꽁꽁 얼어 버린 겨울은 세상의 모든 따뜻함을 찾아 나서게합니다. 몸을 데우는 일 뿐만 아니라, 마음이 따뜻해 질 수 있으면 참 좋겠습니다.
이 달에 소개할 책입니다.
완전변태 – 2005년 장편소설 《장외인간》을 펴낸 이후 9년 만에 출간한 소설가 이외수의 매력을 다채롭게 느낄 수 있는 10 편의 단편소설로 구성되어 있습니다. 단순한 문장들이 단숨에 책 한 권을 다 읽게 하지만, 읽은 후의 울림은 이외수 특유의 감성을 느끼게하는 책입니다. 여러 부류의 직업군들을 등장시켜, 오늘을 살고 있는 우리들의 양심에 노크하는 신선한 충격이 있습니다.
복거일의 자유롭게 한걸음 – “사회의 보편적 합의에 대한 반성적 긴장과 구성원들의 지지 및 비판적 격려를 통해 성장한 지식인은, 자신의 사상적 자양이 되어준 당대에 자신의 지혜를 되돌려줄 의무를 지닌다. 그것은 사회와 지식인 사이에 체결된 일종의 계약이다. 우리 사회가 안고 있는 문제에 대한 지식인의 관심과 참여는 보다 나은 미래의 삶을 위한 가장 기본이 되는 동력이기 때문이다.”…우리시대 지식인에게 묻다 중에서
스캔들 세계사 – 저자 이주은은 책 읽기가 좋아 수 많은 책들 속에 살다 블로거 ‘눈숑눈숑 밀푀유’에 나누기 시작한 역사이야기를 책으로 펴낸 젊은 작가입니다. 인물과 에피소드를 중심으로 중세와 근세 유럽의 역사를 사람들이 살아간 이야기를 통해 쉽게 풀어낸 이야기책입니다.
Mango Languages를 알고 있으세요? 한국어를 포함해 중국어, 불어, 이탈리아어, 일본어등 60개 이상 언어를 스스로 공부할 수 있는 온라인 자료입니다. 영어 실력을 더 발전 시킬 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 해외 에서의 휴가 계획을 하고 있으시다면 미리 그곳의 말과 문화를 살짝 익히고 떠나시면 어떨까요. 혹은 실질적인 외국어 실력을 향상 시킬 수 있는 완벽한 언어 학습자료입니다. 크라이스트쳐치 시립 도서관 카드와 비밀번호가 있으시면 지금 당장 시작하세요.
Some children’s stories stand the test of time because they are straightforward or simple tales. Others because the characters are so easy to love. Alice’s adventures in Wonderland, which celebrates its 150th anniversary tomorrow, is neither of these and yet it is a perennial favourite, reprinted and reimagined year after year.
In some ways it is an unlikely children’s classic, this convoluted tale of a lost and bewildered child encountering a succession of bizarre and often menacing characters and situations. Or is it? Is that, in fact, exactly what childhood is like? An ongoing battle to make sense of the world, and the strange people in it?
I’m not the only one who thinks Alice’s adventures in Wonderland is something of a riddle. There have been almost as many books written about Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) and the genesis of his Alice books as there have been reprints of the stories themselves. Something about them resonates.
Alice, it would seem, is the Mona Lisa of children’s literature – endlessly fascinating and ripe for reinterpretation.
If you’re interested in reacquainting yourself with Alice, Wonderland, and her adventures there we’ve got plenty of books to choose from.
Musician Bernard Sumner has been involved in lots of noteworthy things throughout his career. But perhaps his most significant role was in the British band New Order, who wrote that song “Blue Monday”, you know, that 80s song with the lyrics “how does it feel, to treat me like you do”?
According to the BBC, that song “is widely regarded as a crucial link between Seventies disco and the dance/house boom that took off at the end of the Eighties”. For anyone that’s heard it, it seems to have this timelessness because it’s a track always gets dance floors moving. Even well into the 21st century (feeling old now?).
Anyway, that’s just a bit of context. The Bernard Sumner autobiography has been very much anticipated as the two bands he was in – the contentiously named Joy Division, and New Order, were seminal in their style and sound. Both were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
Sumner has a reputation for being notoriously private, and never spoke much about his personal life or revealed his ruminations on the various events of his career. So this is what generated so much intrigue regarding his book.
Like many autobiographical works it starts from the start: his childhood, teenage years, schoolyard and neighbourhood antics, along with all the pain and fun of his years growing up in Salford (a dodgy suburb of Manchester) – all in a somewhat nostalgic tone. Tales of crazy, violent neighbors are revisited and all the various social changes which took place in England due to social housing and economic circumstances. He recalls how large tenement apartment blocks going up dissolved community networks; he preferred his old substandard housing block with its rich tapestry of various social groups. Interestingly, many English musical autobiographies emerging from this era include these kind of sociological reflections – and readers are led to infer this is what drove the various pioneering sounds and lyrics …
Family life was rough, being raised primarily by his grandmother and grandfather. His single mother had cerebral palsy and wasn’t very mobile. To compound it all , there was more sickness in the family as the caring grandparents became very ill too. These experiences, along with the suicide of joy Division singer Ian Curtis, possibly caused a numbness over time, and I suspect this influenced his writing. To be honest, I was surprised the book didn’t involve longer and deeper reflections on singer Ian Curtis’s death, but then, Ian’s rough life is well known to anyone familiar with the band and such issues are sensitive.
There are some outstanding omissions in this book which might frustrate some people, as the production of some New Order albums are not discussed in any detail for us at all. Which sucks because a lot of it was pioneering stuff. However, this really only annoys readers who are musicians themselves; some might not be as interested in the intricacies of digital drum machines and synthesizers.
Beyond all this are testimonies about the monumental fallout Sumner had with Peter Hook – long-time bassist of Joy Division and New Order. Peter Hook addresses this in interviews after reading Sumner’s book. It really seems like you can’t have an autobiography about musicians and bands without some massive acrimonious fallout or legal dispute between band members.
Anyway, if you’re of the generation who grew up with the New Order/Joy division sounds, or you like music, have a read. It’s quite a light read and is great to read alongside Morrissey’s Autobiography and Peter Hook’s book titled The Hacienda: How Not To Run A Club (which I will review soon). All these titles read alongside each other provide some really interesting insights into the raw pioneering British music scene of the 80s. Happy reading!
완전변태 – 2005년 장편소설 《장외인간》을 펴낸 이후 9년 만에 출간한 소설가 이외수의 매력을 다채롭게 느낄 수 있는 10 편의 단편소설로 구성되어 있습니다. 단순한 문장들이 단숨에 책 한 권을 다 읽게 하지만, 읽은 후의 울림은 이외수 특유의 감성을 느끼게하는 책입니다. 여러 부류의 직업군들을 등장시켜, 오늘을 살고 있는 우리들의 양심에 노크하는 신선한 충격이 있습니다.
이상 언어를 스스로 공부할 수 있는 온라인 자료입니다. 영어 실력을 더 발전 시킬 수 있을 뿐만 아니라, 해외 에서의 휴가 계획을 하고 있으시다면 미리 그곳의 말과 문화를 살짝 익히고 떠나시면 어떨까요. 혹은 실질적인 외국어 실력을 향상 시킬 수 있는 완벽한 언어 학습자료입니다. 크라이스트쳐치 시립 도서관 카드와 비밀번호가 있으시면 지금 당장 시작하세요.
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 