Longreads Best of 2016: Under-Recognized Books
We asked our contributors to tell us about a few books they felt deserved more recognition in 2016.
我们请贡献者向我们介绍几本他们认为 2016 年值得更多认可的书籍。
Here they are.
他们在这里。
* * *
** **
Christine Hyung-Oak LeeA writer whose memoir, Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember, is due from Ecco/Harper Collins in February.
克里斯汀·亨-奥克·李 (Christine Hyung-Oak Lee) 是一位作家，她的回忆录《告诉我你不记得的一切》将于 2 月由 Ecco/Harper Collins 出版。
## Him, Me, Muhammad Ali (Randa Jarrar, Sarabande Books)
## 他，我，穆罕默德·阿里（Randa Jarrar，Sarabande Books）
These are stories that don’t compromise—that stand their ground and say come here, because I won’t come to you.
这些故事不妥协——坚持自己的立场，说来这里，因为我不会来找你。
And that’s the most valuable thing to read—to go somewhere other than where you are.
这是最值得阅读的东西——去你所在的地方以外的地方。
The characters are dark and twisty; she’s an Arab American Roald Dahl—the world they inhabit likewise whimsical yet treacherous.
人物性格阴暗、曲折；她是阿拉伯裔美国人罗尔德·达尔——他们所居住的世界同样异想天开却又充满危险。
Her lively staccato use of language is the perfect foil to this darkness, keeping the reader suspended and engaged throughout.
她对语言的生动断断续续的运用完美地衬托了这种黑暗，让读者在整个过程中保持悬念和投入。
It never plods.
它从不拖沓。
Never holds your hand to the fire for longer than a few seconds at a time.
每次将手放在火上的时间切勿超过几秒钟。
The title story, “Him, Me, Muhammad Ali,” is one of the strongest in the collection, interweaving ancestry and tradition with contemporary conflict.
标题故事“他，我，穆罕默德·阿里”是该系列中最有力的故事之一，将祖先和传统与当代冲突交织在一起。
There’s not a minaret in sight.
看不见尖塔。
Not even on the cover.
连封面上都没有。
The story, “A Sailor,” dissects a marriage.
《水手》这个故事剖析了一段婚姻。
A husband refuses to become angry with his wife for having had an affair.
丈夫拒绝因妻子有外遇而生气。
The following excerpt shows you what Jarrar’s writing is like.
下面的摘录向您展示了贾拉尔的写作风格。
If you don’t like curse words, this isn’t for you.
如果您不喜欢脏话，那么这不适合您。
I like curse words done well.
我喜欢骂人的话做得好。
Jarrar does them well:
贾拉尔做得很好：
“She fucks a Sailor, a Turkish sailor, the summer she spends in Istanbul.
“她在伊斯坦布尔度过的夏天与一名水手、一名土耳其水手发生了关系。
When she comes home to Wisconsin, it takes her three days to come clean about it to her husband.“He says this doesn’t bother him, and she tells him that it bothers her that it doesn’t bother him.
当她回到威斯康星州的家中时，她花了三天时间才向丈夫坦白了这件事。
He asks if she prefers him to be the kind of man who is bothered by fleeting moments, and she tells him that yes, she prefers that he be that kind of man.
他问她是否更喜欢他成为那种被转瞬即逝的时刻所困扰的男人，她告诉他，是的，她更喜欢他成为那种男人。
He tells her he thinks she married him because he is precisely the kind of man who doesn’t dwell on fleeting moments, because he is the kind of man who does not hold a grudge.
他告诉她，他认为她嫁给了他，因为他正是那种不会沉迷于转瞬即逝的男人，因为他是那种不记仇的男人。
She tells him that holding a grudge and working up some anger about one’s wife fucking a sailor is not the same thing.
她告诉他，怀恨在心和因为妻子操水手而生气不是一回事。
He agrees that holding a grudge isn’t the same as working up some anger about one’s wife fucking a sailor, but he adds, one’s wife, specifically his own, would never leave him for a sailor, and not a Turkish sailor.
他同意怀恨在心与因妻子与水手发生关系而感到愤怒不同，但他补充说，一个人的妻子，特别是他自己的妻子，永远不会因为水手而不是土耳其水手而离开他。
In fact, he says, she did not leave him for the Turkish sailor.
事实上，他说，她并没有为了土耳其水手而离开他。
She is here.
她在这里。
So why should he be angry?”
