Reading/Shenzhen Business Daily Chief Reporter Liu Youyang Reporter Nie Can/Wen Hanmo/Tu
On the afternoon of November 12, the 22nd Shenzhen Reading Month "Top Ten Good Books of the Year" was unveiled at the Shenzhen Nanshan District Cultural Center. "The Academic Life of Qian Zhongshu", "The Three Capitals of The Three Capitals: The History of the Mongol Siege of Jin", "The Remnants and Courtiers of the Early Qing Dynasty", "The Mirror image of the Late Qing Dynasty Officialdom", "The Aura of the Wild Land: The Days I Lived in a Mental Hospital", "Technology and Civilization: Our Times and Future", "The Age of Sinking", "The Beauty of the Middle Ages", "The Vulgar Land", "From Márquez to Llosa: A Retrospective of the "Literary Explosion"" 10 good books on the list, of which "Mirror of the Late Qing Dynasty Officialdom" won the "Reader's Recommendation" award.
At the same time, the annual tribute unit was also unveiled, among which Yilin Publishing House was elected as the annual tribute publishing institution, Xu Jun, executive director and party secretary of Zhonghua Bookstore, was elected as the annual tribute publisher, Xu Hong, author of "Discovery and Reasoning: The End of archaeological chronicles", was elected as the annual tribute author, and Ye Tingfang, professor of the Institute of Foreign Literature of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and German literary translator, was elected as the annual tribute translator.
The 22nd Shenzhen Reading Month "Top Ten Good Books of the Year" focuses on the annual theme of this Year's Shenzhen Reading Month, "Opening a New Horizon", focusing on the humanities and social sciences books that were first published in Chinese mainland from October 2020 to September 2021. The selection was officially launched in August, after preliminary evaluation and re-evaluation, 30 shortlisted books were selected from more than 1,400 basic books recommended by publishing institutions across the country, and for the first time, a reader assistance channel was opened, from November 1 to 7, a total of 10,218 readers voted online for 30,654 votes.
This year's Good Book Jury invites scholars, professors, media, and book critics from all over the country. Under the situation of epidemic prevention and control, the judges who could not attend the meeting interacted with the offline judges through the "cloud meeting" and shared wonderfully. The jury performs its duties as judges in a fair, impartial and open manner, taking into account the academic vision and the position of the general reader, and screens the massive number of books published in the middle layer. After nearly two days of closed final judging, the judges discussed the annual tribute project and the 30 bibliographies respectively, and the judges expressed their opinions and considered the shortlisted books.
At the unveiling ceremony, the judges voted in real time after the 60-second presentation of the shortlisted books, and each vote was prudent and precious. The judges who failed to attend the meeting also entrusted the staff to vote on the spot in advance, and the voting process was supervised and selected by the notary office. In the end, "The Academic Life of Qian Zhongshu", "The Three Capitals of Kui: The History of the Mongolian Siege of Jin", "The Remnants and Courtiers of the Early Qing Dynasty", "The Mirror Image of the Late Qing Dynasty Officialdom", "The Spiritual Light of the Wild Land: The Days I Lived in a Mental Hospital", "Technology and Civilization: Our Times and Future", "The Age of Sinking", "The Beauty of the Middle Ages", "The Vulgar Land", "From Márquez to Llosa: Retrospective "Literary Explosion"" Broke through and was elected as the "Top Ten Good Books of the Year" of this year's Shenzhen Reading Month. Combined with the judges' voting and readers' help, "Mirror of the Late Qing Dynasty Officialdom" won the "Reader Recommendation Award".
It is reported that the 22nd Shenzhen Reading Month "Annual Top Ten Good Books" is sponsored by the Shenzhen Reading Month Organizing Committee Office and Shenzhen Publishing Group Co., Ltd., and jointly undertaken by the Publicity Department of the Nanshan District Committee of Shenzhen City, Shenzhen Book City Xinhua Book Chain Headquarters Co., Ltd., and Shenzhen Reading Federation. Shenzhen Reading Month "Annual Top Ten Good Books" has been one of the earliest annual book lists with the highest attention and influence in the country, and the "Annual Top Ten Good Books" of Shenzhen Reading Month adheres to the principle of high standards and high quality, and always selects and promotes high-quality good books that can represent Shenzhen's vision and pioneer ideas, and has developed into a vane of the national book industry.
