英文小说
The English Patient 豆瓣
作者: Michael Ondaatje Knopf 1992 - 1
Whereas I am the man who fasts until I see what I want.
我是个一直斋戒的人,直到我看到我喜欢的...

I carried Katharine Clifton into the desert, where there is the communal book of moonlight. We were among the rumour of wells. In the palace of winds.
我抱着凯塞琳-克里福藤走入沙漠,那里有苍天下淌满月光的书,我们被关于井的谣言包围着.风的宫殿.
Middlesex 豆瓣
作者: Jeffrey Eugenides Picador 2007 - 6
"I was born twice: first, as a baby girl, on a remarkably smogless Detroit day of January 1960; and then again, as a teenage boy, in an emergency room near Petoskey, Michigan, in August of l974. . . My birth certificate lists my name as Calliope Helen Stephanides. My most recent driver's license...records my first name simply as Cal."
So begins the breathtaking story of Calliope Stephanides and three generations of the Greek-American Stephanides family who travel from a tiny village overlooking Mount Olympus in Asia Minor to Prohibition-era Detroit, witnessing its glory days as the Motor City, and the race riots of l967, before they move out to the tree-lined streets of suburban Grosse Pointe, Michigan. To understand why Calliope is not like other girls, she has to uncover a guilty family secret and the astonishing genetic history that turns Callie into Cal, one of the most audacious and wondrous narrators in contemporary fiction. Lyrical and thrilling, Middlesex is an exhilarating reinvention of the American epic.
Middlesex is the winner of the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction.
The Shipping News 豆瓣
作者: E. Annie Proulx Scribner 1994 - 6
In this touching and atmospheric novel set among the fishermen of Newfoundland, Proulx tells the story of Quoyle. From all outward appearances, Quoyle has gone through his first 36 years on earth as a big schlump of a loser. He's not attractive, he's not brilliant or witty or talented, and he's not the kind of person who typically assumes the central position in a novel. But Proulx creates a simple and compelling tale of Quoyle's psychological and spiritual growth. Along the way, we get to look in on the maritime beauty of what is probably a disappearing way of life. (from Amazon.com)
Enigma 豆瓣
作者: Robert Harris Ballantine Books 1996
England 1943. Much of the infamous Nazi Enigma code has been cracked. But Shark, the impenetrable operational cipher used by Nazi U-boats, has masked the Germans' movements, allowing them to destroy a record number of Allied vessels. Feeling that the blood of Allied sailors is on their hands, a top-secret team of British cryptographers works feverishly around the clock to break Shark. And when brilliant mathematician Tom Jericho succeeds, it is the stuff of legend...
故事简介:
1943年3月,位于布雷奇利园区的英国破解密码团队-X机密工作站,面临了可怕的梦魘:纳粹德国的U型潜艇,毫无预警地更改了别号「谜」(Enigma)的密码,这是潜艇和德军最高指挥部的通讯密码。正运送一万名乘客及重要补给物资横越大西洋的同盟国护航舰队,此刻危在旦夕,随时都可能遭U型潜艇埋伏攻击。英国当局再度向年轻的天才数学家汤姆·杰瑞柯寻求协助,因为他是解码高手。
不为人知的是,杰瑞柯心中也有另一个无法解开的谜:就在情治单位怀疑布雷奇利园区可能有纳粹间谍渗透的同时,他心爱的女人克莱儿离奇失踪了。为了解开心中的谜团,杰瑞科向克莱儿的好友海丝特求助。他们抢先特情局一步,对克莱儿神秘的生活展开调查。最后他们赫然发现,整个事件的幕后竟牵扯出一连串国际间军事的机密与人心的相互背叛……
《密码迷情》是关于科学家或市井小民的战争,他们成天躲在研究室或机房内,却成为扭转世界大战成败的关键,令人感到不可思议。书中不只一次调侃了这群数学家,例如:「瞧~书呆子一夕间变得炙手可热!」、「密码本是我军弟兄冒生命危险抢救出来的,这里离前线还远的很!」再次显露出了当时军人对文人的歧见与误解。如果你刚好认为自己脑袋比四肢发达,该书铁定能够征服您心。
