雖然2017年還剩三個多月的時間,但年度最佳書單已經開始成形,而且恰好趕上了節日購物季。 研究顯示,我們把更多或者坦率地講是太多時間,用在了聯網設備上,在活動之間的片刻時間也要用來數字娛樂。為什么不探究一則更深層次的故事?為什么不嘗試閱讀一本傳統的紙質圖書?(當然我們并不是要對電子閱讀器用戶指手畫腳。) 亞馬遜(Amazon)的編輯們在6月份列出了一份榜單,其中囊括了他們認為到目前為止最優秀的圖書。官方榜單有20本;下面是其中的前七本書。 |
There are more than three months left in 2017, but the best reads of the year are beginning to crystallize—just in time for holiday shopping season, naturally. Studies show that we’re spending more time—too much, frankly—immersed in our Internet-connected devices, soaking up the brief moments in between activities with digital distraction. Why not dig into a deeper narrative? Why not try an old-fashioned book? (And no, we won’t judge you for reading one using an e-reader.) In June, Amazon editors assembled a list of what they believe are the best books of the year to date. Their official list goes to 20; here’s a look at the top seven. |
1.《極樂部》(The Ministry of Utmost Happiness),作者:阿蘭達蒂?洛伊 亞馬遜編輯塞拉?威爾森表示,這本書引領讀者來到印度次大陸,講述了“印度宗教、政治和文化變革的年代”,書的開篇是一個叫安尤姆的女人在她稱作家的墓地打開一張毯子,故事由此展開。其他人物的敘述逐漸勾勒出故事的輪廓:怪人提洛,浪漫風趣的穆薩,提洛的房東,還有兩位吉賓小姐。這是一個暴力、幽默、諷刺和令人傷心的故事。『購買鏈接』 |
1. The Ministry of Utmost Happiness, by Arundhati Roy The book takes the reader on a journey across the Indian subcontinent—”years of India’s religious, political, and cultural changes,” Amazon’s Seira Wilson notes—and begins with a woman named Anjum unrolling a carpet in a graveyard she calls home. Narratives of other characters begin to weave into the picture: the odd Tilo, romantic interest Musa, Tilo’s landlord, two people named Miss Jebeen. It’s a violent, humorous, ironic, and heartbreaking story. (Knopf; $20) |
2.《花月殺手:奧沙謀殺案和聯邦調查局的誕生》(Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI),作者:大衛?格雷恩 本書主要講述了印第安人部落奧沙的故事。這個部落在上世紀20年代通過談判,成功維護了他們在俄克拉荷馬州土地上的開采權。這一度讓奧沙部落變得非常富有 — 然后他們遭遇了一系列處決式的槍殺、中毒和房屋爆炸,接連有人死亡。書中記錄了J.埃德加?胡佛的調查過程。『購買鏈接』 |
2. Killers of the Flower Moon: The Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI, by David Grann This book centers on the Native American tribe known as the Osage, who in the 1920s managed to negotiate to maintain the mineral rights for their land in Oklahoma. In time it made the Osage very rich—and that’s when they started dying through a series of execution-style shootings, poisonings, and exploding houses. The story follows J. Edgar Hoover’s investigation. (Doubleday; $20) |
3.《貝爾鎮》(Beartown),作者:弗雷德里克?貝克曼 這本書講述了一個家庭的悲歡離合(一個家庭因為一件暴力犯罪而四分五裂),也是一則青少年成長的故事(對于故事核心的年輕人)。幾個人能否改變一個經濟狀況日益惡化的混亂、嚴密的社區?答案在前幾頁徐徐展開,但直到書的結尾才真相大白。『購買鏈接』 |
3. Beartown, by Fredrik Backman It’s part domestic drama (a family pulled apart by an act of violence), it’s part coming-of-age story (for the young adults at the story’s center). Can a handful of people change a scrappy, tight-knit community with declining finances? The answer begins to unfold in the first few pages and doesn’t let up until the last. (Atria; $20) |
4.《一路向西》(Exit West),作者:莫欣?哈米德 這本書的主人公是一對年輕情侶娜迪亞和薩伊德,他們在一個遙遠的城市里相愛,但這個城市后來變成了暴力無情的野蠻之鄉。兩個相愛的人被迫離開親人,通過魔法門逃離這個國家。這是一則有關逃亡和如何在這個世界找到自己的位置的故事。『購買鏈接』 |
4. Exit West, by Mohsin Hamed The book centers on a young couple, Nadia and Saeed, who fall in love in a distant city that turns violent. The activity causes the pair to leave behind their loved ones and flee the country through magic doors. It’s a story about being in exile and establishing one’s place in the world. (Riverhead; $16) |
5.《神父爹地》(Priestdaddy),作者:帕特麗廈?洛克伍德 令人虛弱的疾病和貧困,使作者和她的丈夫不得不搬回兒時的家,與她的父親 — 一名已經結婚的神父(不要問) — 住在一起,按照亞馬遜編輯凡妮莎?克羅寧的描述,她的父親“喜歡穿著四角褲閑逛,‘撕扯’他的吉他,咆哮著‘HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT’’,來表達他的不滿。”這部幽默小說講述了作者如何應對古怪的父母們的惡作劇。(Riverhead出版社;16美元) |
5. Priestdaddy, by Patricia Lockwood Debilitating illness and poverty drive the author and her husband to move back into her childhood home with her father, a married priest (don’t ask) who, as Amazon’s Vannessa Cronin puts it, “likes to lounge about in his boxers, ‘shredding’ his guitar, and raging ‘HOMEY DON’T PLAY THAT’ to signify displeasure.” The humorous story focuses on the author’s attempts to manage her lunatic parents’ shenanigans. (Riverhead; $16) |
6. 《你不必說你愛我》 (You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me),作者:謝爾曼?亞歷斯 這本回憶錄的背景是在斯波坎印第安人保留地,講述了一個母親(非常聰明,有時候很殘酷)與兒子之間的復雜關系。亞馬遜編輯薩拉?哈里森?史密斯形容這本書“可讀性強,樸實無華,幽默風趣,非常感人。”(Little, Brown & Co;20美元) |
6. You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me, by Sherman Alexie A memoir set in the Spokane Indian Reservation that centers on the complicated relationship between a mother (“whip-smart, sometimes cruel”) and son. “Readable, unpretentious, funny, and deeply compassionate,” notes Amazon’s Sarah Harrison Smith. (Little, Brown & Co; $20) |
7. 《林肯在中陰界》(Lincoln in the Bardo),作者:喬治?桑德斯 這是以短篇小說和隨筆聞名的桑德斯第一部長篇小說。故事發生在1862年,從亞伯拉罕?林肯總統第一個孩子因傷寒夭折開始。據出版商描述,在林肯悲痛欲絕的時候,白宮附近的公墓里居住的鬼魂“相互交往,發牢騷,同情其他鬼魂的遭遇,爭吵并且做出各種古怪的懺悔行為。”『購買鏈接』 譯者:劉進龍/汪皓? |
7. Lincoln in the Bardo, by George Saunders It’s the first proper novel by Saunders, known better for his short stories and essays. The story is set in 1862 and starts with President Abraham Lincoln losing his young son to typhoid. As Lincoln grieves, the ghosts who inhabit the cemetery near the White House “mingle, gripe, commiserate, quarrel, and enact bizarre acts of penance,” according to the publisher. (Random House; $17) |