2021 Shenzhen Reading Month "Top Ten Good Books of the Year"
Judges' testimonials
1. "The Academic Life of Qian Zhongshu"
Author:Wang Shuizhao (middle)
Publisher: Zhonghua Bookstore
Pricing: 58.00
Recommendation: We have heard many personal anecdotes about Qian Zhongshu, but we know very little about his true academic achievements, ideological character, and dedication to scholarship; "The Academic Life of Qian Zhongshu" can be described as a rare "correct history" here. Wang Shuizhao himself is an accomplished scholar, and he has had 38 years of close contact with Qian Zhongshu, so the book has more first-hand materials, personal observations and understanding of the scholar's heart, and puts forward powerful insights into controversial topics such as "whether Qian's scholarship has a system". ——Jiang Song
2. "The Three Capitals of The Three Capitals: A History of the Mongol Siege of Jin"
Author:Zhou Sicheng (middle)
Publisher: Han and Tang Dynasty Dao | Shanxi People's Publishing House
Pricing: 68.00
Recommendation: In the 12th century, the Jurchen people, who originated in a corner of the northeast, rose rapidly, established the Jin Dynasty, and once jumped to the hegemony of East Asia. This regime destroyed the Liao state in a very short period of time, making Western Xia and Goryeo subservient, and causing the Northern Song Dynasty to suffer the "shame of Jingkang". However, from the beginning of the Invasion of the Mongol Army in 1211 to the fall of the Jin Dynasty in 1234, for more than twenty years, the Jin Dynasty lost its territory one after another, and the center of the resistance movement was forced to move from Zhongdu to Fenjing and Caizhou, and finally collapsed in the attack of the Mongol and Southern Song armies. This book takes several important "siege battles" during the Mengjin War as the main line, presents the whole process of the Jin Dynasty from organizational resistance and stubborn resistance to the death of the king and the death of the country, providing us with a very clear and sufficient historical context for us to understand the resistance and salvation of the Last Twenty Years of the Jin Dynasty. In particular, the ten years of the reign of the last gold lord, Jin Aizong, and the ten years of "plotting to save the crisis" and "fighting and martyring the country" make people sigh and sigh, how cruel history is. - Green tea
3. "The Remnants and Courtiers of the Early Qing Dynasty"
Author:Xie Zhengguang(Middle)
Publisher: Shanghai Literature and Art Publishing House
Pricing: 54.00
Recommended words: "Relics" and "Second Ministers" are extremely attractive topics, coupled with Mr. Xie Zhengguang's meticulous, elegant and stylistic beauty, making "The Relics and Seconds of the Qing Dynasty" different from the general sense of academic works, it looks quite good. Mr. Xie can really be said to be an "academic stylist", and perhaps the word "academic" can also be used. Watching him quote poems and reveal the various intricate details of the literati's travels in the early Qing Dynasty, it is fun. ——Zheng Shiliang
4. "Mirror image of the official field in the late Qing Dynasty"
Author:Qiu Jie(Middle)
Publisher: Social Sciences Literature Press
Pricing: $99.00
Recommendation: I think this is a book that can help us re-understand traditional China, or modern China. In the past two decades, a trend of reassessment of tradition has arisen in the humanities and social sciences circles, which is based on Mr. Fei Xiaotong's "Native China" and Qian Mu's "Miscellaneous Memories of Eighty Parents and Teachers and Friends", which holds that the political power of traditional China is "the imperial power does not go down to the county, the only clan in the countryside, the clan relies on autonomy, autonomy depends on ethics, and ethics depends on the squire" (Qin Hui's teacher's language), shaping a warm and silent traditional View of China. This perspective should be said to have a certain component of rationality, but it is very small. The traditional China shown in "Mirror Images of The OfficialDom of the Late Qing Dynasty" feels much more real than theoretical deduction, personal memories beautified with nostalgic filters, and modified archival documents. ——Liu Xiaolei
5. "WildLand Aura: The Days I Lived in a Mental Hospital"
Author:Li Lanni (middle)
Publishing institution: People's Literature Publishing House
Pricing: 53.00
Recommended: "Wild Inspiration: The Days I Lived in a Mental Hospital" is a non-fiction masterpiece by writer Li Lanni who pays attention to the special group of mentally ill people. In order to understand the life and psychology of mentally ill people, Li Lanni really lived in a mental hospital, and brought first-hand information to readers with face-to-face and interviews, which was both heavy and warm to read. You can feel the meticulous rational considerations and strong compassion in this book. Mental illness has become an important type of disease that plagues the Chinese people, and "Wild Spiritual Light: The Day I Live in a Mental Hospital" once again reminds the whole society of the attention and treatment of mental pain. Many of these interviews can become an important archive of psychiatry, which not only has important literary value, but also has important medical value. The language in the book is concise and accurate, and the dialogue is very tense. --Yin Changlong
