On July 1, 2021, the German weekly Die Zeit published the topic "Ten Books That Changed Your Life", which is torture for book lovers. On the one hand, I thought how could it be possible to list only ten books, and then, a book and author that I couldn't put down after reading flashed in my mind...

This makes me think that writing "My Ten Favorite Books" is a good method. Try it out and see if you can find the ten books that I love the most. Then, it will have the most profound impact on me, and it will change me. The power of life. Many books have been written in 🏷️Book Reviews• Storybooks, and they will also be summed up, but some books are books that I love so much that I can't write them down. That is true love, and I will also cover them here. Let’s start with the two most important ones first—

"Mary Ventura and the 9th Kingdom" came in first .

The author is well-known American writer and poet Sylvia Plath. Plath's poetry and life are extraordinary, especially since she struggled with depression for a long time, and finally ended her life in gas poisoning at the age of 30. Plath's works, diaries, letters, and biographies were published in large quantities before and after her death, and research on Plath was also very popular. However, her 1952 student submission for a short story that was rejected was only published in the last two years: "Mary Ventura and the 9th Kingdom." Yes, it is self-evident that I love this book so much that I even decided to use the pseudonym of my Chinese writing as the name of the heroine in the story, Mary Ventura. The story is a journey by train. There is no complicated plot, but the parents take Mary Ventura on the train and tell her to get off at the "Ninth Kingdom". However, during the journey, Mary Ventura finally got off the bus at the Seventh Kingdom. The short stories that sounded boring and magical made me see myself in a mirror between the lines. I am Mary Ventura.

"Selected Poems and Prose of Li Box" ranked second .

The author is a Korean writer Li Sang. Li Box is his pseudonym, and the book is in English, translated from Korean to English by Jack Jung et al. and compiled by award-winning author Don Mee Choi. The name Li Sang may not be well known outside of Korea, but reading his poetry and prose in the 1920s and 1930s suddenly made me feel no longer alone. Li Xiang received Chinese private school education since he was a child, and chose to write most of his works in Korean, but there are also Japanese poems published. The frequent occurrence of Chinese characters and Chinese character games in Li Xiang's poems not only shows his background in Sinology, but also perfectly combines the visual qualities of poetry and Chinese characters, especially for readers who understand Chinese characters, they will have an inexplicable sense of connection. Moreover, Li Xiang's poems also show the kidnapping and struggle of people in East Asian countries under the influence of Confucian "filial piety" culture. I can relate to the love, past, and future written by him.

The first two books chosen by Die Zeit are from Marquez and Winnie the Pooh, which almost everyone has read in childhood. Márquez wasn't my favorite, but I totally agree, "Winnie the Pooh" and his friends in the book left an indelible mark on the minds of many children as children.

"Lolita" came in third.

The author of Lolita is Nabokov. Nabokov is a Russian-American writer who has lived in exile from Russia to Europe to the United States, is well educated and speaks several languages. When I read this book, I was Lolita's age. At that time, I was very impressed by the translated language and storyline. I thought it was a story about obsession. The love I knew at that time seemed to be able to break through any boundaries. Later, when I grew up, I began to doubt whether it was love. Love seems to be something that a person spends his entire life exploring, looking for, sometimes elusive, sometimes within reach. Regardless of any form of love, the important point is that love is something we can feel, a real feeling, and no one can take it away; at the same time, if there is abuse and abuse, and the abuser calls this a To become love is only through the distortion of socialized language, because, whether it is a child or an adult who is the abused party, they cannot feel love, and the "love" that cannot be felt can only be felt in the brain through language and through the brain. legalization.

Also, I love the cover of this version of Lolita. Nabokov's obsession and collection of butterflies 🦋 is well known, and the pure black cover echoes the butterfly in the corner perfectly.

"This Way to the Sugar" came in at number four.

"This Way to the Sugar" is an early poem by a young Vietnamese-American poet, Hieu Minh Nguyen. This collection of poems is not very well known, however, the author assigns each poem a particular format in the collection, the poems write about the experience of growing up as a Vietnamese American in the United States, and because the author himself is a sexual minority , Therefore, the poem also touches on the author's pain, the painful experience of being sexually assaulted, and so on. Coupled with the common attributes that most Asian ethnic groups have-parents ignore and minimize the pain of their children, and the culture of letting children not speak out about their pain, etc., makes the poems appear in the poetry of Asian ethnic groups. Emotions - entangled in uncontrollable sadness and unavoidable self-healing from society, parents, and filial piety culture. This is why this collection of poems fascinates me so much.