男主角是位天赋异稟但有轻微精神疾病的数学家,一举一动神情都詮释的唯妙唯肖。我认识一个在数学上极具天份的人,我知道当他们在解题时浑然忘我自得其乐的模样,当一部电影能够观察入微捕捉到这种神情时,令我感到十分神奇。「当你想出一道方程式能够破解世上所有谜题时,那是真正的美丽。玫瑰的美太肤浅了。」对某些人来说,这句话并不矫情。
由真实事件所引申,《密码迷情》塑造了一个人性化的英雄带领观眾揭开历史真相,据说这群解码人员直到三十年后才获得证实,是一群伟大的无名英雄,他们的所作所为当时都是国家最高机密,而屠杀丑闻更是到九十年代才公开道歉。书中富有实事求是的精神,对于查明真相的过程细节刻画不遗余力,同时线索安排面面俱到,并没有欺瞒观众的企图,一定可以满足喜爱推理、解谜的读者,如果翻译成中文版出版的话,一定畅销。
Cat's Eye 豆瓣
作者: Margaret Atwood Anchor 1998
From the Backcover of the book:

Cat's Eye is the story of Elaine Risley, a controversial painter who returns to TOronto, the city of her youth, for a retrospective of her art. Engulfed by vivid images of the past, she reminisces about a trio of girls who initiated her into the fierce politics of childhood and its secret world of friendship, longing, and betrayal. Elaine must come to terms with her own identity as a daughter, a lover, an artist, and a woman -- but above all she must seek release from her haunting memories. Disturbing, hilarious, and compassionate, Cat's Eye is a breathtaking novel of a woman grappling with the tangled knot of her life.
The Power and the Glory 豆瓣
作者: Graham Greene Penguin Classics 2003 - 2
Unabridged on mp3 audio disk. How does good spoil, and how can bad be redeemed? In his penetrating novel The Power and the Glory, Graham Greene explores corruption and atonement through a priest and the people he encounters. In the 1930s one Mexican state has outlawed the Church, naming it a source of greed and debauchery. The priests have been rounded up and shot by firing squad--save one, the whisky priest. On the run, and in a blur of alcohol and fear, this outlaw meets a dentist, a banana farmer, and a village woman he knew six years earlier. For a while, he is accompanied by a toothless man--whom he refers to as his Judas and does his best to ditch. Always, an adamant lieutenant is only a few hours behind, determined to liberate his country from the evils of the church. On the verge of reaching a safer region, the whisky priest is repeatedly held back by his vocation, even though he no longer feels fit to perform his rites: "When he was gone it would be as if God in all this space between the sea and the mountains ceased to exist. Wasn't it his duty to stay, even if they despised him, even if they were murdered for his sake? even if they were corrupted by his example?" As his sins and dangers increase, the broken priest comes to confront the nature of piety and love. Still, when he is granted a reprieve, he feels himself sliding into the old arrogance, slipping it on like the black gloves he used to wear. Greene has drawn this man--and all he encounters--vividly and viscerally. He may have said The Power and the Glory was "written to a thesis," but this brilliant theological thriller has far more mysteries--and troubling ideals--than certainties. --Joannie Kervran Stangeland
The Reader 豆瓣
8.4 (9 个评分) 作者: Bernhard Schlink 译者: Carol Brown Janeway Vintage 1999 - 3
《朗读者》演绎被禁忌的罪责之爱,采用关乎人性的严肃题材,贯穿全书的却是一个让人唏嘘的爱情故事。《朗读者》被列为年度好书口碑之选。同名影片荣膺金球奖,并获奥斯卡五项核心大奖提名。
伟大的爱情是用来唏嘘的。为了守护秘密,你会走多远?
