Chapter 20 Book Review Twenty Years of Friendship or Love

Twenty years of letter friendship is long and light.Since this thin booklet is a collection of letters, if it is not called a novel, it doesn't matter if it is called a collection of essays.Most of the letters do not exceed 800 words, but between the lines are full of the hearty humor of American women and the calm and considerate of British men. Lemon (special book reviewer) In language class, let everyone talk about their favorite movie stars.I stammered the introduction of Hugh Grant, and the students were all at a loss.In desperation, I began to make a list of his works.From "Notting Hill" to "Four Weddings and a Funeral", students from France, Spain, Palestine, and Tajikistan, especially the girls, all suddenly understood.His films, including "Brie Jones's Single Diary" are all typical "Made in Britain". To the extreme, let a young British guy who couldn't find a girlfriend in his own country sleep with four beauties on the same day he arrived in the United States.Of course, apart from the fact that they both happened to be written by the same screenwriter Richard Curtis, it also reflects that this model can be romanticized.

For example, the movie "Blood Shadow", which was translated as "The Shadow of the Lost", is also such a combination of men and women.The name of the movie is really weird. It has nothing to do with the content of the story, except that it can help pirate disc dealers attract the attention of misunderstandings.The film is adapted from a famous epistolary novel. The storyline is a female writer living alone in New York. I read a lot of introductions about English literature in the "New York Times" supplement "Book Review Weekly", but it is difficult to find the original. According to a The advertisement was written to Mark's Books, 84 Charing Cross Road, London.Manager Frank responded quickly and sent some of the books she had ordered.In the correspondence between the two, in addition to customers ordering all kinds of weird side books and the manager reporting the balance of book payments and checks, they also talked about eggs and meat and other things that had nothing to do with buying books.In the early 1950s, London, which had just experienced the war, was still in short supply of consumer goods, and the quota system was still in effect. The kind heroine may be happy because Frank can often provide her with good books, and the price is quite cheap. , often send food to the guys in this bookstore.Both parties' emails brought precious joy to each other.Twenty years later, the impoverished female author became a well-known playwright and accepted the invitation to come to London, but Frank died of illness three years ago.

Twenty years of letter friendship is long and light.Since this thin booklet is a collection of letters, if it is not called a novel, it doesn't matter if it is called a collection of essays.Most of the letters do not exceed 800 words, but between the lines are full of the hearty humor of American women and the calm and considerate of British men.For example, Hai Lian said "I want to order a book of love poems" because - "spring is here".For another example, Cecily, Mark's female colleague, a warm-hearted little woman, wrote to Helene without telling Frank, saying "don't let Frank know that I wrote to you" because "he has always regarded your correspondence as your personal friendship".Only when I see Cecily's words from time to time, and Frank's reserved and steady letters, which always seem to be business-like, do I feel that this man's tight face and demeanor are ridiculously cute.Of course, if these emotions are written in a book, they will appear delicate and touching, but if they are clearly expressed in a movie of more than 100 minutes, high narrative skills are required.But it's a bit of a pity that movie audiences don't feel this very well. It turns flat and becomes procrastinated, but Anthony Hopkins' performance has more than made up for it.

It is also worth mentioning that in the appendix, Helene finally came to London to write a diary.After a trip to London, seeing Frank's widow and children, I finally tied this simple complex to satisfy readers' wishes.If this is considered a young woman's writing, Hai Lian's personality can make the orders for second-hand book sales elegant and become petty bourgeois allusions, not to mention that she has become a well-known writer.When you come to London, you will receive admirers, interviews with the media, book signings in bookstores, and invitations to socialites.Even if it's not a lotus flower step by step, it's all interesting stories in her writing.A Nostalgic Journey to London by an American Female Writer——If you need a slogan, you can draw it like this.Surprised, loved, complained, grateful, coquettish, and sad, all kinds of emotions can be switched freely in her, and readers don't feel disobedient.

It's just that in the film, the first thing that moves the female writer's heart is not the kindness of the shopkeeper, but the cheap price of the book.Charing Cross Road is a paradise in the eyes of book lovers in London and even Europe. It is famous for its large number of second-hand bookstores.Later in the film, the heroine’s girlfriend went to London, so she took the heroine’s commission to visit Mark’s bookstore. Her evaluation was: a bookstore with a Dickensian flavor, the store is full of a smell, which is composed of old, musty, The smell of torn books, wooden floors and ceilings.