那么他为什么要生气呢？”
“She fucks a Sailor, a Turkish sailor, the summer she spends in Istanbul.
“她在伊斯坦布尔度过的夏天与一名水手、一名土耳其水手发生了关系。
When she comes home to Wisconsin, it takes her three days to come clean about it to her husband.
当她回到威斯康星州的家中时，她花了三天时间才向丈夫坦白了这件事。
“He says this doesn’t bother him, and she tells him that it bothers her that it doesn’t bother him.
“他说这并不困扰他，而她则告诉他，这让她烦恼，但这并不困扰他。
He asks if she prefers him to be the kind of man who is bothered by fleeting moments, and she tells him that yes, she prefers that he be that kind of man.
他问她是否更喜欢他成为那种被转瞬即逝的时刻所困扰的男人，她告诉他，是的，她更喜欢他成为那种男人。
He tells her he thinks she married him because he is precisely the kind of man who doesn’t dwell on fleeting moments, because he is the kind of man who does not hold a grudge.
他告诉她，他认为她嫁给了他，因为他正是那种不会沉迷于转瞬即逝的男人，因为他是那种不记仇的男人。
She tells him that holding a grudge and working up some anger about one’s wife fucking a sailor is not the same thing.
她告诉他，怀恨在心和因为妻子操水手而生气不是一回事。
He agrees that holding a grudge isn’t the same as working up some anger about one’s wife fucking a sailor, but he adds, one’s wife, specifically his own, would never leave him for a sailor, and not a Turkish sailor.
他同意怀恨在心与因妻子与水手发生关系而感到愤怒不同，但他补充说，一个人的妻子，特别是他自己的妻子，永远不会因为水手而不是土耳其水手而离开他。
In fact, he says, she did not leave him for the Turkish sailor.
事实上，他说，她并没有为了土耳其水手而离开他。
She is here.
她在这里。
So why should he be angry?”
那么他为什么要生气呢？”
## Night Sky With Exit Wounds (Ocean Vuong, Copper Canyon Press)
## 带有退出伤口的夜空（Ocean Vuong，Copper Canyon Press）
Poetry is often under-recognized—and while Ocean Vuong’s has been recognized by Whiting, poetry needs every opportunity to be read.
诗歌常常得不到充分的认可——虽然 Ocean Vuong 的诗歌得到了怀廷的认可，但诗歌需要每一个机会被阅读。
So I’m laying it down here.
所以我把它放在这里。
This is the one to read.
这是值得一读的。
Every poem beats with exigency and passion, and his work is complicated—spanning history and time and blood and heartbreak and hope.
每首诗都充满紧迫感和激情，他的作品也很复杂——跨越历史、时间、鲜血、心碎和希望。
And yet there is meaningful silence in the words, too—gaps and pauses in the line breaks and spaces filled with guesses and anticipation and questioning.
然而，文字中也有有意义的沉默——换行符中的间隙和停顿，以及充满猜测、期待和质疑的空间。
Vuong is a fan of Li-Young Lee and like Lee, Vuong investigates fathers, mothers, country, and historical pain.
Vuong 是李立英的粉丝，和李一样，Vuong 调查父亲、母亲、国家和历史痛苦。
But it very well could be that he will make a mark bigger than Lee’s.
但他很可能会留下比李更大的印记。
From Daily Bread:
来自每日面包：
“He’ll imagine the softness of breadas he peels back the wool blanket, raisesher phantom limb to his lips as each kissdissolves down her air-light ankles.& he will never see the pleasurethis brings to her face.
“当他剥开羊毛毯，将她的幻肢举到唇边，每次亲吻都融化在她轻盈的脚踝时，他会想象面包的柔软。&他永远不会看到这给她脸上带来的愉悦。
Neverher face.
从来没有她的脸。
Because in my hurryto make her real, make herhere, I will forget to writea bit of light into the room.Because my hands were always brief& dim as my father’s.& it will start to rain.
因为我急于让她真实，让她在这里，我会忘记在房间里写一点光。因为我的手总是像我父亲的那样短暂而暗淡。&它会开始下雨。
I won’teven think to put a roof over the house—her prosthetic leg on the nightstand,the clack clack as it fills to the brim.
我什至不会想到给房子盖个屋顶——她的假腿放在床头柜上，当它充满时会发出“咔嗒”声。
Listen,the year is gone.
