Library

The 37-year-old "I" Chujun owns two prosperous bars in downtown Tokyo, as well as a beautiful wife and two lovely daughters. He can be called a successful person with a successful family and career, but he always feels empty inside. Hatsumi's past consists of his emotional entanglement with three women, Shimamoto, Izumi, and Izumi's cousin. It seems that the shortcomings in his heart can only be made up for by his girlfriend Shimamoto, whom he met in elementary school and had a vague relationship with. 25 Years later, Shimamoto suddenly appeared, and the two rekindled their love. However, Shimamoto was unwilling to reveal his experience and current identity. He only hoped that Hatsumi would not ask anything and just accept herself as she was, and just treat her as the girl who loved classical music in elementary school. Hatsumi accepted these harsh conditions and accompanied Shimamoto to the Tokyo River to scatter the baby's ashes. The two spent an unforgettable night at the Hakone villa. The next day, she disappeared without a trace.

Sputnik is the name of the first artificial satellite in history to enter Earth orbit, which means "traveling companion". Sumire, a girl who is addicted to writing, and her fellow musician, Min, a middle-aged beauty who is 17 years older than her, cherish each other. Sumire accepted Min's offer to help manage Min's office, and traveled to Europe with Min as her secretary. However, on the Greek island, Sumire disappeared mysteriously, because she discovered that Min was just a shell, and his soul had been lost in a thrilling night. Their relationship is like a satellite, "meeting by chance, missing each other, and parting forever."

After the Great Kanto Earthquake, Japan in the early Showa era was in the midst of a transformation involving the replacement of the old with the new and the integration of the East and the West. As one of the centers of kabuki culture and Shitamachi, Asakusa saw a large influx of actors and wandering girls. Human traffickers roam the streets, and parks and open spaces are populated by gang members, orphans, and scores of homeless men and women. The protagonist comes from out of town. When he was roaming Asakusa, he met members of the youth gang "Red Band". Under the leadership of the leader Yumiko, he visited the streets of Asakusa, which was at the forefront of the times at that time. The protagonist examines the daily lives of these people with a distant and calm gaze, describing the destruction and establishment, beauty and ugliness, glitz and poverty of Tokyo in that era, and also faintly conveys Kawabata's uneasiness about the current situation as an anti-war opponent.

The death of any one leaves me somewhat deficient, for I am inseparable from mankind; so never ask for whom the bell tolls; for you the bell tolls. --John Donne (British poet) "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is one of Hemingway's major works. Robert Jordan, an American young man, volunteered to join the Spanish government army and engage in blasting activities behind enemy lines. In order to cooperate with the counterattack, he was ordered to contact local guerrillas to complete the task of blowing up the bridge. In the midst of the raging war, he fell in love with Maria, a little girl who had been raped by the enemy, thereby smoothing out the trauma in Maria's soul. In three days, Robert experienced the conflict between love and duty and the test of life and death, and his humanity continued to sublimate. On the way to retreat after the bridge was blown up, he gave up his hope of survival to others, but his thigh was broken by a cannonball. He stayed alone to stop the enemy, and finally gave his young life for the Spanish people.

Six bones are arranged in a room of death that is both real and imaginary. "My" old friend "Rat" has died in the sheep hunting adventure. "I" finally found Gotanda, an old classmate, whom he fell in love with, but this movie star, who was packaged as schizophrenic by the entertainment industry, strangled two high-end call girls to death one after another, and himself was buried in the sea in a "Maserati". Although the lonely girl "Xue" and her aloof mother "Yu" can barely survive in this crazy world, "Yu"'s patron saint Dick can't escape an inexplicable car accident. After a period of frightening days accompanied by death, "I" finally found a sense of security in the hotel maid Yumiyoshi, and made a concrete plan to live a quiet life in a quiet city. But, who does the sixth white skeleton mean? "I" still cannot escape from the house of death.

The novel is divided into forty-nine chapters. The odd chapters use a realistic approach to tell the story of a young man named Tamura Kafka who ran away from home alone on the eve of his fifteenth birthday in order to escape a prophecy from his father that was even more terrifying than Oedipus the King. However, he unexpectedly woke up in the forest covered in blood. When Kafka was four years old, his mother suddenly disappeared, taking only his sister, who was four years older than Kafka, with her. He came to a library by chance and was taken in by the director, Ms. Saeki. Kafka suspected that she was his biological mother, but Saeki refused to comment. Kafka learned the news that his father had been killed, and hid in the forest to evade police pursuit. He encountered two soldiers wearing army uniforms... The even-numbered chapters use magical techniques to tell the adventures of the old man Nakata. When Nakata was in elementary school during World War II, he lost his memory after a mysterious coma, but gained the mysterious ability to talk to cats. While Nakata lost control of his mind, he killed a cat killer who called himself Jonny Walker, and also took a ride here to look for the "Entrance Stone"... Many puzzles together create an elegant and dreamy masterpiece.

