Three or four things about the book

I like to take the bus to work lately.

Homes and companies are located near subway stations, so the subway is naturally chosen as the means of transportation to work. Switching to the bus, just for one reason, very boring: want to sit down and read. The three books I read at the beginning of the month are all heavyweight books. The thinnest one is over 500 pages, and one of them is a hardcover book. If I read the entire subway ride, I'm afraid I'll need physical therapy on my left hand.

These three books have now been read, but I continue to take the bus to work. Obviously the road conditions are uncertain, why do you still choose it? Perhaps, the whole ride made me feel calm. It could be those broadcasts: it keeps reminding you to "go to the side", even if you put on your headphones, you always hear other sounds; or it could be that the passengers are constantly interspersed around you, which is annoying. There are very few situations where I can read with peace of mind. There is no such situation on the bus. As long as you sit down, people are like a boat that has dropped its anchor and stabilized, no matter how narrow the seat is. I enjoyed this reading drive. Even if I read for a long time, I look up at the window and feel comfortable whether it is a clear sky or a heavy wind and rain.

Recently, I have also fallen in love with at least once a week, taking a boat across the sea after get off work.

The reason is another boring reason: the sunset is especially beautiful this summer, because the sky does not have PM2.5. Facebook friends kept uploading sunset views, and I joined them. My watch has the time of sunrise and sunset. After calculating the time to get off work, I will take three and two steps to the pier to take a boat to enjoy the view.

Before crossing the sea, I mostly chose to take the upper deck; now I go to the lower deck, because I can lean on the side of the boat, watch the sky, the clouds, the sea, and the sunset. Later, I found out that this short boat trip was an opportunity for self-recovery: the feeling of depression that had been accumulated for a long time was taken away by the sea breeze. After going ashore, people seem to be a little more relaxed and have more energy to face that sad era.

These two good habits must be maintained.

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What exactly are the three "brick books"?

The first is "The Star-Tailed Beast Expedition": a Japanese translation novel. Before the Second World War, two boys and girls who graduated from elementary school, when they were still worried about their future, went to the southern hemisphere with Uncle Feng and his animals to explore the story. Those animals can communicate with people, but it is people who learn their language. The first half is the process of them looking for the star-tailed beast; the second half is the story of the star-tailed beast about the mass extinction process. Although the work is imaginative (for example, a ship that goes out to sea can "dive into the sea" and is pulled by a whale in the sea), it still intentionally links the extinction of species in science, so that readers can read more.

The second is "Beijing Zero Kilometer": a masterpiece by Mr. Chen Guanzhong. Three hundred thousand words. Dread cloth. When I was a trainee store manager, I wondered why I didn't have the upper and lower volumes, which are easy to read. It turned out later that it didn't work, because the first one already made up one-third of the book. "Inner Chapter" is about the history of Beijing city in one breath. There is only one punctuation "," (comma) in the whole article, and even the end of the paragraph is just ",,," (three commas), which makes me feel that the protagonist keeps talking and talking, and there is no "breathing space". And what he talks about are people who "don't die well". I can imagine the living Nezha city, like a ghost movie Mummy movie zombie movie, there are dead and terrifying "people" everywhere. The Outer Chapter is about eating and drinking. It's a pity that I didn't have enough "scheming" to read it at that time, and it was a little too fast. "Secret" is rather interesting, an academic report.

The third book is "The Green Mountains: Books and People and Things": the author said that this book is a collection of his articles. But that sort of arrangement really amazes me. Each of them writes about different things, but they are linked together. On the one hand, he was writing about his exchanges with writers and the release of books, and suddenly he connected the current world situation, but it came naturally. I envy the author's ability to communicate with different masters, and also envy the author's ability to keep "throwing schoolbags". Love that he quotes this passage:

“Ours is essentially a tragic age, so we refuse to take it tragically. The cataclysm has happened, we are among the ruins, we start to build up new little habitats, to have new little hopes. It is rather hard work: there is now no smooth road into the future: but we go around, or scramble over the obstacles. We've got to live, no matter how many skies have fallen. (DH Lawrence, Lady Chatterley's Lover)”

Mr. Dong Qiao translated it like this:

//Our generation is simply a sad time, we just refuse to accept our fate. Since the tide has fallen, we are all in ruins, slowly forming a new habit and holding a new hope. It is quite strenuous. There is no easy way to go here: there are many obstacles, we also make detours, and even use our hands and feet to climb over. Anyway, no matter how much the sky falls, we have to live. //

Between reading these three heavy books, I used two books to "spare", like listening to Mahler and listening to a relaxing piano piece.

The first is "If History is a Group of Mews (6): The North and South of the Wei and Jin Dynasties". You read that right, it's a historical comic with a cat as the protagonist. It's easy and fun to read.

The second is the "Picture Book of Traditional Tile Taiwan". The authors are very attentive. They walked all over Taiwan (including Kinmen), recorded all the tricks, and also matched the pantone color version, which made me admire.

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Book introduction:

The Star-Tailed Beast Expedition:
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010843532?sloc=main

"Beijing Zero Kilometer":
https://www.oupchina.com.hk/en/general-interest/humanities/zero-point-beijing

"Aoyama Rampage: Books and People and Things": https://www.thestandnews.com/book/%E9%9D%92%E5%B1%B1%E4%BA%82%E5%8F%A0-% E7%9A%84%E6%B0%91%E9%96%93%E4%B8%AD%E5%9C%8B%E8%A6%96%E9%87%8E/

"If history is a group of meows (6): Wei, Jin, North and South":
https://www.books.com.tw/products/0010866262

"Pang Pang Flower Taiwan Traditional Tile Illustration":
https://www.shoppingdesign.com.tw/post/view/5181