听着，一年过去了。
I knownothing of my country.
我对我的国家一无所知。
I write thingsdown.
我把事情写下来。
I build a life & tear it apart& the sun keeps shining.
我建立了一个生活，又把它拆散了，阳光依然灿烂。
Crescentwave.
新月波。
Salt-spray.
盐雾。
Tsunami.
海啸。
I haveenough ink to give you the seabut not the ships, but it’s my book& I’ll say anything just to stay insidethis skin.
我有足够的墨水给你大海，但不是船只，但这是我的书&我会说任何话，只是为了留在这个皮肤里。
Sassafras.
檫树。
Douglas fir.Sextant & compass…”
花旗松。六分仪和指南针……”
“He’ll imagine the softness of breadas he peels back the wool blanket, raisesher phantom limb to his lips as each kissdissolves down her air-light ankles.
“当他剥开羊毛毯，将她的幻肢举到唇边时，他会想象面包的柔软，每个吻都溶解在她轻盈的脚踝上。
& he will never see the pleasure
&他永远不会看到快乐
this brings to her face.
这让她脸上浮现出。
Never
从来没有
her face.
她的脸。
Because in my hurry
因为在我匆忙的时候
to make her real, make her
让她变得真实，让她
here, I will forget to write
在这里，我会忘记写
a bit of light into the room.
房间里有一点光。
Because my hands were always brief
因为我的手一直很短
& dim as my father’s.
和我父亲一样昏暗。
& it will start to rain.
&将会开始下雨。
I won’t
我不会
even think to put a roof over the house—
甚至想给房子盖个屋顶——
her prosthetic leg on the nightstand,
她的假腿放在床头柜上，
the clack clack as it fills to the brim.
当它充满的时候，噼啪作响。
Listen,
听着，
the year is gone.
一年过去了。
I know
我知道
nothing of my country.
与我的国家无关。
I write things
我写东西
down.
下来。
I build a life & tear it apart
我建立了一个生活又将它拆散
& the sun keeps shining.
＆太阳一直照耀着。
Crescent
新月
wave.
波。
Salt-spray.
盐雾。
Tsunami.
海啸。
I have
我有
enough ink to give you the sea
足够的墨水给你大海
but not the ships, but it’s my book
但不是船，但这是我的书
& I’ll say anything just to stay inside
&我会说什么只是为了留在里面
this skin.
这个皮肤。
Sassafras.
檫树。
Douglas fir.
花旗松。
Sextant & compass…”
六分仪和指南针……”
Ruth CurryCo-publisher of Emily Books; writer, whose work has appeared in Buzzfeed, the Paris Review Daily, Nylon, Bookforum, and n+1; and author of the newsletter Coffee & TV.
露丝·库里 (Ruth Curry) 艾米丽图书 (Emily Books) 联合出版商；作家，其作品曾出现在 Buzzfeed、《巴黎评论日报》、Nylon、Bookforum 和 n+1 上；也是时事通讯《Coffee & TV》的作者。
## Surveys (Natasha Stagg, Semiotexte)
## 调查（Natasha Stagg，Semiotexte）
If Marshall McLuhan rewrote “Cinderella,” the result might come out looking something like this novel, Stagg’s first.
如果马歇尔·麦克卢汉重写《灰姑娘》，结果可能会像这本小说，斯塔格的第一部小说。
Colleen, an aimless 23 year old who works administering marketing surveys in an anodyne Arizona mall, lives a bleak and listless life, online when she’s not drinking or avoiding the advances of the peeping Tom in her shabby apartment complex.
科琳 23 岁，漫无目的，在亚利桑那州一家平淡无奇的购物中心负责管理营销调查，她过着凄凉无精打采的生活，除了喝酒，也不在破旧的公寓里躲避偷窥狂的诱惑时，她就上网上网。
Then she meets Jim, a minor celebrity, “online, it doesn’t matter how…Describing it would be pointless and anyway, you can look it up.” Colleen and Jim fall in love and quickly, as a unit, become rich and very famous.
然后她遇到了小有名气的吉姆，“在网上，不管怎样……描述都没意义，反正你可以查一下。”科琳和吉姆坠入爱河，并很快成为一个整体，变得富有并非常出名。
The specifics aren’t clear, and they never need to be: Stagg lays out the truths and the falsehoods of the attention economy brilliantly without them.
