Season02/Ep01 Nice Cafe

每个人都看屏幕的读书会

前情

2017年做“芮德布克”读书活动时，经过最初的几次实验，发现比较好的分享方式是把每个朗读者要读的片段拍照或截屏放到微信群里比较好，这样大家可以清晰地了解到文本的信息，达到更有效的交流。

阅读

时隔一年，再次坐下来准备读书——尽管换了一个环境——有种时空的恍惚和新鲜；毕竟，从那个夏天开始的英文原版阅读活动有很多快乐的回忆，无论是文本本身带来的思考，还是那些面孔唤起的时间的淡淡味道。

第二季第一次阅读包含以下文本：

1. Carol Patricia Highsmith

2. All Rivers Amos Oz

3. The Giver Lois Lowry

4. A Guide to Letting Your Boss Know They Haven't Got A Clue Financial Times

Carol是我刚刚读完的今年第二本小说。凡雅读的是《纽约客》里短篇小说，以色列作家Oz的作品。大卫读的是一本社幻小说 The Giver，有汉译本，叫《记忆传授人》，貌似一本反乌托邦小说。最后Freja读的FT的文章最有趣：如何让老板知道他一无所知。

今天新来了一位读者，是Nice老板推荐来的，一个很文气的小伙子，后来聊了下，工作是妇科大夫，刚考到了河北某所医学院的研究生，最近没事。他说自己没怎么读过原版，但喜欢读书，之前试了原版的《瓦尔登湖》，读不下去。妇科大夫穿了一件很有趣的淡粉色西装，肘上有正方形的设计感补丁。

我选的Carol 那段表现的是一对热恋的同性在刚刚发生实质性关系的时候，年轻的一方向经验远超过自己的恋人发出的质疑——这已经不是同性范畴，而是所有恋人会发生的谈话；精彩的是，两个恋爱经验完全不平衡的人，在短短两页纸之间赤略略地表现出了各自的态度和精神特质。

“Did you ever do that with Abby?” Therese asked abruptly that evening in the car.  （Abby是Carol之前同性恋人）

Carol’s eyes understood suddenly and she blinked. “What questions you ask,” she said. “Of course.”  

Of course. She had known it. “And now—?”  

“Therese—” She asked stiffly, “Was it very much the same as with me?”    （第一层妒意）

Carol smiled. “No, darling.”  

“Don’t you think it’s more pleasant than sleeping with men?”  （第二层妒意）

Her smile was amused. “Not necessarily. That depends. Who have you ever known except Richard?”  

“No one.”  

“Well, don’t you think you’d better try some others?”    （过来人直白甚至冒犯的建议）

Therese was speechless for a moment, but she tried to be casual, drumming her fingers on the book in her lap.  

“I mean sometime, darling. You’ve got a lot of years ahead.”    （读到这句的时候一声叹息，真的很感慨Patricia是个对人情谙熟的作家）

Therese said nothing. She could not imagine ever leaving Carol either. That was another terrible question that had sprung into her mind at the start, that hammered at her brain now with a painful insistence to be answered. Would Carol ever want to leave her?    （情窦初开的必然）

“I mean, whom you sleep with depends so much on habit,” Carol went on. “And you’re too young to make enormous decisions. Or habits.”  （decision是恋爱中最难的事情，而habits又是最本质的。在一次次亲密关系中不断体验并确定的） “Are you just a habit?” she asked, smiling, but she heard the resentment in her voice. “You mean it’s nothing but that?”    （第三层妒意）

“Therese—of all times to get so melancholic.”  

“I’m not melancholic,” she protested, but the thin ice was under her feet again, the uncertainties. Or was it that she always wanted a little more than she had, no matter how much she had? She said impulsively, “Abby loves you, too, doesn’t she?”  

Carol started a little, and put her foot down. “Abby has loved me practically all her life—even as you.” Therese stared at her.

“I’ll tell you about it one day. Whatever happened is past. Months and months ago,” she said, so softly Therese could hardly hear.  

“Only months?”  

“Yes.”  

“Tell me now.”    （可以理解的任性）

“This isn’t the time or the place.”  

“There’s never a time,” Therese said. “Didn’t you say there never was a right time?”  

“Did I say that? About what?”  

But neither of them said anything for a moment, because a fresh barrage of wind hurled the rain like a million bullets against the hood and windshield, and for a moment they could have heard nothing else.（略显俗气的环境描写） There was no thunder, as if the thunder, somewhere up above, modestly refrained from competing with this other god of rain. They waited in the inadequate shelter of a hill at the side of the road.

小海报

再多说几句

春天里坐在落地玻璃后的咖啡店，安静地读书，聊自己的想法，无关乎功利或者生活繁琐。这种时刻，非常惬意。能有三两个人营造出这种纯粹的感觉，真的很好。

这个活动最初的目的就是让自己坚持读更多的原著，并有人交流。我相信有很多人也在努力自勉阅读，能有缘聚到一起，多好。

感谢Nice Cafe的花总，她没有金箍棒，但有很好喝的咖啡~