战后的德国萧条破败,一个15岁的少年在电车上病倒了,他独自下车,行走在滂沱大雨中,最后在一个逼仄的过道里吐得一塌糊涂,一个36岁的陌生女人帮助了他••••••
3个月后,少年伯格从突如其来的猩红热侵袭中恢复过来,他只是为了去感谢那个曾经在他生病时给予过他帮助的女人,但是,情欲,或者是爱情,在15岁的少年伯格心中渐渐燃烧起来。
电车售票员汉娜总是让伯格为她朗读,《荷马史诗》、《带小狗的女人》、《战争与和平》,在伯格的朗读中,汉娜像个孩子似的时而痛哭,时而大笑,那个夏天,是他们一生中最短暂最快乐并最终影响了后来岁月的时光。
不久后一天,汉娜突然不辞而别,8年后再次见到汉娜的时候,她成了一名站在法庭上的纳粹罪犯,她并没有像其他一同被指认的罪犯一样,否认自己的罪行,而是坚定异常地坦诚一切。直到审判席上,汉娜不愿提笔在白纸上写下黑字做笔迹比较,并因此背负罪名被判终身监禁时,伯格终于明白了原因,明白了汉娜为什么不看他的旅行计划,为什么会在拿到菜单时神色紧张,为什么总是不厌其烦地听他朗读,汉娜是一个根本不会认字读书的文盲,但她拒绝向任何人袒露自己的缺陷,即使替他人受过而终身监禁,也要隐藏她是文盲这个秘密。伯格说:因为她感到羞愧。伯格是可以说出真相替她减轻罪与罚的,但却最终选择了和汉娜一样,用生命去捍卫这个卑微的秘密……
为了守护秘密,你会走多远?
内容简介:
本书是一个侦探小说家写的爱情故事,但也有人说它其实和爱情无关;它是德国每间中学课程讨论的话题;它是第一本登上纽约时报排行榜冠军的德语书。本书封面采用了艺术纸印银和烫银以体现书的情调和品位;装饰性腰带则别出心裁地设计成女子形体状。据悉,本书特地选在岁末年终推出,是想在承前启后的时刻,以一个不平凡的故事启动新年的感动与思考。(随书附送朗读版光盘)
少年伯格与比他大21岁的女人,公共汽车售票员汉娜发生了一场终生难忘的爱情。他很久以后才知道,汉娜曾经身为纳粹集中营的女看守,而后者宁愿坐牢也要保守一个秘密……
朗读,是我跟这个大我21岁的女人约会时的常规节目……我是她的朗读者,从我十五岁开始,一直到她坐牢也没有间断过。
它是一个侦探小说家写的爱情故事,但也有人说它其实和爱情无关;它是德国每间中学课堂讨论的话题;它是第一本登上纽约时报排行榜冠军的德语书。
Editorial Reviews
Amazon.com
What is the nature of guilt--and how can the human spirit survive when confronted with deep and horrifying truths?The Reader, a hushed and haunting meditation on these knotty questions, is sorrowful and shocking, yet leavened by a deep love story that is its heart. In postwar Germany, young schoolboy Michael (German actor David Cross) meets and begins a tender romance with the older, mysterious Hanna (Kate Winslet, whose performance is a revelation). The two make love hungrily in Hanna's shabby apartment, yet their true intimacy comes as Michael reads aloud to Hanna in bed, from his school assignments, textbooks, even comic books. Hanna delights in the readings, and Michael delights in Hanna.