In the late stages of World War I, American young man Frederick Henry volunteered to drive an ambulance for the Red Cross and rescue the wounded on the northern Italian front. During a mission, Henry was hit by a cannonball and injured. While recovering from his injuries in a Milan hospital, he was cared for by British nurse Catherine, and the two fell in love. After recovering from his injuries, Henry returned to the front line. When he retreated with the Italian troops, he witnessed the cruel scenes of the war. He resolutely left the army, joined Catherine and fled to Switzerland. As a result, Catherine died in childbirth. "A Farewell to Arms" has a strong autobiographical flavor. It is a sad and moving elegy sung by Hemingway based on his own experience in the war, with war and love as the main line. The novel has been adapted onto the screen many times and can be called a classic of modern literature.

Human beings are just random arrangements of particles in the universe. Bruno and Michel are half-brothers with completely different personalities and mirrors of each other. Bruno was romantic and became a Chinese teacher; Michelle was rational and became a biologist. Bruno is a practitioner of life, seeking the meaning of life in the process of eating, drinking, having fun, and changing girlfriends; Michel rejected the love of his childhood sweetheart, preferring to devote himself to sacred scientific research than fleeting desires. At some point in their lives, they were all very close to happiness but missed it. The intertwined fates of Bruno and Michel constitute the DNA double helix structure of human existence. In the not-too-distant future, thanks to Michelle's research results, humans will achieve immortality through asexual reproduction and get rid of the seven emotions and six desires of being born...

Toru Okada, who resigned from his job at a law firm, lives a peaceful life with his wife Kumiko, a magazine editor. Kumiko suddenly disappeared under the coercion of her brother, Noboru Wataya, a representative of the dark forces who is also a member of the House of Representatives. Afterwards, many strange people appeared around Okada: witches, "conscious prostitutes", girls who accidentally killed their boyfriend in a car accident, veterans, etc. At the same time, many strange things happened. Okada went down to a deep well to meditate and then came out. With the help of a pair of weird mother and son "Nutmeg" and "Cinnamon", he challenged Noboru Wataya, injured him in fantasy, and Kumiko killed him in reality.

This book is the work of the Japanese national writer Natsume Soseki during his turning period. It includes three novels, "Autumn Wind", "Two Hundred and Ten Days" and "The Miner", published from 1906 to 1908. "Autumn Wind" revolves around the poor student Takayanagi and the rich boy Nakano. Although the two are good friends, their financial situations and situations are completely different. The two young men met Mr. Doya, a poor scholar. Shirai Michoya was originally a teacher in a certain school. He once taught Takayanagi. Because he was very critical of the world and the powerful, he was kicked out of the school by the villagers and students. He currently lives a life of poverty. A series of stories about morality and ideals happened among the three people around one hundred yen. Natsume Soseki focused on portraying the idealist Mr. Doya and showed his views on society; "One Hundred and Twenty Days" tells the story of two young mountaineers thinking about philosophy and life; "The Miner" tells the story of "I", a young man from a rich family who went to work in the mines because of a temporary impulse, and was deeply shocked.

"The place we lived in before has long since disappeared from the earth and has become a specimen in memory. The past will never come back, what is left behind?" When the memory hit him involuntarily, Park Minyu recalled the world he thought he had left behind - the low slate roofs covering the entire mountain, the intricate narrow alleys and the smiling faces of children gathered in front of small shops. Drive out, demolish, reorganize, neon covers the stars, cement replaces the land. He kept chasing the sunny land, glad that he had escaped from the rough and dirty slums, and never wondered where those old friends who were driven out of their homes went and what they did for a living. When I stop and turn around suddenly, there is no one around me, and there is no trace of my hometown in my memory. Forging ahead is the attitude of a pioneer. If you don't leave your back to others, you will be left behind. Without destroying the old world, you cannot reach the new utopia. The bonds are getting less and less, the eyes are getting colder and colder, and in the end only memories are left to accompany myself as life approaches the evening.

"Blood and Sand" describes the life of a matador. Gallardo is the son of a drunken shoemaker. His mother, Mrs. Angustias (meaning pain and trouble), earns some change as a servant to support the family. This is a poor family. The child's father died young. In order to make a living, the mother found the best shoemaker for her son to be an apprentice. However, he was stubborn by nature and wanted to be a bullfighter. He was obsessed with bullfighting and would never obey even if his mother beat him severely. In the end, after all kinds of hardships and desperate struggles, he finally became a famous bullfighter throughout the Iberian Peninsula. Contracts came to him like snowflakes every bullfighting season, and he made a lot of money. He bought real estate and manor, and entered the upper class society. The Marquis's niece was willing to be his lover. For him, the bullring was a sea of ​​cheers and applause. People from all walks of life looked up to him. He also generously gave alms to the poor and seemed to be their savior. His agent even proudly called him "the best bullfighter in the world" or "the best bullfighter in the world." However, he was no exception to the law that everything must turn to its extremes and prosperity must decline. This glorious time did not last long. Suddenly one afternoon, his bullfight failed. He was a coward who dared not look at the bull. The cheers and applause turned into ridicule and boos. His lady lover also ruthlessly abandoned him. He was financially in debt and mentally depressed. Finally, he died miserably while trying to regain his glory after recovering from a serious injury. "Blood and Sand" also focuses on the theme of bullfighting and vividly describes Spanish religious rituals. In addition to the regular church prayers, the religious processions of Easter and Holy Week are particularly complete and detailed. This kind of procession, in which devout believers from various sects form a mighty procession, carries the statues of the Virgin Mary and Jesus through the streets and alleys of the city, and lasts from late at night to the dawn of the next day. In name, it is a grand religious event held every year in Spain, but in Ibáñez's writing, it turns into an absurd, ignorant, and hateful farce by a group of rabble-rousers.