具体细节并不明确，也不需要如此：斯塔格在没有这些细节的情况下出色地阐述了注意力经济的真相和谎言。
At the height of her fame, Colleen becomes obsessed with Lucinda, Jim’s ex, her obsession growing more desperate as Colleen’s notoriety inevitably wanes.
在她名声鼎盛的时候，科琳开始迷恋吉姆的前男友露辛达，随着科琳的恶名不可避免地减弱，她的迷恋变得更加绝望。
“I curled around my computer, searching for all the things I’d seen a million times.
“我蜷缩在电脑周围，搜索所有我见过一百万次的东西。
The views were not growing as steadily, but they were growing, and would always grow, never diminish…
观点并没有稳定增长，但它们正在增长，而且会一直增长，永远不会减少……
I grabbed my phone and muscle memory led me to look up Lucinda’s Twitter.
我抓起手机，肌肉记忆引导我查找露辛达的推特。
It looked as if all of it had been deleted.
看起来好像全部都被删除了。
How stupid is she?
她到底有多蠢？
I thought.
我想。
You can’t really delete any of it.” Stagg’s dark wit, her accurate-to-the-millimeter rendering of the physical and psychological experience of consuming and being consumed by social media, and the emergence of Lucinda as someone whose power comes from her ability to be completely sustained by her own inner life — or at least, appear that way — makes Surveys really special.
你实际上无法删除任何内容。”斯塔格的阴暗智慧、她对社交媒体消费和被消费的生理和心理体验的精确到毫米的描绘，以及露辛达的出现，她的力量来自于她完全由自己的内心生活支撑的能力——或者至少看起来如此——使得《调查》变得非常特别。
## The Black Wave (Michelle Tea, Feminist Press)
## 黑色浪潮（米歇尔·茶，女权主义出版社）
The DMV is no longer issuing driver’s licenses and the names of the fish that have gone extinct are crossed out on the walls of sushi restaurants: this is how we know the apocalypse is coming to San Francisco in 1999.
DMV 不再发放驾驶执照，寿司店的墙上也划掉了已经灭绝的鱼类的名字：这就是我们知道 1999 年末日即将降临旧金山的原因。
There’s the thick perma-smog and a vegetable shortage too, but it is the driver’s license issue that grabs our narrator Michelle’s attention in Black Wave, the latest book from Michelle Tea.
还有浓浓的永久雾霾和蔬菜短缺，但在米歇尔·茶的最新著作《黑波》中，驾驶执照问题吸引了我们的叙述者米歇尔的注意力。
She needs a driver’s license to drive her getaway van to Los Angeles and escape the codependent relationships, drugs, and squalor (captured in all their pre-gentrified post-nostalgized charm) of the Mission in the late 90s.
她需要一张驾驶执照才能驾驶她的逃亡货车前往洛杉矶，逃离 90 年代末教会的相互依存关系、毒品和肮脏（体现在所有前中产阶级化的后怀旧魅力中）。
When Michelle gets to Los Angeles Black Wave bifurcates: LA Michelle, now sober, is attempting to adapt her unruly, unpublished 500-pg memoir called Black Wave into a screenplay.
当米歇尔到达洛杉矶时，黑潮出现了分歧：现在清醒的洛杉矶米歇尔正试图将她不守规矩、未出版的 500 页回忆录《黑潮》改编成剧本。
She is struggling, with sobriety, with the ethics of writing about her life and her loved ones, haunted by her past and by people she has yet to meet (in memoir-land, at the computer where she works every day — yes, there’s an element of metafiction at work).
她正在清醒地与写作自己的生活和亲人的道德做斗争，她被她的过去和她尚未见过的人所困扰（在回忆录领域，在她每天工作的电脑前——是的，工作中有元小说的元素）。
But then the apocalypse comes to contemporary Los Angeles too, the actual irreversible accelerationist climate one we’ve all been in denial about since 1999, in a series of tsunamis that will take out the entire West Coast.
但末日也降临到了当代的洛杉矶，自 1999 年以来我们一直否认的真正不可逆转的加速主义气候，一系列海啸将摧毁整个西海岸。
The mass suicides begin in New York.
大规模自杀事件始于纽约。
Michelle’s brother calls in a panic, begging an incredulous Michelle to turn on the TV and see for herself: “Michelle knew once she turned on her television it would remain on for a very long time.”