"Dine With Drones: The Gaza Diary" came in fifth.

Meal with Drones: A Gaza Diary is by Atef Abu Saif, a Palestinian living in the Gaza Strip. Written in diary style, the book details the war between Hamas and Israel that began on July 6, 2014, and lasted for more than fifty days. This book is important because the fifty-plus days of war also changed my life, because I was on both sides of the war with the author. It wasn't all smooth sailing on Israel's side. Those unforgettable air raid sirens, the speed of being trained to run into a dugout in 45 seconds, and a series of intertwined experiences in life all made those fifty days a blur. Still fresh in memory. Seven years later, I chose to read Saif's diary every day from July 6th, so that I could see what kind of hell was on the other side of the fifty-day war. I was also fortunate enough to know a former friend who lived through that war and confirmed the situation in Gaza. If I haven't experienced those days of war, I will read this book again, I don't know if I will understand Saif's pain, the truth is that I have experienced it myself, and this diary allows me to relive it from another angle with compassion and tenacity Those fifty days and nights.

"Untamed" came in at number six.

The book Untamed is the only book I have written three reviews for. Author Glennon Doyle is an American social activist who also regularly gives motivational speeches to help women. However, being a woman like Oprah to help others does not save herself from depression, anxiety, etc. At the same time, Glennon, who has a so-called marital life that others envy (a successful husband, three children), found that , she couldn't keep silent in her husband's derailment again and again, and also discovered that her sexual orientation was female, because she fell in love with another famous American football coach. She did not choose to maintain the unbroken appearance of marriage, life and religion to outsiders, but chose to be herself, and at the same time showed her children how a mother can face the blowing face of life with the greatest courage and the strongest mentality all kinds of challenges. She did not use her children as an excuse not to get divorced, nor did she use her children as an excuse not to pursue her own life and her own love. On the contrary, she set an example for the children, and all her struggles were written in the book "Untamed". in this book. In the book, I saw a strong woman who " couldn't be tamed ," and I saw myself. This book is very meaningful for any woman, struggling or happy, because as women, we are indeed imprisoned individuals for thousands of years , Untame ourselves !

"Das Reich Gottes" by Emmanuel Carrère, "The Magic Mountain" by Thomas Mann, "Moby Dick" by Melville and "Ausflug mit der Mutter" by Gabriele Wohmann are the third to sixth place in Die Zeit. I'm ashamed to say that I haven't read the famous "The Magic Mountain" and "Moby Dick", but because of my research on Susan Sontag, I had a little contact with her brief encounter with Thomas Mann, and felt that I should really read "Moby Dick". "The Magic Mountain", but after reading these books, I have no choice but to sigh that the German "Die Zeit" gives the feeling of an old pedant making a book list...

"A Void" was seventh.

That's right, A Void is the book that inspired me to start Wordbound magazine . The nearly 300-page book, written in French, does not contain the most common vowel "e" in a single word. The author is the French writer George Perec, who is a Jewish-French, a very special writer. His works are many, most of which are related to the creation of text restrictions. At the same time, he and some of his contemporaries formed a group of writers for restrictive writing called Oulipo, which was very famous. "Word Bound" magazine is inspired by it - to seek freedom and restraint in the established and restrained language; to translate in the writing practice that seems to be "untranslatable"; to use the restrained language to speak, let the language "Being restrained" becomes "self-restraining" and in "self-restraining" the "silent" part is expressed in a "languageless" way. It takes a lot of vocabulary to replace many words with the vowel "e", and the translation into English that I saw made the translation extremely difficult.

And this gave @WordBinding Magazine inspiration ! Therefore, the first call for essays of "Zi Bound" magazine tells a story by avoiding the use of the word "mouth" or the word with the radical of "mouth" in the submitted text. As difficult as it may seem, this literary project will have far-reaching implications!

"Where One Cannot Speak" was eighth.