This collection of short stories by Saramago, the only Nobel laureate in the Portuguese-speaking world, is rare in his writing career! The sofa becomes feverish; the car kidnaps its driver; the mailbox and the entire building disappear out of thin air; the chair falls, and the dictator sitting on it falls with it; the king attempts to surround the city of the dead with a city of the living, but death once again stands out... Life repeatedly flows backwards, back to the starting point. This time, you must live like a human being.

Princess Ariadne of Crete and her sister Phaedra grew up in a magnificent palace. But looking at it from another perspective, both sisters grew up in prison, and they lived at the mercy of their cruel father Minos. Ariadne's mother Pasiphae was the daughter of the sun god Helios. She was punished by the sea god Poseidon because of her husband's mistakes. She was bewitched to mate with a bull and gave birth to the Minotaur. This became Pasiphae's shame, and she gradually became an empty shell; but Minos used the Minotaur as a tool to demonstrate power. He required Athens to hand over fourteen children every year to feed the Minotaur. When Theseus, prince of Athens, travels to Crete to slay the Minotaur, Ariadne sees not a threat but an opportunity in his green eyes. Ariadne fell in love with him. But helping Theseus slay the Minotaur means betraying her family and country, and Ariadne knows all too well that in a world ruled by fickle gods, attracting their attention will cost you everything. In a world where women are nothing more than pawns of powerful men, Ariadne has heard too many stories of women being punished for the actions of men, but she decides to take her fate into her own hands. Will Ariadne's decision to betray Crete for Theseus ensure her happy ending? Or will she find herself sacrificing herself to her lover's ambitions?

The girl Anna's life is shrouded in confusion. She doesn't know whether she should have the courage to pursue her dreams. She often wavers for family and friendship. At the same time, she is also worried that her brother, who often disappears, will go astray. Although she had never believed that anyone could predict fate, she was encouraged by her friends to meet the fortune teller at the carnival. This boy named Slater looks about the same age as her, and his gray eyes reveal mystery and vicissitudes of life. The boy is very silent, always reciting some nightmare-like scenes. Slowly, she discovered more weird behaviors of the boy, and she realized that the boy did not appear by chance. He seemed to have been waiting for her to appear, and he had been waiting since long, long before she was born. Their fate took an unpredictable turn from the moment they met...

16-year-old Deborah is shrouded in the dark kingdom of schizophrenia. This endless torture isolates her from the outside world. Out of fear, her parents admitted her to a mental hospital. Deborah is a mentally ill but perceptive teenager who, with the help of a gifted psychiatrist, spends three years regaining her sanity - battling a world of her own creation. The real world is never perfect, and we are our own refuge from the storms of life. In the eyes of 16-year-old Deborah, the world is a huge mental hospital full of lies, discrimination, violence and "cold compresses". She is an outsider who tried to murder her biological sister. Everything is heading towards destruction, and she would rather listen to the temptation of the fantasy world of "Yer" and fall into the boundless darkness. People in the ward suddenly go "crazy", are tied up and wrapped in "cold masks", numbed physically and mentally, discharged from the hospital, and then sent back again - mental hospitals more often become places where patients are mentally abused. She resisted interrogation and treatment, burning with rage, but she heard the doctor say to herself: "I never promised you a rose garden, I never promised you perfect justice... And I never promised you peace and happiness. I can only help you enjoy the freedom to fight for all the above." This book about an individual's growth path proves the perseverance of the human spirit and the power of healing, which can help individuals overcome the most difficult challenges. It's poignant, gripping and to the point.

Ono Machiko, a girl with curly red hair, lives with her eldest brother who studies schizophrenia, her second brother who studies moss love, and her cousin who is passionate about singing operas. While taking care of their daily lives, she wants to write poems that transcend the five and sixth senses and touch the world of the seventh sense. The stench of fertilizers and the out-of-tune music of the piano at home intertwine, stimulating people's nerves; the residents all have weird personalities, and they harbor unrequited love that they are ashamed to express... This book is the first time that Ozaki Sui's works have been published together in China. It collects five of his representative short stories, including the prestigious "The Seventh Official World Wandering" and the highly praised "Miss Cricket". The protagonists in the five novels are like multiple clones of the same girl scattered in the mirror, sometimes peering into the human world with compound eyes, sometimes using measuring cups to prepare the antidote for the heart. Between the comical and absurd scenery changes, and between the romantic and light dreams, the hard background of reality flashes past. Ozaki Sui, a female writer who was active in Japan from the Taisho to the early Showa era, attracted the attention of many literary giants such as Kawabata Yasunari and Dazai Osamu for her unfettered free style of writing and fantasy-like beautiful words. Literary critic Hanada Kiyote was unforgettable and highly praised her works. However, Ozaki Tsui returned home due to illness at the age of thirty-six, and then fell silent for half his life, appearing only briefly in the Japanese literary world. This forgotten genius writer has re-entered the public eye in recent years. With his surreal writing style and avant-garde expression techniques, he has won a large number of readers in the contemporary era and is known as a representative figure of the fantasy literature school.