Years later, the two cross paths again, and Michael (played as an adult by Ralph Fiennes) learns, slowly, horrifyingly, of acts that Hanna may have been involved in during the war. There is a war crimes trial, and the accused at one point asks the panel of prosecutors: "Well, what would you have done?" It is that question--as one German professor says later: "How can the next generation of Germans come to terms with the Holocaust?"--that is both heartbreaking and unanswerable. Winslet plays every shade of gray in her portrayal of Hanna, and Fiennes is riveting as the man who must rewrite history--his own and his country's--as he learns daily, hourly, of deeds that defy categorization, and morality. "No matter how much washing and scrubbing," one character says matter of factly, "some sins don't wash away."The Reader(with nods to similar films likeSophie's ChoiceandThe English Patientdares to present that unnerving premise, without offering an easy solution. --A.T. Hurley
2005年12月8日 已读
今天把它从书架上拿下来,又读了一遍。感动。以前读太侧重里面的悲情故事,这次对后半部的审判又了更深的共鸣。。。
英文 英文小说
德伯家的苔丝 豆瓣
Tess of the d’Urbervilles
7.7 (36 个评分) 作者: [英] 托马斯·哈代 译者: 张谷若 人民文学出版社 1984 - 7
本书系世界文学名著文库之一种。 德伯以软言温存猎获了少女苔丝,但苔丝失身后不愿将错就错,而是坚持追求女人的独立生存、真实爱情和幸福婚姻,但当时狭隘的贞操观念,使得她面临着种种道德障碍,苔丝向这种道德观发起一次次挑战……哈代文笔优美,作品中有浓郁的英国乡村气息,本著因涉及人生命运的大悲剧,更具有震撼人心的力量。
哈利·波特与魔法石 豆瓣 Goodreads
Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone
9.2 (687 个评分) 作者: [英] J·K·罗琳 译者: 苏农 人民文学出版社 2000 - 9
一岁的哈利・波特失去父母后,神秘地出现在姨父姨妈家的门前。哈利在姨父家饱受欺凌,度过十年极其痛苦的日子。姨父和姨妈好似凶神恶煞,他们那混世魔王儿子达力――一个肥胖、娇惯、欺负人的大块头,更是经常对哈利拳脚相加。哈利的“房间”是位于楼梯口的一个又暗又小的碗橱。十年来,从来没有人为他过过生日。
但是在他十一岁生日那天,一切都发生了变化,信使猫头鹰带来了一封神秘的信:邀请哈利去一个他――以及所有读到哈利故事的人――会觉得永远难忘的、不可思议的地方――霍格沃茨魔法学校。
在魔法学校,哈利不仅找着了朋友、学会了空中飞行,骑着一把型号为光轮2000的飞天扫帚打魁地球,还得到了一件隐形衣。他发现那里的一切――从上课到吃饭到睡觉都充满了魔力,但是一块魔石出现了,它与哈利的命运息息相关……
哈利·波特与密室 豆瓣 Goodreads 谷歌图书
Harry Potter And The Chamber Of Secrets
9.0 (569 个评分) 作者: [英] J·K·罗琳 译者: 马爱新 人民文学出版社 2000 - 9 其它标题: 哈利・波特与密室
《哈利·波特与密室》是“哈利·波特”系列的第二部。
哈利·波特在霍格沃茨魔法学校学习一年之后,暑假开始了。他在姨父姨妈家熬过痛苦的假期。正当他准备打点行装去学校时,小精灵多比前来发出警告:如果哈利返回霍格沃茨,灾难将会临头。
但哈利义无返顾地回到了霍格沃茨,新来的吉罗德·洛哈特教授装腔作势,让他作呕;游荡在女生舆洗室里的幽灵“哭泣的桃金娘”搅得他不得安宁;低年级的小女生金妮对他投来关切目光常令他尴尬不已;小男生科林·克里维“追星”式的跟踪又经常使他落荒而逃。
但是,这一切仅仅是灾难的序曲。正如多比所预言的,哈利遭受了重重磨难,经历了种种危险,难解之谜又使他煞费苦心:霍格沃茨的学生接二连三地变成了石头。这一切是品德败坏的学生德拉科·马尔福精心策划的杰作?还是忠厚善良的海格无心铸成的大错?或者另有人将在霍格沃茨制造更大的阴谋?这一切又是否与传说中的密室有关?哈利决心揭开谜底……
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets 豆瓣
8.3 (6 个评分) 作者: [英] J·K·罗琳 Bloomsbury 2000 - 1
Book Description
This sequel to "The Philosopher's Stone" picks up where the first book finished, with Harry returning to Hogwarts School after his holidays.

Harry Potter is a wizard.He is in his second year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Little does he know that this year will be just as eventful as the last - even getting there is an adventure in itself!
