Animal Farm

Because of a collaboration project with Pentas Project, I was introduced to a classic 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell.


Basically I am not a novel lover, so I was reluctant to pick up the book and read, but later I found that this is such a notable book during the 40s. One of the most famous satirical allegory of Soviet totalitarianism.


The story is basically about the smartest animal in the farm, a PIG by the name of OLD MAJOR, one day received revelation in his dream. He dreamt of an animal-controlled UTOPIA, where "All animals are equal!" and later flame the animals in the farm to have a revolution, according to his Animalism, so that they can be fled from the manipulation of mankind.


If you know some history about what happen in between 1910 to 1940 , this book will be interesting to you. Else, not too late to do some revision.


The book is not thick, and surprisingly, it's very easy to read. So I recommend you to read the original English version. Trust me, sometimes translated literature is harder to understand, I especially have problem recognize and memories translated name.


These are the 2 English version you can find in Popular book store, Gosh! Why are they so expensive?


Penguin Books UK USD 12.02 (Around RM32)


Penguin Books UK £6.99 (Around RM50)

锁

看卡尔维诺，里头有句话：

“光凭一支钥匙就想打开一切的锁，

是不可能的事。”

但是我不禁想，世界真的拥有很多锁吗？

或者，锁只有一把，

无法配对的钥匙却很多？

商务印书馆

如果你大量消费中文书，并且偏爱香港文化，又奈何本地难寻港产读物，我推荐商务印书馆。


image courtesy of justgoodman

商务是本地少有能找到大量港产出版物的书局，当然除了kinokuniya。但是kinokuniya是非会员制高档次书局，书价不一定便宜。而申请商务的会员只须十元，书价是港币价格对半。会员购买商务公司的出版物都有20%折扣，非其公司出版物也有10%的折扣，一定划得来。


像我之前在其他书店都找不到的赵广超一系列关于建筑，艺术的书；最近想看的香港独立漫画家阿德，小克的书也找得到。智海的书也订得到。惊喜的是还发现了伊朗女插画家Marjane Satrapi的Persepolis (我在伊朗长大）中译本漫画。




这位漂亮的女士就是Marjane Satrapi 精致的五官，自信的眼神，完全散发出一种不同的中东女性面貌。（这摄影师也把她拍得像 Susan Sontag，下图)


image courtesy of
http://southerncrossreview.org/43/sontag-cinema.htm


Susan Sontag photographed at home on Riverside Drive, November 18, 1974.
(Photo: Jill Krementz)

像吧！当然，上帝把中东人造得好看多了。。。