At least once in his life every man becomes part of Adam's body, that is the moment of revelation. Only this short period of time is light and belongs to oneself. The rest of the time is darkness and is used by others. This moment of revelation is what the Khazars call a "dream." The purpose of the Khazar dream catchers is to collect these moments and piece together the body of Adam... The Khazar king wanted to convert to a religion and choose one of the three religions: Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, so representatives of Christianity (Orthodox), Judaism, and Islam in Constantinople gathered in the Khazar capital and held a "Khazar Debate." The three religions each have their own opinions on the outcome of the debate. Since the history written by the Khazars themselves has been lost to obscurity, the results of this great debate can only be supported by Christian, Jewish and Islamic documents. However, the results recorded by the three religions are contradictory, and they all believe that their religion has won the victory. So at the end of the seventeenth century (that is, hundreds of years later), a Khazar dictionary came out, which included records of debates between the three major sects. The book was divided into three parts, namely the Red Book, the Green Book, and the Yellow Book, which recorded the respective opinions of the three major sects.

A brilliant, innovative novel that keenly captures the presence and absence of the sacred. "To Take", first published in 1960, is a milestone in the history of American literature - Flannery O'Connor's work is a dark and fascinating example of gothic sensibility and sharp irony. In the novel, orphan Tarwater and his uncle Reb defy their dead uncle's prophecy that Tarwater will become a prophet and baptize Reb's son Bishop. Tarwater engages in an inner struggle with his deep-seated beliefs and the voices calling him to be a prophet, while Rebbe attempts to guide Tarwater into a more "reasonable" modern world. Both are grappling with the legacy of lost loved ones. O'Connor observes it all with a breathtaking combination of irony and empathy, humor and pathos.

"It" changes the world, but we are unaware that "it" orders us to live our lives, and we allow it because someone tells us that "it" is okay... In an imaginary future world, humans have invented a device that can "transport" people or items through the air. But once transported, these people or objects quickly lose their essence, and while they look the same as before, the characteristics that made them who they are are gone. After tens of thousands of transports, the once-familiar world was slowly replaced by another version, but the people living in it seemed unaware. Even if people who occasionally see the truth will have a flash of uneasiness, they will be swept away by the torrent of time before they have time to stop and think about its significance... The old woman is hesitant to use such a transport machine because she is worried that the machine will destroy the collection of her unique memories; the woman's husband was used in the first human transport After losing the experiment, she found that what came back was a young man who "disguised" as her husband; the man worked hard to build a machine to save his terminally ill wife, but paid an unknown price; the boy discovered and modified the code BUG hidden in the device's transportation network, causing a global shock and completely changing his own destiny...

I am 25 years old, studying for a master's degree, and I am bothered by things like time, space, and meaning. I know an incredible amount of stuff. I know the name, the year. Hundreds. I know who was the first to climb Mount Everest, I know who directed some of America's lamest soap operas, and I know that when air hits an airplane wing, it creates low pressure on the upper surface of the wing, which is what makes airplanes fly. I know what Aristotle meant. I know time moves slower on the sun. I know too much. What should I do with them? Of course I can participate in the "Geupadi Quiz" and the prize is a trip to Greece. Double. But I don't have a girlfriend. I can only go alone. But what was I going to do in Greece? There's no reason to believe I'd be happier there. If only I had a very reliable feeling that everything was going to be okay.

In Tolkien's creative world, there are the shocking "Lord of the Rings" and the vast and magnificent world of Middle-earth, as well as short stories, poems and famous and far-reaching speeches that embody his extraordinary imagination, scholar's sense of humor and painful life experience. This book adopts a unique method of editing and selecting Tolkien's works and consists of two parts: the first half is about his creation practice of fairy tales, which is composed of 4 classic short stories and 16 poems; the second half of the appendix is ​​about his theory of fairy tales. The 45,000 words of Tolkien's most famous lecture "On Wonderland", which has a profound influence on later generations, is fully included, giving a glimpse of the unique view of fantasy and fairy tales of the originator of contemporary fantasy. Although these classic short stories spanned 40 years of creation, they are "on the edge" of the world of Middle-earth, but they are the epitome of Tolkien's narrative genius. International illustrator and Oscar winner Alan Lee presents 50 illustrations.

The nineteenth century in which Dostoevsky lived was a declining century. In that irrational era, people doubted all final conclusions, inherent nobility, royal power, and faith. In 1849, Dostoevsky was arrested for participating in a secret rally against the Tsar and angering the authorities. The following year, he was sentenced to exile in Siberia and served four years of hard labor. The painful life spent with criminals gave him a profound observation of the dark side of Russian society, and he also gained new concepts about human life, the good and evil in human nature, and the character of the Russian people. These observations and concepts are presented in "Crime and Punishment". The author himself said that this is "a confession about a criminal."