米歇尔的哥哥惊慌地打电话来，恳求难以置信的米歇尔打开电视亲眼看看：“米歇尔知道一旦她打开电视，电视就会开很长一段时间。”
While telling a literal apocalypse story, Tea also interrogates other life-ending moments with the warmth and humor she’s known for: sobriety, the loss of a love, the practice (metaphorical suicide, if not real relationship-cide) of narrating one’s life for an audience.
在讲述一个字面意义上的世界末日故事的同时，Tea 还以她所闻名的温暖和幽默来审视其他生命终结的时刻：清醒、失去爱情、向观众讲述自己生命的做法（隐喻性的自杀，如果不是真正的断绝关系）。
But it is the ‘real’ apocalypse that allows ‘real’ Michelle to finally finish her memoir, on the last day of the world: “She could, after all, write only the stories she was meant to write.
但正是“真正的”启示录让“真正的”米歇尔最终在世界的最后一天完成了她的回忆录：“毕竟，她只能写她本想写的故事。
She could write nothing more than that, nothing more or less perfect.
她只能写出这样的东西，完美无缺。
As it turned out, time could not be wasted.” Perhaps it’s too on-the-nose to recommend an apocalypse story right now, but not this one.
事实证明，时间不能浪费。”也许现在推荐一部末日故事有点太直接了，但不是这个。
Maris KreizmanAuthor of Slaughterhouse 90210 and Editorial Director of Book of the Month Club.
Maris Kreizman 《屠宰场 90210》的作者和《本月图书俱乐部》的编辑总监。
## Vow of Celibacy (Erin Judge, Rare Bird Books)
## 独身誓言（Erin Judge，稀有鸟类书籍）
In addition to her budding career as a novelist, Erin Judge is an incredibly talented comedian, and her debut novel manages to be very funny without ever devolving into simply a string of humorous bits.
除了她作为小说家的崭露头角之外，艾琳·贾奇还是一位非常有才华的喜剧演员，她的处女作非常有趣，而不仅仅是一串幽默的片段。
That’s partly because her heroine, Natalie–an aspiring fashion designer who takes a vow of celibacy after a string of toxic relationships starting way back in adolescence–has so much heart.
这在一定程度上是因为她的女主角娜塔莉——一位有抱负的时装设计师，在青春期开始的一系列有毒关系后发誓独身——有如此多的心。
That Natalie is plus-sized and bisexual is an important part of the narrative, but it isn’t the whole story.
娜塔莉是大号身材和双性恋，这是故事的重要组成部分，但这并不是故事的全部。
Natalie is sex positive and body positive and she happens to be the star of a fun, smart, sexy romp of a novel in which she errs and learns and grows just like traditional protagonists do.
娜塔莉对性和身体持积极态度，她恰好是一部有趣、聪明、性感的小说中的明星，在小说中，她会犯错、学习和成长，就像传统的主角一样。
I hate the idea that in this day and age Vow of Celibacy can still feel revolutionary in its treatment of both sexuality and size, but it’s true.
我讨厌这样的想法，即在当今时代，《独身誓言》在性和体型的处理上仍然具有革命性的感觉，但这是事实。
## Nine Island (Jane Alison, Catapult)
## 九岛（简·艾莉森，弹射器）
I never expected an experimental novel that makes extensive allusions to classical Roman poetry to feel so vital and immediate, but Nine Island proved me wrong again and again.
我从来没有想到一部广泛提及罗马古典诗歌的实验小说会让人感觉如此生机勃勃和直接，但《九岛》一次又一次证明我错了。
It’s the story of J, a translator of Ovid, who lives in relative solitude in one of those big, sprawling condos on an island in Miami.
这是奥维德翻译家 J 的故事，他住在迈阿密一座小岛上的一栋宽敞的公寓里，过着相对孤独的生活。
She’s not young, but she’s not yet old enough to retire in “paradise”, as so many of her neighbors have.
她不年轻了，但还没有到像她的许多邻居那样在“天堂”退休的年纪。
The best comedy and poetry in Nine Island is in J’s depiction of her life in the present–the trips to Publix and the sunbathing and the existential angst–as well as her remembrances of the past.
《九岛》最好的喜剧和诗歌在于 J 对她现在生活的描述——去 Publix 的旅行、日光浴和存在主义的焦虑——以及她对过去的回忆。
Martha Frankel Host of Woodstock Booktalk Radio and the executive director of The Woodstock Book Fest.