In fact, "Where One Cannot Speak" is a collection of Herta Müller's works published by the Polish Museum. This book has poems in Polish, German (original) and English. Herta Müller is a Romanian-born German writer and poet. Her works mainly describe life in Romania and the feelings of being a German in communist Romania. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2009. I took this heavy book with me to a presentation by Herta Müller in my city before the pandemic swept the world. There was a long line of people who came, most of them were silver-haired people. After being seated, I was a little nervous. At first, there was a spotting sign, but I was so stupid that I didn’t take a rest. I also heard Herta Müller talk about her experience and feelings during the communist period in Romania. It was very interesting. . The reason why it is unforgettable is that the poems in this collection are all collaged word by word, and to some extent, they have lost the meaning of the word in the media, and re-existed in the collaged poems. These poems are beautiful and have a kind of performance art feel, which also inspired the founding of "Word Binding" magazine.

The German weekly Die Zeit ranked seventh and eighth with "Rock Crystal" by Adalbert Stifter and "Ein Zweites Leben" by François Jullien. It is worth mentioning that François Jullien ( François Jullien) is not only a philosopher, a writer, but also a sinologist, and many of his works are available in Chinese.

Ranked ninth is "Lu Xun Complete Works".

Lu Xun, China's most famous writer, translator, and critic (born in the Qing Dynasty, died in the Republic of China after the Qing Dynasty died), has written and translated many works, as well as essays and poems, all of which are included in the "Complete Works of Lu Xun". These many collections are collections of writings that need to be reread again and again. Many people say that Lu Xun has been badly read, badly spoken, badly researched, and I used to think so too. Many of my views on Lu Xun came from the ideas that were instilled, which were never my own. It’s a pity, because when I was young, I thought that the ideas that were instilled were my own ideas, so I didn’t listen to the “Lu Xun Research” class. I thought that "my own thoughts" were very different and cool. Later, I gradually moved away and gradually learned to think independently. Then I read some of the words written by Chen Danqing about Lu Xun, and when I turned back to read Lu Xun carefully, I found resonance and In terms of perspective, I began to like Lu Xun, agreed and appreciated Lu Xun, and naturally I also removed the views that were instilled in the past during the re-reading. I had my own opinions and wrote a few book reviews. It turns out that I used to read Lu Xun so superficially, but now I look at Lu Xun, I really feel the same way. It turns out that Lu Xun is really so sharp, nearly a hundred years later, the China in his eyes has not changed, and his writing is still sharp.

In tenth place is Sontag: Her Life and Work.

Originally, the tenth book wanted to list all the books about Sontag, including all her works, but the one I'm reading now is actually the best Sontag biography I've found so far, so I use it to represent. Biographer is Benjamin Moser, American writer and translator. This book is very thick and chronicles Sontag's life. The writing and the facts recorded are pertinent, and the citations are professional and not boring. Because of the reason of studying Sontag, I read all Sontag's works and research Sontag's works, and the requirements and standards for such works are very high, and this book really shows Sontag's life very well, At the same time, the excavation of Sontag's relationship with his mother and the influence on her future are also well grasped. At the same time, there are many precious photos interspersed in the book, which is very rare. Sontag's works and life have changed my life a lot... It's very big... The entanglement of the past two years has also started from Sontag... After reincarnation for such a long time, now I finally have the courage to pick up this book , walk through her life again.

Naturally, the ninth and tenth finale of the German "Weekly Die Zeit" are Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and Proust's "Reminiscence of Time Is Like Water". "Crime and Punishment" does have an influence that cannot be ignored. Dostoevsky's works are must-reads that cannot be ignored. Proust does the same. I like to read a lot of texts analyzing Proust. After all, they are classics, and I will still recommend these two works.

The ten favorite books have been “combined”. There are not many classics listed by Die Zeit in my book list. Although if I list ten more books, some classics may appear, but I still feel that ten books are not enough! More books will appear in my 🏷️Book Review•Review , please follow to share more good books together.

Thank you for reading this. If you and your friends love writing and writing as much, please share this inaugural call for papers with those who are interested, and pay attention to @Word Binding Magazine, we look forward to receiving your contributions. In this issue, the theme of "literary performance art" and the form of "restrictive writing" are to show the story of "losing voice"——

"Word Binding" Magazine Launched: Concept Origin and First Call for Papers

Chinese Characters Unchained｜Manifesto

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