"Imaginary Animals" is a collection of stories co-written by Spanish literary masters, Argentinian poets, novelists, critics, and translators, Jorge Luis Borges and Margarita Guerrero. The collection of stories depicts various creatures imagined by humans, various rare birds and animals, and even some unclassifiable beings, such as Abao Aku, metaphysical animals, Kafka's fantasy animals, plant sheep Borametz, hundred-headed fish, ghost-eating monsters, clones, dragons, phoenixes, gluttons, griffons, black monkeys, goblin Nomu, clay golems, giant Humbaba, giant bull Kuyusa, unicorns, and titles. Tailed snakes... They may exist in the myths and legends of various peoples around the world, or appear in classic documents and literary works, or spread in hearsay, anecdotes, or appear in human dreams. All of them seem to be well-founded, but they are also the product of a mixture of curiosity, imagination, deduction, dreams, and illusions, or out of love, belief, hope, or avoidance, worry, and fear. The collection of stories includes 116 stories, and there are more than 116 kinds of things described. Some articles write about several animals of the same kind or related ones. As Borges said, this book collects "strange creatures bred by human imagination over the passage of time and space."

"Money" is Martin Amis's masterpiece and was selected as one of "The 100 Best English Novels" by Time magazine. The protagonist of the novel, Self, is a producer who "makes commercial TV commercials for tobacco, alcohol, junk food, and nude magazines." For money, he even more unscrupulously makes pornographic videos, and travels between London and New York, two money-worshiping metropolises. In this web of money and sex, Self's relationships with everyone around him are laid bare. Money is everywhere and omnipotent. As the only "true god" that Self trusts, it can not only fulfill all of Self's despicable and greedy human desires, but at the same time pave the way for Self to fall into hell. In this money and sex scam, Self ultimately became the biggest loser. In its straightforward, uninhibited and decadent description, this book profoundly highlights Amis's extreme ridicule of "money" and the silent sorrow of the twisted human soul corroded by "money".

"Micro World" is a travelogue novel full of philosophical thoughts and humanistic interest. The author started from a cafe in the ancient Central European city of Trieste and walked through valleys, lagoons, forests, and plateaus. He described life scenes and life situations in detail, integrating the shining thoughts and moving poetry in ordinary daily life into this ancient land. In this "miniature world", the wind in the forest, the stray dogs on the sandbank, the deer drinking in the forest, the amber summer, but especially the ancient and rich history, nourished the people who lived and worked on this land, and also nourished great writers and poets such as Saba, Pasolini, and even Joyce.

This book is one of Updike's three famous collections of art essays ("Glimpse of Light", "Unblinking Eyes" and "Three Points in the Wood"). It was first published in 2012 and contains a total of 15 art criticism essays. Through more than 20 years of exhibition viewing experience since the 1990s, the author leads readers infinitely closer to the works of art masters. From an "American perspective", the author comprehensively reviews Western master art works in the past two hundred years, from classical to modern, from Impressionism to Pop culture, and appreciates the works of more than ten artists including Monet, Degas, Miro, Vuillard, Beckmann, Magritte, and Lichtenstein. There is a separate commentary on the Clark Brothers, the great collectors, explaining the special relationship between art and humanities, that is, how art, as an accessory to civilized life, can become a spiritual gamble or an investment in the future. As a literary painter of the human soul, Updike tried to use his own philosophical concepts and aesthetics as the unlocking code of art to summon a hint, a poem, or even a devil hidden in the painting; he extended visual embrace to spiritual thinking, achieving a leap from "look" to "see". The book is accompanied by nearly 200 pictures of artworks.

This is a black comedy murder mystery novel at the end of the 20th century. The background is at the end of the upcoming millennium. Nicola Sixx, a beautiful, sexy prostitute with the ability to foresee the future, foresaw that she would be murdered on her thirty-fifth birthday, so she made step-by-step arrangements for the arrival of this day. Who will kill her? Is it the dirty and shameless liar Keith Tallent, or the rich, tall, romantic banker Guy Clinch? But there was no definite answer to this question until the end. What's even more incredible is that she actually used her beauty to seduce the novel's narrator, Samson Young, and made this second-rate writer suffering from cancer change the plot of the story and become a super accomplice in this murder game. The "London Ground" is both a place within the city of London and a symbol of the desolation of the postmodern Western world. The death that occurs here is the death of the body, the death of the spirit, the death of faith, and the death of the soul.

"Glimpse" contains a total of 23 art essays by the American literary master John Updike. The objects of criticism range from the Impressionist Monet to Sargent, from the modernist Andrew Weiss to Degas, and even stop to comment on the works of the outstanding "New Yorker" cartoonist Ralph Barton, French sculptor Jean Ipstgui and others who have long been forgotten by the world. ? Updike's wise, humorous, insightful and original comments, accompanied by more than 190 exquisite pictures, perfectly demonstrate his most eclectic, interesting and enlightening side in exploring traditional and modern art, integrating prose, visual art works and art criticism. This book also contains many line drawings created by Updike himself, showing the world the unknown outstanding artistic talent of this literary master.

Mimi, a boy from Naples who dreams of becoming a poet, looks out the window all day long - on the balcony of the opposite building, the "Milan girl" dances like a ballerina on a music box. As beautiful as a myth. For love, a little boy can accomplish extreme feats: engage in a "life and death duel" with his partners, and even abandon the dialect and speak Italian like a Milanese girl. Many years later, Mimi, who has entered college, meets her childhood friend again. Our narrator, the boy who once had a dream, must honestly face his memory and pursue the true identity of the Milan girl. Starnone pays homage to the "Divine Comedy" and tells us in a simple, direct, realistic and powerful way the moment when childhood ends: the moment when love is discovered, the moment when death is discovered, and the two are inseparable and pursue each other.