Book Dimension
length: (cm)17.8                 width:(cm)11.1
魔戒(第三部) 豆瓣
8.9 (52 个评分) 作者: [英国] J·R·R·托尔金 译者: 汤定九 译林出版社 2001 - 11
《魔戒》这是一部有关史前人类霍比特人的故事。弗拉多为了拯救族人,前往火焰山的厄运山口,要摧毁魔戒的魔力,使人类免受黑势力的奴役……。《魔戒王三部曲》是英国牛津大学中世纪英国文学教授J.R.R.托尔金于1954年推出的系列作品。它一经问世就在英美两国乃至全世界掀起了轩然大波,随即成为西方奇幻文学殿堂的经典之作,并影响了好几代的读者。至今《魔戒王三部曲》已被译成25种不同语言,全球销售量达9000万册以上。托尔金教授创造的中古大地魔幻社会,结构精密,住着不同的种族,而哈比族少年佛洛多被卷入一场争夺魔戒的正邪大战,凭着勇气和友人的帮助,终于战胜黑暗力量。
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 豆瓣
作者: [英] J·K·罗琳 Bloomsbury Publishing PLC 2001 - 6
It is the summer holidays and soon Harry Potter will be starting his fourth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.Harry is Countiong the day:there are new spells to be learnt,more Quidditch to be played,and Hogwarts castle to continue exploring.But Harry needs to be carefulthere are unexpcted dangers lurking...
Breakfast at Tiffany's 豆瓣
作者: Truman Capote Modern Library 1994 - 1
It's New York in the 1940s, where the martinis flow from cocktail hour till breakfast at Tiffany's. And nice girls don't, except, of course, Holly Golightly. Pursued by Mafia gangsters and playboy millionaires, Holly is a fragile eyeful of tawny hair and turned-up nose, a heart-breaker, a perplexer, a traveller, a tease. She is irrepressibly 'top banana in the shock department', and one of the shining flowers of American fiction.
This edition also contains three stories: 'House of Flowers', 'A Diamond Guitar' and 'A Christmas Memory'.
2006年2月26日 已读
2006年2月27日 评论 与钻石无关 - 最近因为《卡波特》电影走红,他的书在旧书店一扫而空。因为看到黄小邪的评论( http://www.blogcn.com/User3/huangxiaoxie/blog/28480262.html ),才知道那部奥戴丽赫本主演的好莱坞经典电影《蒂梵内的早餐》是根据卡波特的同名中篇小说改编的。自从去年底看了《卡波特》,每次来青苹果都会去找找有没有卡波特的旧书,尤其是这本《蒂梵内的早餐》。对《冷血》到是有着很强的抗拒心理。因为它不言而喻的阴暗血腥,加上从电影里知道作者为了写这本书而背负的心理负荷。感觉上会是异常压抑不快乐的阅读经验。最近看了太多不快乐的东西,对黑暗东西的心理承受力到了限度。在大书店的新书柜前翻到过《蒂梵内的早餐》,看了第一页,文字很好。内容又是关于纽约和美女,比冷血里面的小乡村和暴力背景要有吸引力的多。所以最近看到旧书店就钻,只在找这本书。 昨晚走进青苹果的旧书部,熟门熟路的直奔小说分类,作者名在”C”下面那个书架,竟然看到这本干净的硬皮小书!一时间不太敢相信自己的好运气。书的品相非常新,开始还以为是新书呢。翻到扉页,看到熟悉的右上角的铅笔字”9″。知道确实是按旧书在卖,原价13,现价9块。欢欢喜喜地拿到前台去付钱。花了一个晚上读完。 《蒂梵内的早餐》这部电影曾经令我大跌眼镜。因为它的盛名,一直以为是经典的好莱坞式浪漫爱情片。经朋友再三推荐才去录影店租来看。故事情节里面的错综复杂,Holly对她周围世界人物的冷漠精辟地分析认知都是要多前卫有多前卫。完全不是我想象的一个琼瑶小说式的乖乖女,完全不是幼稚地对爱情充满幻想那种苍白女子。电影结尾虽然还是好莱坞式的大团圆,但是和电影本身并不配套。“一部奇怪有意思的电影。”是我的评价。现在才知道,这里面让我觉得奇怪和有意思的元素都是来自卡波特的小说。那个结尾是好莱坞加上去的。 卡波特笔下的 Holly,在功利冷漠桀骜不驯的外表下其实有着一颗异常坚持天真的心。她的天真不是无知,她的天真是一种纯粹,因为这种纯粹,她对自己的坚持变成理所当然。一切外人眼中,一切世俗人所以为最不可思议的决定和放弃,对她来说都是自然而然的。因为对她来说,不可能有第二种选择。世俗的东西,功利的东西对她来说其实都很轻。放弃在好莱坞和大明星同台演出的机会,她说“you got to want it to be good and I don’t want it.” 因此她决不妥协,决不接受一切她知道对她不重要的东西。