玛莎·弗兰克尔 (Martha Frankel) 是伍德斯托克读书电台的主持人，也是伍德斯托克读书节的执行董事。
I read for a living, and am lucky enough to pick and choose only those books I enjoy.
我以读书为生，很幸运能够只挑选那些我喜欢的书。
But three books this year grabbed me and wouldn’t let go; judging from the reactions of the dozens of people I’ve bought them for, they’ve grabbed others in the same way
但今年有三本书抓住了我，不肯放手。从我为之购买的几十个人的反应来看，他们也以同样的方式抓住了其他人
## Harmony (Carolyn Parkhurst, Pamela Dorman Books)
## 和谐（卡罗琳·帕克赫斯特，帕梅拉·多尔曼图书）
Carolyn Parkhurst’s novel about how far one family will go to help their autistic daughter, is that rare book that lets you feel you’re smarter than the narrator, until they do exactly what you would have.
卡罗琳·帕克赫斯特（Carolyn Parkhurst）的小说讲述了一个家庭将付出多大的努力来帮助他们患有自闭症的女儿，这是一本罕见的书，它让你感觉自己比叙述者更聪明，直到他们完全按照你的意愿去做。
## Blackout: Remembering the Things I Drank to Forget (Sarah Hepola, Grand Central Publishing)
## Blackout：记住我喝过的东西以忘记（Sarah Hepola，Grand Central Publishing）
This is the story of a seemingly normal woman, until she picks up a drink.
这是一个看似正常的女人的故事，直到她拿起一杯酒。
Hepola’s blackouts lead her to some very dark places, but with such humor and bravery that you’re too busy cheering to be embarrassed.
赫波拉的昏迷将她带到了一些非常黑暗的地方，但她的幽默和勇敢让你忙着欢呼而无暇感到尴尬。
## The Next: A Novel of Love, Revenge and a Ghost Who Can’t Let Go (Stephanie Gangi, St. Martin’s Press)
## 下一篇：一部关于爱、复仇和无法放手的鬼魂的小说（斯蒂芬妮·甘吉，圣马丁出版社）
Ghost stories?
鬼故事？
Not a fan.
不是粉丝。
Which is why I didn’t think I’d like Stephanie Gangi’s The Next: A Novel of Love, Revenge and a Ghost Who Can’t Let Go.
这就是为什么我认为我不喜欢斯蒂芬妮·甘吉的《下一个：一部关于爱、复仇和不能放手的鬼魂的小说》。
Revenge might be a dish best served cold, but Gangi makes us see how delicious it is served piping hot.
复仇可能是一道冷食最好的菜肴，但甘吉让我们看到了热食的美味。
Michele FilgateLiterary critic and Vice President of Awards for the National Book Critics Circle
米歇尔·菲尔盖特文学评论家兼国家书评人协会奖副主席
## The Story of a Brief Marriage: A Novel (Anuk Arudpragasam , Flatiron Books)
## 短暂婚姻的故事：小说（Anuk Arudpragasam，Flatiron Books）
I knew I had to read Anuk Arudpragasam’s debut novel when Garth Greenwell took time out from his own book party to introduce me to the author.
当加斯·格林威尔（Garth Greenwell）从他自己的读书聚会中抽出时间向我介绍作者时，我知道我必须阅读阿努克·阿鲁德普拉加萨姆（Anuk Arudpragasam）的处女作。
Whenever someone I admire is that enthusiastic about something, I pay attention.
每当我敬佩的人对某事如此热情时，我都会注意。
And I’m glad I did.
我很高兴我做到了。
The Story of a Brief Marriage is set over a single day in a Sri Lankan refugee camp toward the end of a civil war that spans decades.
《短暂婚姻的故事》以斯里兰卡难民营的一天为背景，这场战争持续数十年，内战即将结束。
The story centers around Dinesh, a young man who has lost everything and everyone he cares about.
故事围绕迪内什展开，他是一个失去了一切和他关心的人的年轻人。
This haunting, devastating book is an intricate look at a man becoming reacquainted with his own body after living through some horrific experiences.
这本令人难忘、毁灭性的书以复杂的视角讲述了一个男人在经历了一些可怕的经历后重新认识自己的身体。
He marries a woman he barely knows, and every moment is magnified by the dangerous situation they live in.
他娶了一个他几乎不认识的女人，每一刻都因为他们生活的危险处境而被放大。
The Story of a Brief Marriage is a story of grace and humanity despite catastrophic circumstances.