What this book records is not the big events, but the small things I experienced during the fifteen months after the war began. Up to now, the European powers have been locked in this terrifying battle for more than two years. Many small countries were invaded; France was conquered. These major events have been reported in newspapers and will also be recorded in history. Life goes on. People still eat three meals a day, still fall in love, get married, and die of old age. Yet it seems to me that this natural disaster affected everyone in a thousand subtle ways, at least in Europe. These little things were insignificant to the tide of upheaval, but they were not unimportant to the people affected by them, and no one I know of thought them worthy of attention. So I thought it might be interesting if I could record those trivial things that seemed to have changed the course of my entire life before I forgot them. What this book describes is purely personal and private, and would be meaningless otherwise. But I still want to ask readers to believe that at this moment when the future of the entire world hangs on a thread, no one knows better than me how insignificant I am personally. --Maugham

The story takes place in the London town of Diston. Lionel Asbaugh is a notorious and evil gangster. He cares for his orphaned nephew Desmond Pepperdine in his own unique way, and earnestly warns him: A man must stay on top of his sword. Dating with his girlfriend is not as effective as erotic teasing... Desmond tries his best to cater to his uncle because of his ulterior family secrets. Just when Desmond began to live a healthy life, Lionel in prison accidentally won the lottery and received a prize of 140 million pounds. After he was released from prison, money made Lionel more cruel and ruthless, and the fate of the nephews and uncles also changed dramatically...

Albanian European Parliament official Mr. Y and his lover Rowena were killed in a traffic accident. The surviving taxi driver was in shock and vague about the cause of the accident. He only repeatedly said that he was frightened when he saw the two passengers "trying to kiss" in the rearview mirror. The special identity of the victim and the vague testimonies of the survivors attracted the intervention of the security agencies of many Eastern European countries. However, the investigation was fruitless and they withdrew one after another. In the end, a persevering investigator uncovered the hidden story behind the traffic accident by analyzing the witness testimony, the two people's notes and the memories of Rowena's close friends.

After Han Meow is brutally attacked on the head in the garden of a London pub, his wife and daughter find themselves living with a stranger - an elusive, violent, vengeful man with amnesia: "His condition is like the twenty-first century: one wants to wake up from it." While it may come as a shock to his family, Han Mio's new personality fits perfectly with the city and era in which he lives. Because this is the vicious London of tabloid journalist Clint Smoker, whose daily reports of sexual illicit relationships and outrageous scandals are as false as the noose around his neck. In this world, the King of England keeps a Chinese mistress in Paris and tries to prevent a video of his 15-year-old daughter having an affair in a bathtub from spreading on the Internet. In this world there are killers, pornographers, tycoons and displaced royalty. This is a world where smart people do unspeakable things and bodyguards offer no protection. "Yellow Dog" is Martin Amis's best work: humorous, intense, cunning, and profound. Consistently, Amis explores the entire edifice of patriarchy and masculinity; the violence that engenders between men; the tortuous alliances between men and women; and the vanishing dreams that could protect our future and our descendants.

Atwood has long been known in the world of literature more for her novels, but her literary creation began with poetry. This book collects Atwood's poetry creation from 1965 to 1995, including two previously published poetry anthologies "Poems: 1965-1975" and "Poems: 1976-1986" and the poetry collection "Morning in the Burnt House". The language of Atwood's poetry is accurate, clear, and restrained, without any arrangement, and is devoted to the exploration of rhythmic flexibility. A bus trip, a few postcards, the vast wilderness, and everyday trivial matters can all be loaded with astonishing passion and power. In a large number of poems that focus on women's topics, she reveals the oppression and violence of women in a patriarchal society. Her writing style is often sharp and almost cruel, reflecting the poet's strong spiritual foundation.

"Peter the Dreamer" is a book written by McEwan for children. It tells the story of seven daydreams of a ten-year-old boy, Peter. As the author himself said in the preface, the reason why we like children's books is because our children enjoy reading these books, which has less to do with literature and more to do with love. As McEwan was writing and reading "Peter the Dreamer" aloud to his children, he began to feel that it might be better to forget about the great tradition of children's literature and write a book about children for adults, using language that children can understand. He wanted its subject-imagination itself-to be engaging for anyone who picked up a book.

"My Life as a Man" was published in 1974 and is Roth's seventh novel. The novel tells the story of how Peter Tarnopol, a promising college student, a conscientious professor, and an aspiring writer, ruined his life in a frustrated love scene, a destructive marriage, and the entanglement of different types of women, especially his wife. The whole book adopts a novel structure of stories within stories, plots within plots, and digs deeper into the source of pain of this man who is in adversity and unable to extricate himself from misfortune and misfortune. By interweaving desperate fiction with searing truth, juxtaposing the characters' indecision with extreme cruelty, Roth creates a murderous tragedy about a fatal impasse between men and women.