而表面上她却不愿意相信自己有着这样的坚持,表面上她嘲笑一切社会所设定的规范,心甘情愿甚至变本加厉地去做楼下那个Madame Sapphia Spannella眼中的轻浮的功利女子。 很喜欢书中的一个线索,好像在电影里也被完好保存铺展开来。就是关于Holly在自己门铃边贴的名字条上写的“Traveling”(旅行在外)这个词。还有她的公寓里一切都是旅人的做派,几乎没有家具,所有衣物依然放在旅行箱里,不给收留的猫起名字。因为她不知道自己要在哪里停留,不知道自己明天会不会启程。这种深深的没有归属感,这种惧怕和人(哪怕是一只猫)建立情感纽带的心态,才是最深入骨髓的所谓“漂泊感”。它既不华丽也不浪漫,充满了失望和不安。     “If I could find a real-life place that made me feel like Tiffany’s, then I’d buy some furniture and give that cat a name.”     “如果我能在生活里找到一个地方,一个让我感觉像象蒂梵内那样的地方,那我才会去买些家具,并且给那只猫一个名字。” 光知道《蒂梵内的早餐》这个名字而没有读过小说或者看过(看懂)电影的人很可能会被这个名字误导。需要明白的是蒂梵内对Holly的真正意义。Holly所依赖的蒂梵内能够给她的平和安全的感觉到底来自哪里?     “Not that I give a hoot aout jewelry. Diamonds, yes. But it is tacky to wear diamonds before you’re forty; and even that’s risky. They only look right on the really old girls. Wrinkles and bones, white hair and diamonds: I can’t wait. But that’s not why I’m mad about Tiffany’s. ”     “我才不在乎宝石首饰。钻石,也许。不过四十岁以前戴钻石太爆发户了。不过四十岁也有点儿悬。钻石只有戴在老女人身上才好看。满是皱纹瘦骨嶙峋,白发苍苍再加钻石:啊,我都等不及了。不过那和我爱蒂梵内一点关系都没有。” Holly喜欢蒂梵内是因为在她焦虑重重,     “满心恐惧,冷汗直流,根本不知道自己怕的到底是什么却千真万确知道坏事临头的时候,最管用的是钻进一辆计程车去蒂梵内。那是一个如此安静骄傲的地方,它立刻让我安心平和下来。在那里什么坏事都不会发生,因为那里有那么多善良地西服笔挺的绅士,还有那么美好的银器和颚鱼钱包的味道。”     “You’re afraid and you sweat like hell, but you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Except something bad is going to happen, only you don’t know what it is. …What I’ve found does the most good is just to get into a taxi and go to Tiffany’s. It calms me down right away, the quietness and the proud look of it; nothing very bad could happen to you there, not with those kind men in their nice suits, and that lovely smell of silver and alligator wallets.” 她管这种焦虑叫做“阴险的红”。     “You know those days when you’ve got the mean reds?” “Same as the blues?” “No,” she said slowly, “No, the blues are because you’re getting fat or maye it’s been raining too long. You’re sad, that’s all. But the mean reds are horrible.” “你知道有些时候你会感觉到‘阴险的红’?” “你是指类似‘蓝调悲哀’?” “不是,”她一字一板地说,“不是,‘蓝调悲哀’往往是因为你觉得你在发胖或者很久的阴雨天。你有些难过罢了。但是‘阴险的红’要恐怖的多。” 这本小说之所以经典,是因为我们每个人都在“阴险的红”里惶惑过,其实我们每个人都需要一个象蒂梵内一样的地方,我们可以安心的为这个地方买家具,给收留的小猫起个名字。。。与钻石无关。
经典 英文 英文小说
The Age of Innocence (Modern Library Classics) 豆瓣
作者: Edith Wharton / Louis Auchincloss Modern Library 1999 - 2
Newland Archer saw little to envy in the marriages of his friends, yet he prided himself that in May Welland he had found the companion of his needs--tender and impressionable, with equal purity of mind and manners. The engagement was announced discreetly, but all of New York society was soon privy to this most perfect match, a union of families and circumstances cemented by affection.