《短暂婚姻的故事》是一个尽管遭遇灾难却仍充满恩典和人性的故事。
## The Penny Poet of Portsmouth: A Memoir Of Place, Solitude, and Friendship (Katherine Towler, Counterpoint)
## 朴茨茅斯的便士诗人：关于地方、孤独和友谊的回忆录（凯瑟琳·托勒，Counterpoint）
Yes, I’m friends with the author.
是的，我和作者是朋友。
But I would choose this book even if I didn’t know Katherine.
但即使我不认识凯瑟琳，我也会选择这本书。
I’m a sucker for memoirs about writers and the writing life—and this is one of the best books I’ve ever read in that category.
我非常喜欢有关作家和写作生活的回忆录，这是我读过的该类别中最好的书之一。
Years ago, Katherine Towler moved to Portsmouth, NH and met Robert Dunn—a fiercely stubborn, eccentric poet who was beloved in the literary community, but content with being a “minor poet.” She became a caretaker for him in the final years of his life, and recounts what she learned from her friendship with Robert.
几年前，凯瑟琳·托勒搬到新罕布什尔州朴茨茅斯，遇到了罗伯特·邓恩——一位极其固执、古怪的诗人，在文学界深受爱戴，但满足于做一名“小诗人”。在他生命的最后几年，她成为了他的看护者，并讲述了她从与罗伯特的友谊中学到的东西。
It’s easy to focus on validation when you’re a writer, but this beautifully written book is a reminder that none of that really matters in the end.
当你是一名作家时，你很容易专注于验证，但这本写得很漂亮的书提醒你，最终这些都不重要。
What counts in being an artist is the work itself, and the solitude and friendships we count on to fuel our creativity.
作为一名艺术家，重要的是作品本身，以及我们赖以激发创造力的孤独和友谊。
Stephen SparksBook buyer at Green Apple Books in San Francisco.
斯蒂芬·斯帕克斯 (Stephen Sparks) 旧金山绿苹果图书公司的图书买家。
## The Ghosts of Birds (Eliot Weinberg, New Directions)
## 鸟类的幽灵（艾略特·温伯格，新方向）
The closest thing to a major review Eliot Weinberger has received for his latest collection of essays, published in October by New Directions, came in an episode of the “Inside the NY Times Book Review” podcast, where the book was mentioned in passing.
艾略特·温伯格 (Eliot Weinberger) 的最新散文集于 10 月由 New Directions 出版，他收到的最接近主要评论的内容是在“纽约时报书评内部”播客的一集中，其中顺便提到了这本书。
I don’t understand the critical silence surrounding his work, which ranges in The Ghosts of Birds from ancient China through medieval Ireland onto George W.
我不明白围绕他的作品的批判性沉默，他的作品涵盖了从古代中国到中世纪爱尔兰到乔治·W·布什的《鸟之幽灵》。
Bush.
布什。
Perhaps he is too much a modernist for our post-modern tastes, though one would think that his keen sense of irony, deadly effective use of pastiche, unrepentant liberalism, and broad sense of humanity would appeal to readers–especially in 2016–looking for an antidote to what is starting to feel like the closing act of an abbreviated global era.
对于我们后现代的品味来说，也许他是一位过于现代主义者，尽管人们会认为他敏锐的讽刺感、对模仿的致命有效运用、不悔改的自由主义和广泛的人性意识会吸引读者——尤其是在2016年——寻找一种解药，以摆脱这个开始让人感觉像是一个短暂的全球时代的结束行为。
The Ghosts of Birds continues the serial essay begun in Weinberger’s masterful An Elemental Thing, a project that does much to reinvent the essay and the essay collection.
《鸟的幽灵》延续了温伯格的杰作《一个元素之物》中开始的系列文章，这个项目在很大程度上重塑了这篇文章和散文集。
Thematically linked, these essays demonstrate the weirdness, wonder, and often the alarming short-sightedness of the human imagination, all with an apparent effortlessness that belies the work that must have gone into them.
这些文章在主题上相互关联，展示了人类想象力的怪异、奇迹，以及常常令人震惊的短视，所有这些都表面上毫不费力，掩盖了它们必须付出的努力。
Each essay proves an education in itself, making the book a veritable Harvard Classics set–but more fun.
