From cover To discover

苦悶得想大叫時,收到另一位朋友的電郵,介紹我到新開張,位在灣仔廈門街的二樓書店The Book Attic。它專賣及收集二手英文書,也有少量中文書。

雖然二手英文書店在香港並不新鮮,中環有流動風景及collectables,但不是常常找到心頭好。何況,書店開在較親民的灣仔老街,一定是有心人不惜一切實現未完的夢。完成了手頭過萬字的譯稿,便獎勵自己,帶埋錢,直奔灣仔。

書店不難找,在被人變賣為旅遊標本有錢人才可以去食飯也要幾百元跟本土文化再沒關係的和昌大押旁邊一條小街上。地方不大,卻寧靜。店主jennifer 很親切,大大的杏眼,透著和善,很重英語口音,大概是在外邊生活好一段日子回來的有心人。她很快就跟我分享店內的寶貝,如已有二百年歷史的古書魯賓遜飄流記,真是的,古書不知經歷了多少風霜,越過多少邊界,才來到眼前,也是緣份。我其實對古書興趣不大,認識近零,但眼前這位慷慨跟愛書人分享自己寶貝的人,真的美。我問,為何不把書放在玻璃框內﹖室溫和濕度對古書會不會不好﹖她馬上說:「收起來,要看的人就看不到啦…是要捧在手才好呀。」

我結果找到一直想看還沒有看的《The City of Joy 》,南非作家J.M Coetzee的《Dusklands》(他的《Disgrace》讓我藍了呆了幾天)、一位嗑藥青年的自傳《a million little pieces 》(連bret easton ellis 也說它a heartbreaking memoir….相信不會爛)每本才四十八元,而且很新很乾淨,叫人太快樂了。

jennifer也會收書,看完的書可以再給她賣,大概十元一本,但書的生命可以延續。這不但環保,也是對知識的一種珍重和尊敬。知識是應該流通、八達的,不單是消費性的。有錢買書的人不一定懂書,愛書的人卻未必有機會看書,這卻是我們知識型經濟的現況。

除了小說,店內還有其他書種,如歷史、社會學(有本很新的Fast Food Nation)、環境、藝術、靈性的書,當然,書店才剛剛開,數量有限,但有這樣的一個看書的清雅空間,有一種真心與人分享的能量和胸懷,只有好。希望Jennifer 可以維持下去。有機會,再訪問她。

想起從前的青文,想起羅先生,希望朋友們真能承接他的理想,繼續在石硤尾做實事,開闢有趣的文化空間。

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About cally

don't be cruel. smell the light. read the music. feel the green.

7 responses to “From cover To discover”

  1. readandeat says :

    這個上次路過時沒有發現,想必是近期才開的吧。我不介意看二手書,英文精裝書印刷釘裝非常好,有些紙質經年不變色,中文舊書真的難望其項背。家中也有些英文古書,雖然不太懂,但捧在手上,感覺自己穿越歷史,與上幾手的前人只是一紙之隔。

    希望這書店能維持下去,讓沒有機會看書的讀書人去光顧。

    謝謝介紹﹗

  2. cally says :

    是的,書店開了不到半個月罷,有時間逛逛也是好..jennifer 一定有好書跟你分享
    cheers

  3. lcl says :

    James Frey’s “A Million Little Pieces" is not exactly a memoir.

  4. cally says :

    hi lcl, did you read it? i just started a few pages only…what do u think about it?

  5. lcl says :

    Hi Cally, I’ve never read the book. Most likely I never will. I am not the literary type. But I did read about it sometimes ago. And to respond your query, I read something about it again. Basically Frey was a liar. When he couldn’t sell his book as a fiction, he sold it as a memoir, that’s of course a special kind of memoir not solely based on facts but with his imaginations and fabrications thrown in for good measure.

    It caused quite a bit of a shitstorm in the States in 2007. Lately he came up with another book, Bright Shiny Morning, and got a pretty good review from Janet Maslin of the New York Times.

  6. cally says :

    thanks Icl, i like the review, thanks for the info… guess Frey is not a honest writer, but a smart story-teller …more noise, more readers….

    and what are you now reading?

  7. lcl says :

    Frey was not honest when he published his novel as a memoir. But apparently that doesn’t make him a lesser writer, a lessor person perhaps.

    Anyway, people change and evolve too.

    The book I am reading now is Java for Dummies.

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