Enter Countess Olenska, a woman of quick wit sharpened by experience, not afraid to flout convention and determined to find freedom in divorce. Against his judgment, Newland is drawn to the socially ostracized Ellen Olenska, who opens his eyes and has the power to make him feel. He knows that in sweet-tempered May, he can expect stability and the steadying comfort of duty. But what new worlds could he discover with Ellen? Written with elegance and wry precision, Edith Wharton's Pulitzer Prize-winning masterpiece is a tragic love story and a powerful homily about the perils of a perfect marriage.
Commentary by William Lyon Phelps and E. M. Forster
Imperium 豆瓣 Goodreads
作者: Robert Harris Simon & Schuster 2006 - 9
<center>
FROM THE BESTSELLING AUTHOR OF FATHERLAND AND POMPEII COMES THE MOST PROVOCATIVE AND BRILLIANT NOVEL OF ANTIQUITY SINCE I, CLAUDIUS --
<font size="+1">IMPERIUM</font>
A CAUTIONARY TALE OF CICERO, THE GREATEST ORATOR OF ALL TIME, AND HIS EXTRAORDINARY STRUGGLE FOR POWER IN ROME.
</center>
When Tiro, the confidential secretary (and slave) of a Roman senator, opens the door to a terrified stranger on a cold November morning, he sets in motion a chain of events that will eventually propel his master into one of the most suspenseful courtroom dramas in history. The stranger is a Sicilian, a victim of the island's corrupt Roman governor, Verres. The senator is Marcus Cicero -- an ambitious young lawyer and spellbinding orator, who at the age of twenty-seven is determined to attain imperium -- supreme power in the state.
Of all the great figures of the Roman world, none was more fascinating or charismatic than Cicero. And Tiro -- the inventor of shorthand and author of numerous books, including a celebrated biography of his master (which was lost in the Dark Ages) -- was always by his side.
Compellingly written in Tiro's voice, Imperium is the re-creation of his vanished masterpiece, recounting in vivid detail the story of Cicero's quest for glory, competing with some of the most powerful and intimidating figures of his -- or any other -- age: Pompey, Caesar, Crassus, and the many other powerful Romans who changed history.
Robert Harris, the world's master of innovative historical fiction, lures us into a violent, treacherous world of Roman politics at once exotically different from and yet startlingly similar to our own -- a world of Senate intrigue and electoral corruption, special prosecutors and political adventurism -- to describe how one clever, compassionate, devious, vulnerable man fought to reach the top.
2016年11月21日 已读
美国最黑暗的时刻,重读。看看现在的美国到底有多像那时候的罗马共和国。//Robert Harris的书,一如既往的充满娱乐性,又能学到些古罗马历史。:)
2007年1月6日 评论 大人物与小人物 - 读《帝权》观《罗马》 - 感恩节刚看完 Robert Harris 的新书,以西赛罗(Cicero)为主人公写的《Imperium: A Novel of Ancient Rome》(帝权:一部关于古罗马的小说)。讲的是罗马共和国后期的事情。围绕西塞罗的崛起而写,从远赴希腊学习演说,到回罗马当律师,然后当选议员,之后拿到罗马的执政官的位子。罗马共和国的治国信条那时非常象现在的美国。就是讲究权力分享,互相制约。极其反对绝对并且没有制约的统治者。罗马最高的权力属于两个执政官,以便两个人互相制约,并且每两年就重新选举一次。西塞罗虽然十分信仰共和国的制度,他也向往拿到最高执政官的位子,这两者使他常常处于难以取舍的地段。为了在议院里建立自己的利益集团,他目睹并参与了刚出道的恺撒(那时恺撒是新议员)一手策划的一项具有决定性法律在元老院通过的谋划。这项法律看似为了当时如日中升的大将军庞培量身定造,允许罗马执政权在危机时刻归于一个人手下。其实是当时年青但是老谋深算的恺撒在为自己的将来铺路。埋下了罗马共和国最终被罗马帝国取代的种子。 《罗马》这部连续剧就是从 Harris 这本书里的事件发生后不久的时间开始。讲恺撒的崛起和陨落。这时恺撒已经是名声显赫独霸一方的将军了。在罗马的庞贝对他心有余悸。。。 和《帝权》相比,《罗马》关于当时的微妙政局,各路人物的钩心斗角讲的太浅,肥皂剧式的情节太多了些。所以看时很有些失望。但是和其他的电视剧相比,已经是很不错了。最地道的是整个剧目的场景,当时人物的生活细节都描绘设计的精细可信。很让人眼界大开。据说剧组搞设计的人做了很多考古研究,连当时罗马城里墙上涂鸦的颜色都研究了。力求符合史实。 高瞻远瞩的恺撒虽然巧妙耐心的布下了自己将来称帝的路,但是最终功亏一篑。连“大帝”的封号都没拿到就死去了。他栽好的树,最终由后人来乘凉。而共和国的命运却也无法挽回。虽然恺撒已去,他布下的阵剧却已成型,坚信共和国的议员们,沾了满手的鲜血,依然是无力回天,没法挡住罗马帝国的降临,罗马共和国的毁灭。好像《魔戒》里说的,人,总是无法抵制权力的诱惑。 跟恺撒和庞贝这样举重若轻的人物比起来,西塞罗好像就是个小人物了。在《帝权》这本书里,他其实是一个智慧的哲学家和政治家。但是在《罗马》电视剧里面,他变成个小丑样的人物,他内心的人天之争显得懦弱而可笑。是不是因为视角不同呢?