"Counterlife" is Roth's fourth novel with the novelist Nathan Zuckerman as the protagonist, following his "Zuckerman Bound" trilogy. Roth won the National Book Critics Circle Award for the novel and was a finalist for the National Book Award. ? The novel takes the fate of the two Zuckerman brothers, Nathan and Henry, as two main lines. His elder brother Nathan is a well-known American novelist, and his younger brother Henry is a slightly accomplished dentist. The two fell out over Nathan's famous work "Karnofsky," and Henry accused Nathan of irresponsibly exaggerating and distorting his private life. After many years of no contact with each other, Henry walked into Nathan's life again because of Nathan's funeral. On the other hand, in the first-person narrative with Nathan, the host of the funeral becomes Henry, and it is Nathan who attends the funeral. Henry first died in a surgical operation in the United States, and then was resurrected as Hanoch in Israel. The dual narratives of Nathan and Henry do not run parallel to each other, but intersperse, entangle, and even contradict and subvert each other. With the help of postmodern writing techniques in which the protagonist comes back from life and death, "Counter Life" reveals how environment, encounters and a series of related life choices change people's subjective initiative, how they bring people different identities and recognition and interpretation of identities.

U

Legend has it that there was an agency in the Ottoman Empire, founded by the ruling Sultan himself. It was in charge of sleep and dreams. It specifically collected people's dreams, classified, screened, analyzed, reviewed and processed them. Once any signs of a threat to the monarchy were found, all measures were immediately taken to suppress them. This institution is known as the "Dream Palace". The scary thing about the Dream Palace lies in its absurdity, its arbitrariness, the most blindness, and the most deadly. For the sake of power and domination, some dreams can even be created. The story begins when a young man from a prominent family, Mark Alem, enters the Dream Palace. His family has produced five Albanian prime ministers, as well as countless generals and important ministers. Because of the importance of the Dream Palace, he was assigned to work in the Dream Palace, and directly entered the important screening department, and was soon transferred to the analysis department. He had to deal with all kinds of dreams every day, and he actually read the same dream twice: in a wasteland beside the bridge, among the garbage and waste, there was a strange musical instrument playing automatically, and a bull, who was not sure if it was driven crazy by the music, stood beside the bridge and roared. As a result, his handling of this dream almost destroyed his family, but he was unexpectedly promoted and became the director of the Dream Palace.

German literature is famous for its poetry and "novelles" (short stories). Most of the famous German writers have written some excellent short stories and short stories. Short and medium-sized novels in German-speaking countries, especially short stories based on one moment and one event, have the advantage of seeing the big from the small. Like mountain flowers and weeds with strong vitality, they grow everywhere in German-speaking countries and develop in colorful ways. The novels of Romantic writers such as Hoffmann exude the fragrance of mysterious "orchids"; the works of Swiss novelists such as Gotthelf are filled with the bright sunshine and fresh air of the Alps; the novels of Sturm, who grew up on the coast of the North Sea, are always like a layer of mist, filled with desolate and soft poetry... This book selects and translates famous works of German literature masters such as Goethe, Heine, Zweig, and Kafka. The title of this book comes from a story in Genesis. The story tells that Noah, the ancestor of mankind, sent a dove out of the ark to find out news when the flood on the earth began to recede. However, after he sent out the third dove, this dove never returned and there was no news. The author uses this fable to condemn the imperialist world war and express his deep concern for the fate of mankind.

Seven heart-warming stories brought by a cat who delivers oracles, a heart-warming masterpiece by Japanese healing writer Michiko Aoyama! Everyone who is confused will find their own guidance in this book. A lovelorn girl, a graduate frustrated with job hunting, a father with a rift in the parent-child relationship, a housewife trying to decide between her family and her dreams, a victim of school violence... Several people accidentally visited a shrine and all met a cat with a star mark on its left hip. The oracle is like a riddle, but when people find the answer, their lives will change dramatically. Seven leaves, seven tender stories, let the magical cat enlighten you who are confused. Won the 13th Tianlong Literary Award × Shortlisted for the Future House Novel Award! Michiko Aoyama, a treasured Japanese healing writer, writes with heart-warming words and phrases! "Pain can't go away, and you don't have to let it go away. It won't go away, but will slowly turn into something else." Michiko Aoyama's warm writing style will heal you who are anxious and sensitive. Although we are all small existences, the world exists because of you and me.

The novel starts from the growth and friendship of two young men, Narcissus and Goldmund, in Mariabronn Monastery, and revolves around their life trajectories. Narcissus and Goldmund took different paths in life due to their completely different natures: Narcissus, a scholar guided by reason, cultivated his character, devoted himself to study, and became the abbot of a monastery; Goldmund, an artist who was called by sensibility, wandered and developed his own ingenuity and became a sculptor. Although they have different natures, it does not prevent the two from forming a deep friendship and cherishing each other. Through mutual inspiration, learning, and perception, they finally resonate in their minds and souls and reach understanding. Although the reality leaves regrets, the tacit understanding has been perfected.

