这个夏天芝加哥酷暑干旱,三天两头温度就要到华氏100度,太阳火辣辣地悬挂在天空。热的让人简直失去了生活的欲望。
周末我最喜欢的就是在海德园里漫无边际的走来走去,海德园从不让我失望,我时时都有新的发现。
那天,又走到了57街的书店。自从‘博得’关张后,美国大街上连个像样的书店都没了。原来密执根大街上有两家很大的‘博得’分店,几乎每天下班后,都要进去看看, 摸几本书,时间充足还可以要一杯西雅图咖啡,坐在靠窗的椅子上看辉煌一里路上川流不息的人群。现在,书店没了,这里变成了一家英国连锁的青少年服装店。我只能周末在海德园继续逛书店了。
57街的书店不知开了多少年了,从我搬到这里就几乎每周末都要来一次。这是用地下室改装的,比街面低很多,一个很小的门脸,还要下几阶石梯。 里面的房顶很矮,也没有窗户。不过,这里是庭园深深深几许,一小间房子接一小间,书架高达屋顶。这里的书都是最好最新的,更多的是各大学出版社的学术性很强的书。这家书店几乎是海德园和芝大的一个象征了。
我第一眼就看见了《Why This World》,这是Benjamin Moser新出的巴西女作家Clarice Lispector 的传记。以后再说她吧,因为这是我最喜欢的女作家之一。
在这本书边上,我惊喜地发现了Erik Larson的新书《In The Garden of Beasts Love terror in Hitler's Berlin 》。我是Erik Larson最忠实的粉丝,不好意思地说,现代小说家我只读他。我喜欢他是因为他的小说其实都是真实的历史,每一个细节都是真实的,可是他可以把历史写成小说,而他的语言似乎有一种魔力,看似平淡,却充满诗意。这是我梦寐以求的语言境界。不过,我相信诗意的语言来自作家的内心和他看世界的角度。只有充满诗意的人才能写出诗意的语言。
我翻了翻书,原来故事的主人公是上个世纪30年代的芝大历史系主任,以研究杰佛逊闻名。1933年被罗斯佛任命为驻德大使,而他的女儿玛莎,美貌,性感,聪慧,风流,和那个时代很多著名男人都有关联,她和父亲一起去了德国,上演了上个世纪最精彩的一出间谍大戏,成为美苏之间最有名的间谍。
我买了书,离开书店,再往前走几步,就是当时他们在海德园的家:5757 BlackStone 。
这是有关这本书的评价:
"By far his best and most enthralling work of novelistic history….Powerful,
poignant…a transportingly true story."--
The New York Times
"Tells
a fascinating story brilliantly well."--
Financial Times
"Highly
compelling...Larson brings Berlin roaring to life in all its glamour and
horror...a welcome new chapter in the vast canon of World War II."--
Christian
Science Monitor
"Terrific."--
Los Angeles Times
“A
stunning work of history.”--
Newsweek
“Larson has meticulously
researched the Dodds’ intimate witness to Hitler’s ascendancy and created an
edifying narrative of this historical byway that has all the pleasures of a
political thriller….a fresh picture of these terrrible events.”--
The New York
Times Book Review
"Larson has taken a brilliant idea and turned it
into a gripping book."--
Women's Wear Daily
"Harrowingly
suspenseful."
Vogue.com
"A gripping, deeply-intimate narrative
with a climax that reads like the best political thriller, where we are stunned
with each turn of the page."--
Louisville Courier
Journal
"Electrifying reading...fascinating."
Minneapolis
Star-Tribune
“Larson’s latest chronicle of history has as much
excitement as a thriller novel, and it’s all the more thrilling because it’s all
true.”--
Asbury Park Press
"A superb book...nothing less than
masterful."--
Toronto Globe and Mail
“Even though we know how it
will end — the book's climax, the Night of the Long Knives, being just the
beginning, this is a page-turner, full of flesh and blood people and monsters
too, whose charms are particularly disturbing.”--
Portland
Herald
"Larson succeeds brilliantly…offers a fascinating window into
the year when the world began its slow slide into war."--
Maclean's
Magazine