历史 古罗马 英文 英文小说
Next 豆瓣
作者: Michael Crichton HarperCollins 2006 - 11
Is a loved one missing some body parts? Are blondes becoming extinct? Is everyone at your dinner table of the same species? Humans and chimpanzees differ in only 400 genes; is that why a chimp fetus resembles a human being? And should that worry us? There's a new genetic cure for drug addiction--is it worse than the disease? <p align=center>
<table cellpadding="4" width="100%"> <tr align="center"><td><img src=" http://g-images.amazon.com/images/G/01/books/video-grabs/crichton-book_video.jpg" border="0" align="center">
What's coming Next? Get a hint of what Michael Crichton sees on the horizon in this short video clip: high bandwidth or low bandwidth</td></tr> </table> <p align=left>
We live in a time of momentous scientific leaps, a time when it's possible to sell our eggs and sperm online for thousands of dollars and to test our spouses for genetic maladies.
We live in a time when one fifth of all our genes are owned by someone else, and an unsuspecting person and his family can be pursued cross-country because they happen to have certain valuable genes within their chromosomes...
Devilishly clever, Next blends fact and fiction into a breathless tale of a new world where nothing is what it seems and a set of new possibilities can open at every turn.
Next challenges our sense of reality and notions of morality. Balancing the comic and the bizarre with the genuinely frightening and disturbing, Next shatters our assumptions and reveals shocking new choices where we least expect.
The future is closer than you think.
The Comedians 豆瓣
作者: Graham Greene Penguin Classics 2005 - 1
Three men meet on a ship bound for Haiti, a world in the grip of the corrupt aPapa Doca and the Tontons Macoute, his sinister secret police. Brown the hotelier, Smith the innocent American, and Jones the confidence manathese are the acomediansa of Greeneas title. Hiding behind their actorsa masks, they hesitate on the edge of life. They are men afraid of love, afraid of pain, afraid of fear itself...
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 豆瓣
9.2 (63 个评分) 作者: [英] J·K·罗琳 Arthur A. Levine Books 2007 - 7
Harry has been burdened with a dark, dangerous and seemingly impossible task: that of locating and destroying Voldemort’s remaining Horcruxes. Never has Harry felt so alone, or faced a future so full of shadows. But Harry must somehow find within himself the strength to complete the task he has been given. He must leave the warmth, safety, and companionship of The Burrow and follow without fear or hesitation the inexorable path laid out for him.
In this final, seventh installment of the Harry Potter series, J.K. Rowling unveils in spectacular fashion the answers to the many questions that have been so eagerly awaited. The spellbinding, richly woven narrative, which plunges, twists and turns at a breathtaking pace, confirms the author as a mistress of storytelling, whose books will be read, reread and read again.
Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is coming to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing – if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with?