The current 84 Charing Cross Road has become the storefront of a chain of pubs in London among the surrounding bookstores. Source: Southern Metropolis Daily If there is a chance to go to the UK (1) If I have the opportunity to go to England, I must go there, and take a pilgrimage attitude.There, "there's this street, it's bigger than the whole world." If I don't get a chance to go to England, and you have, "If you happen to pass 84 Charing Cross Road, give me a kiss, I owe her A lot...". This is a book known as the "Book Lover's Bible", and finally, finally, it finally came out in the domestic edition.It has been 35 years since the earliest version of this book was published, and the memories of the past in the book began in October 1949. A 33-year-old female writer, Helen Hanff, who lived in New York, USA, always She felt that the city of New York had no temperament, which made her unable to buy the books she wanted to read all day long, so she had to mail order from a small second-hand bookstore in London. S and Cohen" bookstore.What was originally a simple business relationship has turned into a 20-year-long, embarrassing relationship with many people.

Until 1969, the owners of the bookstore passed away one after another, and the door of the bookstore will be closed forever.Helen sadly flipped through the letters between the small bookstore and the shoebox that had been stored in the shoebox for 20 years, sorted them out and published them in the autumn of the following year.Since then, 84 Charing Cross Road has become a holy place for book lovers.A round bronze plaque is inlaid on the outer wall of the original bookstore to this day, engraved on it: 84 Charing Cross Road, the former site of Marcus and Cohen Bookstore, famous for the books of Helen Hanff.In English-speaking countries, there are few book lovers who do not know this book. Not only has it been adapted into TV dramas, radio dramas and stage plays, it was also made into a movie in 1987.

Ms. Zhong Fangling, the author of "Bookstore Landscape" and "Book Paradise", claims to be the number one diehard fan of this book. She has collected various versions and even scripts of stage plays. In the autumn of 1994, she also visited the original site of the bookstore in London, and in 1996, visited the author Ms. Hanfu in New York. She described these in 12 pages and solemnly put them in her "Book Paradise".Zhong Fangling also mentioned that an American bookseller became more determined in his industry because of this book, and named the bookstore "84 Charing Cross Road".Some romantic lovers of books even meet to kiss in front of that door number.

For the translation of the Chinese version of this book, Ms. Zhong Fangling should have done her part, but in the end she gave up.She said in "Book Paradise" that after reading the original English version dozens of times, she "just felt unable to speak for them in another language." Finally, the Chinese version of the book was published by another book lover—— —Mr. Chen Jianming completed the translation work. Zhong Fangling's "Book Paradise" was launched in China in January this year. Although the price is 68 yuan, the sales volume is very good.According to the author's incomplete statistics, more than 200 copies of "Book Paradise" have been sold in Zhongshan, and the price of this book is only 18 yuan. There must be more than 200 bosom friends in Zhongshan.Travel agencies may consider organizing a "book lover pilgrimage group" to London, England.

The "Reading Style" in front of me, I had the Taiwan version before.This time the mainland edition came out, and I couldn't help but buy another copy.It is one of the series of "Network and Books". The emergence of the Internet was once regarded as playing the sad music of books as a traditional form of reading, but at this stage the relationship between them seems to be "coexistence and co-prosperity". .As for the future, it is difficult to draw conclusions.Regardless of the medium, reading is ultimately a happy thing.And the twelve golden rules set out in this book, I think most bookworms will be happy to accept it.Just like the sentence printed on the back cover of each book in this series: To grope forward in the forest of reading, you need enthusiasm; to not get lost in the groping, you need to advocate.Let me just transcribe the so-called "Golden Rules for Serious Bookworms" in the book:

Rule #1: Never read only new books. Rule Two: It is immoral to borrow books from others.For this point, book lovers naturally agree. There was such a notice posted in my study: "The gentleman is comparable to Liu Bei, and my book is not willing to be Jingzhou." Rule three: book thieves should be cursed. Rule 4: You don't have to read all the books. Rule Five: Read books anywhere. Rule Six: Watch out if your book is a fantasy.For book lovers, owning a rare book, even a rare book from the period of the Republic of China, is such an exciting thing. Rule Seven: Reading should be an educational pastime. Rule Eight: Take notes while reading.