographers.

Over half of the world’s citizens now live in cities, and this number is rapidly growing. At the heart of these municipalities is the square—the defining urban public space since the dawn of democracy in Ancient Greece. Each square stands for a larger theme in history: cultural, geopolitical, anthropological, or architectural, and each of the eighteen luminary writers has contributed his or her own innate talent, prodigious research, and local knowledge.

Divided into three parts: Culture, Geopolitics, History, headlined by Michael Kimmelman, David Remnick, and George Packer, this significant anthology shows the city square in new light. Jehane Noujaim, award-winning filmmaker, takes the reader through her return to Tahrir Square during the 2011 protest; Rory Stewart, diplomat and author, chronicles a square in Kabul which has come and gone several times over five centuries; Ari Shavit describes the dramatic changes of central Tel Aviv’s Rabin Square; Rick Stengel, editor, author, and journalist, recounts the power of Mandela’s choice of the Grand Parade, Cape Town, a huge market square to speak to the world right after his release from twenty-seven years in prison; while award-winning journalist Gillian Tett explores the concept of the virtual square in the age of social media.

This collection is an important lesson in history, a portrait of the world we live in today, as well as an exercise in thinking about the future. Evocative and compelling, City Squares will change the way you walk through a city.

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

旅行是為了放大生命的極限 : 出走不是為了逃避現實, 而是想讓人生更加精采 (Vagabonding)

羅夫‧帕茲 (Rolf Potts)
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你的生命因為旅行而有無限可能

流浪旅行不是一種逃避,而是一場冒險和一份熱愛,能夠幫助你克服自身的恐懼,活出最豐富的人生。

流浪旅行 Vagabonding
詞性:名詞
(1)拋開遵行常規的世界,獨自出發旅行一段較長的時間。
(2)一種對個人特別有意義的旅行方式,強調的是創造力、冒險精神、覺察力、簡單化、發掘力、獨立、現實感、依靠自我,以及靈魂的成長。
(3)一種刻意為之的生活方式,讓人能夠隨時出發旅行。

為什麼我們需要流浪旅行?為什麼我們想要去流浪旅行?

這不是什麼流行趨勢,我們只是用一種少見的方式看待生活,不斷探索與學習、不斷面對恐懼與改變習慣、不斷開發所有人和地點的新魅力。

流浪旅行的意義在於抽離你的常規生活,離開六個禮拜、四個月,甚至是兩年,用你自己的方式去探索體驗這個世界。只要你擁有獨立自主的精神,隨時都能出發旅行,不是幾天的小旅遊,而是長時間體驗流浪的感覺。這本書提供你必要的資訊,例如:
  ◎旅行中的經濟來源
  ◎決定目的地
  ◎適應旅途中的生活
  ◎到海外工作或當義工
  ◎應付旅途中的不順利
  ◎重新適應普通生活

流浪旅行不只是一種旅行的形式,而是一種生活型態;一旦你選擇這樣的生活,旅行就不再是閒暇時的娛樂,而是你人生的一部分。

「作者將自己多年的旅行經驗彙整而成這本不同凡響的旅行指南,這不只是一本不限定目的地的旅行教學手冊,還蘊含啟發人心的哲思,作者運用他的機智、精闢見解和才華教你如何將人生活得像一趟冒險旅程。如果你曾經考慮過要休一段長假,這本書將開拓你的眼界。」──《全球郵報》

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


Monday, July 16, 2018

Home Fire: A Novel

Kamila Shamsie
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WINNER OF THE 2018 WOMEN'S PRIZE FOR FICTION

LONGLISTED FOR THE MAN BOOKER PRIZE

“Ingenious… Builds to one of the most memorable final scenes I’ve read in a novel this century.” —The New York Times

The suspenseful and heartbreaking story of an immigrant family driven to pit love against loyalty, with devastating consequences

Isma is free. After years of watching out for her younger siblings in the wake of their mother’s death, she’s accepted an invitation from a mentor in America that allows her to resume a dream long deferred. But she can’t stop worrying about Aneeka, her beautiful, headstrong sister back in London, or their brother, Parvaiz, who’s disappeared in pursuit of his own dream, to prove himself to the dark legacy of the jihadist father he never knew. When he resurfaces half a globe away, Isma’s worst fears are confirmed.

Then Eamonn enters the sisters’ lives. Son of a powerful political figure, he has his own birthright to live up to—or defy. Is he to be a chance at love? The means of Parvaiz’s salvation? Suddenly, two families’ fates are inextricably, devastatingly entwined, in this searing novel that asks: What sacrifices will we make in the name of love?

(Excerpt from amazon.com)

愛的進化論 (The Course of Love)

艾倫‧狄波頓 (Alain de Botton)
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◎一本誠實的愛情奮鬥史,探索長長久久的關係,以及背後的酸甜苦辣。狄波頓將試圖回答史上最難的兩性問題:愛了,然後呢?

愛,才不是什麼一頭栽進去的「熱情」,而是緩慢地、苦痛地學會的「生存技能」。

愛丁堡的拉畢與柯絲汀相愛了。他們結婚生子,但絕對不是那種「從此過著幸福快樂的生活」的簡單結局。然而所有的愛情故事,只會停在這裡,之後的彆扭、包尿布、外遇、婚姻諮詢,一概省略。

當愛情誕生,經歷一連串的驚喜與無聊之後,要如何保持浪漫的鮮度?在生存的壓力之下,愛的面貌會如何幻化(請注意:不是幻滅)?從哲學與心理學的細膩洞察,狄波頓告訴我們,浪漫主義總是幫倒忙,現實裡極少有任何事物能夠達到完美。度過人生需要極大的勇氣,即使再平庸的人生也不例外,這時身邊若有個人,是否就能給予我們足夠力量面對人生的種種要求?

等了20年的續集,繼全球2百萬暢銷《我談的那場戀愛》,艾倫‧狄波頓全新力作!當年的英倫才子,華麗轉身變人夫人父,一樣的犀利風趣,不一樣的人生體悟。

(摘錄自博客來網路書店)


由香港貿易發展局主辦的第 29 屆香港書展將於7月18至 24日於香港會議展覽中心舉行,年度主題為"愛情文學"