All the reading turned out to be buying books

Courtesy of Visual China

We feel beauty and pleasure in reading, see reality repeat the history of the past again, give possible answers to doubts, less self-righteous, eager to achieve, can be more calm and calm in the triviality, I am afraid that this is the meaning of books as a "refuge".

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I'm looking for Unattainable, a novel by Irish writer Benville, published years ago. I can't remember when I first met him, but I had a lot of his books on my bookshelf anyway.

The last time I "met" was to read Birch Manor and The Shroud. Usually, a favorite author, I will read several books of his or her in succession, just like you meet an interesting person, say goodbye a little reluctantly, want to see him (her) a few times. The first book you see of them will attract you to the second and third books... For some bibliophile patients, I am afraid that I will have to give up after receiving it all.

Every reading is a chat with the author, and the depth depends on the reader—the writer certainly has the right to deal with it, even to the superficial reader. And after a few deep conversations, you will learn more about the style of a writer, some people write different types of stories, some people can write the same subject N times.

As a master of language, Banville's novels are too "strong" to look at ten lines, quickly "swallow" easy to indigestion, slowly chew, find out the relationship between paragraphs, in order to stitch together the hidden clues. It is easy to get tired of reading in this way, and I will read it together, eating "hard dishes" while tasting a few small desserts, or "Western food" with "ramen", while reading "The Inside Story of the Global Operation of the US Military", while flipping through "One Day, Three Autumns". The consequence of "mixing and matching" is that reading does not know where to run, from ancient Greece to Mars, Homer will encounter hard science fiction, countless unknown areas open a door, teasing you in, reading can easily become buying books.

Like a naughty child, wandering around the fair, and having money in his pocket, he will definitely bring home all kinds of novelties and fun. Most readers are possessive, and how can they be willing to find good books and "no"? When I bought it, it was as if I had read it, and my heart was solid.

This time the "purchase" originated from the circle of friends.

Everyone is talking about the genius translator Jin Xiaoyu. I "searched" for his translation and saw the familiar name that I had forgotten: Benville. "Fragments of Time" and "The Seducer" (by Ban Erwei, translated by Jin Xiaoyu) then "took" the courier and rushed to it. I have to admit that Jin Xiaoyu's translation is very compatible with Ban weir's exquisite text, and only people who have no distractions can have such a text. I have always believed that some literary (artistic) geniuses are not normal people, and that the beautiful ideas they create are not suitable for the bland and step-by-step brain.

Fragments of Time took me to Dublin, the memories and images that linger in the fragments of time. How many people love Dublin because of Joyce? He wandered the city with blooms, Stephens and all kinds of "Dubliners" in the story, while the writer spent his life wandering around Trieste, Rome, Paris... Leave his homeland to many literary newcomers—Banville, Matas (author of "Dublin") and readers to worship.

This not-so-long (about 100,000-word) essay rekindled my liking for Banville, habitually clicking on "more works" and "Impossible to Ask" into my shopping cart. What attracted me to it was not only the writer himself, but also its story: the reproduction of the Cambridge espionage case. Simply put, it is 4 British intelligence officers and diplomats who are "born" from Cambridge University and become "double-sided spies" of the former Soviet KGB.

Another Anglo-Soviet spy war blockbuster. In another spy war, "Spies and Traitors: Anglo-Soviet Spy War That Changed History," a senior KGB intelligence officer and former Soviet intelligence station chief in Britain secretly worked for MI6 for more than 10 years. Moreover, the American intelligence officer whose superiors were already alert and investigating his identity was still a KGB informant, fled Moscow in a thrilling way.

The degree of charm of historical events is not inferior to that of "compiled" spy films. Non-fiction writing definitely tests an author's writing skills. At that time, when watching this ups and downs of the spy war, I couldn't help but think: What if the Soviets wrote this story? Now that the legend of the British intelligence elite 'defecting to the enemy' is in front of us, how can we miss it? Moreover, the spy in Banville's novel is definitely different from the documentary work. It seems that the British intelligence agency is "rich" with spy writers (novels), Maugham, Green, Le Carré... These names on the spy novel list are inextricably linked to it.

By the way, where do you get information about books? Or rather, where did your book list come from? Have you ever found that the next book you want to read is often hidden in the book you are reading?

Readers like me, who do not have too strong a purpose, wander around the sea of books with interest, look east and west, and are not sure what they will read on a whim. Last year, I suddenly became "obsessed" with art books, found a large art history textbook, and read it with great interest. Then there are some art criticism books, looking at it, you find that if you don't know Greco-Roman mythology, don't know the biblical story, don't know the Homeric Epic, it is difficult to understand the background of the creation of "famous paintings", such as "Why do so many painters want to paint the Virgin Of The Virgin, the Crucifixion", etc., reading then expanded from "a painting" to literature, biography, history...

The so-called "touch bypass" is probably like this. We are simply starting from one point, spreading out, exploring the depth and breadth of infinite openness. The fifth volume of Barnes's 10-chapter History of the World: The Beach, taken out alone, is a painting treatise on Cirico and the Raft of the Medusa; and Banwell's framework trilogy, all based on painting, is no less powerful than art connoisseurs.

You don't know what the next book you come across is, and reading is how you are surprised by the unknown. It is one of the few things in an increasingly uncertain world that you can grasp on your own—which book to read, you decide. We feel beauty and pleasure in reading, see reality repeat the history of the past again, give possible answers to doubts, less self-righteous, eager to achieve, can be more calm and calm in the triviality, I am afraid that this is the meaning of books as a "refuge".

I would read "old books" and even "prejudice" that good books will always resist the wash of time. However, the memory is more and more unable to withstand the test, often reading and forgetting, so that when I pick up a book that I have clearly read and read it, I am actually very dazed: These bars are drawn by me?

Almost forgot About Banville. After being told it was an old book—no wonder, it's been a while since the book was published—I canceled my original order and found a copy of "Unattainable" on one of the used books. Although it is not a new book, the quality is not bad, as long as 3 yuan - equivalent to a white gift, there is really no reason not to buy. It can also be regarded as the joy of "digging for books". On this topic, many professionals have written books on this topic, such as "The Madness of Elegance", "The Way of Searching books", "Old Books and Rare Books"...

Uh, off topic again, stop here. Otherwise, this time of buying books will start the next round of book purchases.

Feng Xuemei Source: China Youth Daily

Source: China Youth Daily client