6. Technology and Civilization: Our Time and Future
Author:Zhang Xiaoyu (middle)
Publisher: Beijing Beibeit | Guangxi Normal University Press
Pricing: $88.00
Recommendation: The most desirable point of "Technology and Civilization" is that it has a clear concept of distinguishing technology from science. The author tries to show through a bird's-eye review of Chinese and Western history that it was technology that drove the development of civilization. This seems to be unique in previous books, which is very valuable. Although the author is flawless in some of the details of the exposition because it is extremely difficult to fully grasp all aspects of the technology, it is still worth recommending considering the advantages of this book in terms of ideas. ——Jiang Xiaoyuan
7. "The Age of Sinking"
Author: George Parker (United States), Liu Ran (translation)
Publisher: New Classic | Wenhui Publishing House
Pricing: 108.00
Recommended: "The Age of Sinking" depicts the decline of the American middle class with a large number of specific scenes, which is the same as "The Lamentations of the Countrymen", which depicts the sinking of American blue-collar and lower-class society. In the scene of "The Age of Sinking", the gap between rich and poor in the United States is becoming increasingly serious, and the so-called middle class is sliding to the bottom society on a large scale. The author feels that this scene is becoming more and more intense in recent years, which is particularly worrying to the author. For there is no doubt that the author himself is in this class. Will the author's characters become the author's own tomorrow? ——Jiang Xiaoyuan
8. The Beauty of the Middle Ages
Author: Umberto Echo (Italian), Liu Huining (translation)
Publisher: Yilin Publishing House
Pricing: 168.00
Recommended: "The Beauty of the Middle Ages" is a wonderful book by Echo, which is popular with Chinese readers, and although it was written more than sixty years ago, it still arouses our interest and amazement. Echo studies the beauty of the Middle Ages, commenting on medieval works of art, including churches, sculptures, treasures, paintings, music and manuscripts, and using his own fine analysis and raw flowers to guide us to appreciate the original and unique beauty of medieval art, thus inspiring us to re-understand the Middle Ages. Expanding your horizons and appreciating the beauty of art is the most attractive thing about this book, and the exquisite printing is even more addictive. --Chen Zishan
9. "The Land of The Vulgar"
Author:Lai Zi Shu (Malaysia)
Publisher: New Classics | Beijing October Literature and Art Publishing House
Pricing: 55.00
Recommendation: The excellent standard displayed by writer Li Zishu from Malaysia, far from the core of Chinese literature, in this latest novel is not inferior even in the many new works of writers throughout the Chinese-speaking world. Due to the unique temporal and spatial background set by this novel, Chinese writing has been expanded to a considerable extent here. The protagonist of the book is a blind woman living in Sidhu, Malaysia, and the characters associated with her have staged a strong daily tragicomedy with a strong sense of city, exotic qualities (for Chinese mainland readers) in her city, streets and alleys, and "upstairs". Under the pen of Li Zishu, a variety of characters shuttle through it, accompanied by the description of local folk customs, the traditions and beliefs of The Chinese and Foreign Miscellaneous Places, and other rich details, and there is also a rather natural involvement in the background of local social events, national identity and other themes. In a sense, this novel consolidates the position of Li Zishu in Chinese literature and writes a textual record for MCA society and the population. - Ding Yang
10. From Márquez to Llosa: A Retrospective of the "Literary Explosion"
Authors: A. Esteban (West), A.G. Quinas (West), Hou Jian (Translation)
Publishing agency: Life, Reading, and New Knowledge Triptych Bookstore
Recommendation: The important works of writers in the Era of Latin America's "Literary Explosion" have been introduced in China in recent years, and the description and study of the occurrence, development and social background of this phenomenon that affected world literature in the second half of the twentieth century is just in time, this book focuses on Márquez and Llosa and other writers, and pays attention to political events and literary atmosphere, and makes full use of many previously unpublished new materials in the collection of materials, revealing the close attention to the social background such as the literary explosion and the Cuban Revolution. And clearly express certain positions of Latin American writers that are worth learning: writers should express content rooted in his soul, and writers should be independent thinkers rather than "eloquents"... - Zhou Limin
Review: Tan Lugang