This book tells the story of Hans Castorp, a young man with a bright future who was unfortunately infected with tuberculosis during the treatment of anemia in the "Mountain Villa" International Sanatorium and was forced to stay in the sanatorium for a long time. During this period, he met all kinds of strange people, including secretive Freemasons, fanatical Jesuit priests, and colonial farmers. Various ideological trends collided and confronted here. As a result, the protagonist not only began to have confused thoughts, but also became increasingly depressed, and became obsessed with a married woman. The villa became a "magic mountain", where he forgot time, the responsibilities and mission of life. Seven years later, the world war broke out, and the artillery fire of the war finally woke him up. Inspired by the so-called "patriotism", he rushed to the battlefield. The author attempts to fully highlight the spiritual chaos and decadence of the Western world through dialogue, symbols, dreams, debates, monologues and other modern expression methods.

Zweig, no male writer knows women better than him! In classic works such as "Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life" and "Letter from a Strange Woman", Zweig used meticulous psychological descriptions to nakedly display the emotional world of women's undercurrents and breakaway from reason. The stories are wonderful and exciting, and while readers are amazed, they also have a better understanding of society and human nature. This book selects three masterpieces of Zweig's novels. Opening any one of them will shock your soul and make you think deeply.

I am a cat who has not yet been named. He seems to have nothing to do on weekdays, lying lazily on his back, either basking in the sun or sleeping. Let me tell you quietly, in fact, I have been observing you humans, looking at people through the peephole, and I can spot them accurately! My owner is a teacher. He seems to be diligent and studious. After coming back from school every day, he goes into the study room. Everyone thinks that he is studying and preparing for lessons, but this is not the case - I peek and see that he is most likely sleeping soundly in the study room, sometimes drooling on the books! Those who come to visit the host's house are even more bizarre. Some are flattering, some are hypocritical and cunning, some are stupid and ridiculous, some think one thing, say another thing, and do another... In my opinion, the human heart is not complicated, but some people just can't see it clearly, can't see it clearly, and can't see it through. Open this book and let you see through the human heart at a glance!

No family is as complex, full of noise and turmoil as the Compson family: their ancestors were once a prominent family in the town, but by Jason Compson's generation they had declined. Compson was drunk and dreaming all day long, always feeling that life was meaningless. His wife, Caroline Bascom, was selfish and cold-blooded, complaining all day long. They had three sons and one daughter. The eldest son, Quentin, is talented and intelligent and was admitted to Harvard University, but he has been obsessed with his sister Katie since childhood...; The second daughter, Katie, is kind-hearted but willful since childhood. She always wants to live her dream life, but always falls in love with the wrong man along the way, which is regarded as the shame of the family; the third son, Jason, is withdrawn, greedy and cold-hearted; the fourth son, Ben Jiming, is a lovely person. Pity, suffers from mental retardation. At the age of thirty-three, he only has the intelligence of three years old. He is despised by his mother and third brother Jason. Jason plans to send him to a mental hospital after his mother passes away... Open this book and you will understand the moral dilemma of the entire human race through the rise and fall of a southern manor, and see through the beauty, ugliness and desire in human nature at a glance.

When you are in adversity and your life is at a loss, you must read "The Story of Chess"! On the large passenger ship sailing from New York, USA to the capital of Argentina, the world chess masters champion Centovic stole the show. He is a god in the minds of many chess enthusiasts - all passengers who play chess with him are mercilessly crushed by his three moves and two moves. However, when the figure of "Dr. B" appeared among the onlookers, the situation suddenly reversed. He thoughtfully and quietly gave instructions to his players until he succeeded in killing Centovic every step of the way. Witnessing all this, I became extremely curious about "Dr. When the pressure was so great that he was about to collapse, he accidentally obtained a compilation of chess games, memorized 150 chess games by heart, and began to play the game with himself in his mind. This honed his superb chess skills, and also made him often fall into anxiety and madness...

Zweig, no male writer knows women better than him! In classic works such as "Letter from an Unknown Woman" and "Twenty-Four Hours in a Woman's Life", Zweig uses meticulous psychological descriptions to nakedly display the emotional world of women's undercurrents and breakaway from reason. The stories are brilliant, allowing readers to have a better understanding of society and human nature while being amazed. This book selects five Zweig's masterpieces of short stories and short stories. Reading any one of them will shock your soul and trigger your thinking. Gorky once commented: ""Letter from a Strange Woman" deeply shocked me with its touching sincere tone, extraordinary tenderness towards women, originality of the theme, and strange expressive power that only a true artist can have... You wrote it just right! The sympathy for your heroine, her image, and her sad heart song made me so excited that I couldn't control myself. I actually cried without shame."

On the blog website, a man named REN records the daily love life with his wife YUKI. The pregnant YUKI constantly uses a paintbrush to depict the beautiful vision for the child and the future. But strangely, the blog, which is full of happiness, suddenly stopped updating a year and a half ago... Yuta, who is in kindergarten, prepared a heartwarming painting for Mother's Day. In the picture, Yuta and her mother. Oka Naomi stood side by side next to the apartment building where they lived, but strangely, only the room where Yuta lived was messily painted with crayons... The art teacher Miura was killed while hiking, and a mountain landscape painting that seemed to be a posthumous work was left at the scene. The police confirmed that this painting was indeed painted by Miura, but the painting style was completely different from usual... These paintings - abnormal! ! ! That home - something's wrong! ! !