每篇文章本身都证明了一种教育，使这本书成为名副其实的哈佛经典集——但更有趣。
## Guilty Thing: A Life of Thomas De Quincey (Frances Wilson, Farrar, Straus and Giroux)
## 有罪之事：托马斯·德·昆西的一生（弗朗西斯·威尔逊、法勒、斯特劳斯和吉鲁）
Before I read Frances Wilson’s extraordinary biography, I knew De Quincey only as the Opium Eater, a minor character skirting the fringes of the Romantic era.
在阅读弗朗西斯·威尔逊这部非凡的传记之前，我只知道德·昆西是个鸦片吸食者，一个游离于浪漫主义时代边缘的小人物。
After finishing Guilty Thing, I have a newfound admiration for the man who essentially founded the true crime genre, the addiction memoir, pioneered literary autobiography, and influenced writers like Jorge Luis Borges.
读完《有罪的事》后，我对这个真正的犯罪类型、成瘾回忆录、文学自传的先驱以及对豪尔赫·路易斯·博尔赫斯等作家产生影响的人产生了新的钦佩。
Wilson’s portrait of De Quincey and his era is astonishingly fresh and free of the tedious, soul-sucking character analysis that bogs down much biography.
威尔逊对德昆西和他的时代的描绘令人惊讶地新鲜，并且摆脱了许多传记中乏味、吸人灵魂的人物分析。
De Quincey in these pages comes across as a perpetually hounded man who lived by and through his writing, constantly on the run from creditors (perhaps most remarkable among his talents was his ability to waste his fortune), and who even for a time feared for his life after writing for two competing journals.
在这些书中，德·昆西给人的印象是一个永远被追捕的人，他靠写作生活，不断地逃避债权人（也许他的才华中最引人注目的是他浪费财富的能力），甚至在为两本相互竞争的期刊写作后，他甚至有一段时间担心自己的生命安全。
(The worry was not unfounded: the editor of the upstart London Magazine was shot and killed in a duel with the editor of Blackwood’s, just one sordid episode Wilson recounts with gusto.) It’s debatable whether Guilty Thing is a reclamation job, but it is certainly the most vibrant and energetic literary biography I’ve read in ages.
（这种担心并非毫无根据：新贵《伦敦杂志》的编辑在与《布莱克伍德杂志》的编辑决斗中被枪杀，这只是威尔逊津津有味地讲述的一个肮脏的插曲。） 《罪恶之物》是否是一项回收工作尚有争议，但它无疑是我多年来读过的最充满活力和活力的文学传记。
Sari BottonWriter, contributing editor to Longreads, editorial director of the non-profit TMI Project, and owner of Kingston Writers’ Studio.
Sari BottonWriter，Longreads 的特约编辑，非营利组织 TMI 项目的编辑总监，以及 Kingston Writers’ Studio 的所有者。
## Poor Your Soul (Mira Ptacin, Soho Books)
## 可怜你的灵魂（Mira Ptacin，Soho Books）
Balancing poignancy with subtle humor, Mira Ptacin weaves together the stories of her own tragic loss and her mother’s.
米拉·普塔辛将辛酸与微妙的幽默结合在一起，将她自己和母亲的悲惨故事交织在一起。
When an accidental pregnancy progresses into an unviable one, Ptacin and her husband must decide whether to terminate it, or wait for it to terminate itself.
当意外怀孕演变成无法存活的怀孕时，普塔辛和她的丈夫必须决定是终止妊娠，还是等待妊娠自行终止。
Their grief echoes that of Ptacin’s immigrant mother’s, after her only son was killed by a drunk driver.
他们的悲痛与普塔辛的移民母亲的悲痛相呼应，她唯一的儿子被醉酒司机撞死。
## The Telling (Zoe Zolbrod, Curbside Splendor Publishing)
## 讲述（Zoe Zolbrod，Curbside Splendor Publishing）
Zoe Zolbrod courageously, artfully, and compassionately examines herself–as a woman, mother, and sexual being–through the lens of her experience being molested as a child.
佐伊·佐布罗德（Zoe Zolbrod）通过童年被猥亵的经历，勇敢、巧妙、富有同情心地审视自己——作为一个女人、母亲和性存在。
The book is as intelligent and enlightening as it is beautifully written.
这本书文笔优美，充满智慧和启发性。
I particularly admire how remarkably generous Zolbrod is toward the cousin who violated her.
我特别钦佩佐尔布罗德对侵犯她的表弟的慷慨。