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The joy of reading at night is more than reading

The joy of reading at night is more than reading

The joy of searching for books is not only to find a good book that fits your soul, but also to imply the transmission of the book edge and the resonance of "what the hero sees the same".

The joy of reading at night is more than reading

Courtesy of the author

Text | Tang Xiaoliu

There is almost no room for newly bought books in the bookcase at home, which is probably one of the common worries of many book lovers. It's no wonder that you can always see such a joke: "Buying books is like a mountain, reading is like a thread". Despite this, I have never been able to change the habit of "chopping my hands" to buy books.

When I was a student with poor financial means, my favorite places to go were Fuzhou Road and Shanghai Confucian Temple. These two places were once a paradise for book seekers in Shanghai. When the millennium came, I reported to Normal University, and several of my roommates were new to the university, so I proposed to take everyone to Shanghai Book City, Fuzhou Road, and the Bund.

I still remember that experience. In the Yiyi bookstore, I bought the Collected Works of Wang Xiaobo from the China Youth Publishing House, a four-volume copy. At that time, I had already read through Wang Xiaobo's "The Golden Age" at the Shanghai Library, and I did not hesitate to include this collection of essays. Later, I read them again and again, especially the fourth volume of "The Silent Majority", and read and read it, just as Wang Xiaobo said when he read Ovid's "Metamorphosis" when he was young, and read the book as a volume of "kelp". Later, I also researched Wang Xiaobo's essays as the topic of my graduate thesis.

I have also collected various editions of Wang Xiaobo's complete works, as well as almost all his memories, commentaries, and research materials, but my favorite is the first edition of the anthology of the China Youth Society. A few years later, I specially picked up a set of four volumes in good condition on the used book network for collection, and usually only picked up "kelp" and chewed it, which not only gained the pleasure of thinking, but also an indescribable sense of satisfaction.

Because I like a writer, I have to buy all his works and read them and collect them, which is quite a bit of "obsessive-compulsive disorder". When I open my bookcase, Borges and Márquez are the ones who have such treatment, and the works of these famous foreign artists often have differences in translation, publisher and publication date.

I remember when I was in college, I read Milan · Kundera's "The Unbearable Lightness of Life", and finally put it prominently on my bookshelf was "The Unbearable Lightness of Life" by Shanghai Translation Publishing House. This is by no means a difference in the title of the book, but a choice to compare the psychological preferences after reading.

Others are more paranoid and become habitual. For example, when someone reads Haruki Murakami's novels, they only recognize Lin Shaohua's translation, and to read Shakespeare's works, they must be translated by Zhu Shenghao, and Tolstoy's must be selected.

Speaking of editions, I once sold a lot of comics that I couldn't get together to second-hand book stall owners for five cents a copy. It was a stupid decision that I regretted a lot of time, just as bad as when I moved my years of collection and was sold for scrap by my parents. It wasn't until more than 20 years passed that I spent a lot of real money to buy them back in the form of genuine or full editions, and solemnly wrapped the bookcase and paid tribute to the bookshelf with a sense of ceremony, which can be regarded as paying for my childhood because of my feelings.

Interestingly, the process of "redeeming" the book itself is tortuous and lengthy. The book is still the same book, and it doesn't seem to be the same book anymore. I think it's a meeting with an old friend and bringing back a lot of memories of the past. is like in the vast sea of people, suddenly looking back, Shen Zhen suddenly recovered, and was pleasantly surprised to find a confidant; It's also like revisiting the old place, when I was young, I swallowed dates, I didn't know the essentials, but I had already planted my fate, and now the aesthetics are online, the conditions permit, and I want to savor it, so I embarked on the journey again.

In the past, Taoshu relied on offline, and it was necessary to go to the Temple of Literature early on weekends, otherwise good things would be snatched away by others. Nowadays, the network resources are abundant, and the goods are directly delivered to the door after placing an order, which saves time and effort. But whenever I have the opportunity to pass by Wujiaochang, I always like to go to the Fudan second-hand bookstore on Daxue Road. Xiao Zhu Bookstore has moved to a new location, and I am willing to try my luck on the spot and chat with Mr. Zhu, a book lover. After all, the joy of searching for books is not only to find a good book that fits your soul, but also to imply the transmission of the book and the resonance of "what the hero sees is the same".

Hu Shi said in the article "How I Searched for Books": "I am not a bibliophile, just a scholar who loves to read and can use books. The "attitude" advocated by Hu Shi is to accept everything. Following this logic, it is only a matter of time before the house is full of books.

A few years ago, I was seconded to Beijing to work, and in my spare time, I often visited Zhengyang Bookstore and Panjiayuan. At the end of the work, I had to send back two large cardboard boxes and about 100 pounds of books and albums in Shanghai. Although this "achievement" is somewhat insignificant, each book carries a lot of joy when searching for books and reading.

For many book lovers, buying books is even more enjoyable than reading, no, it should be said that it hurts and is happy - those books are still slowly digesting today.

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Edited by Gan Qiongfang

Typesetting|Gan Qiongfang

The Paper Commentary's exclusive manuscript shall not be reproduced without authorization

The joy of reading at night is more than reading