16本值得永世珍藏的英文小说(上)[1]

读一本好书，就像是和许多不在场的高尚人谈话，你会学到很多有用的东西。本期就让我们一同细数16本值得永世珍藏的英文小说：

1. The Lovely Bones By Alice Sebold; 400 pages

《可爱的骨头》，艾丽斯·西伯德著(400页)

Because Susie made us trust -- and cry for -- a ghost.

推荐理由：(女主人公)苏西让我们信任一缕孤魂，并为之哭泣。

In Sebold's first novel, The Lovely Bones, she has crafted a gripping tale of tragedy. Part detective story, part family drama, part meditation on what lies beyond, The Lovely Bones is a page-turner in the most literary sense.

《可爱的骨头》是西伯德的处女作，讲述了一个扣人心弦的悲剧故事。小说部分侦探向，又有点家庭剧的意味，它还对物质层面之外的事物展开些许沉思。从极为文学的角度而言，这部书写得极为精彩，引人入胜。

2. Gone Girl By Gillian Flynn; 422 pages

《消失的爱人》，吉莉安·弗琳著(422页)

Because Flynn nails an age-old fear: Do we really know the people closest to us?

推荐理由：费琳在这本书中一针见血，点出人们由来已久的恐惧——我们真的了解同我们最亲密的人吗？

As the story unfolds in precise and riveting prose, readers will find they are being manipulated by the unreliable narrator Nick. Still, even one notices this, searching for the missing pieces is half the thrill of this wickedly absorbing tale.

在精准而又引人入胜的文字描述下故事情节渐渐展开，读者们将意识到自己正被不可靠的叙述者尼克牵着鼻子走。然而即使人们意识到这点，在这则诡异莫测、扣人心弦的故事中找寻遗失的片段只占一半紧张的心绪。

3. Interpreter of Maladies By Jhumpa Lahiri; 198 pages

《疾病解说者》，裘帕·拉希莉著(198页)

Because change is inevitable...and nobody knows what the heck to do about it.

推荐理由：因为改变在所难免……而且没人知道要拿改变怎么办。

The author's details about the specific Indian culture were so precise and evocative, and yet her insights into family dynamics, homesickness and the ways we grapple with shifting circumstances resonated with us all.

此书中作者对印度特有文化的细节描写非常精准并带有启发性。而她对家庭动态关系的洞见、作品中体现的念家之情以及人们在瞬息万变的环境中摸索的方式，让我们所有人产生了共鸣。

4. Life of Pi By Yann Martel; 326 pages

《少年派的奇幻漂流》，扬·马特尔著(326页)

Because we can't resist a didn't-see-it-coming spiritual punch.

推荐理由：看不到未来的精神冲击让我们无法承受。

The novel asked us to think how we endure tragedy, who we become in its wake and how, within it, we may just find both the terrifying and the miraculous.

这本小说让我们思考如何承受悲剧，在经历过悲剧后成为怎样的人，我们也许还会发现恐惧和奇迹共存。

5. The Fault in Our Stars By John Green; 336 pages

《星运里的错》，约翰·格林著(336页)

Because we all need to feel first love again; even if we know the horrible sob-fest to come at the end.

推荐理由：我们都需要再次体验下初恋的感觉，即便知道最终自己会哭得泣不成声。

Sixteen-year-old Hazel faces terminal cancer with humor and pluck. But it isn't until she meets Augustus in a support group that she understands how to love or live fully.

16岁的海泽尔以幽默勇敢面对癌症晚期。但是直到她在青少年癌友互助会上遇见了奥古斯都，她方明白如何去爱，如何充实地活着。

注：书名来自莎士比亚戏剧《凯撒大帝》(Julius Caesar)第一幕第二场，凯撒说：“亲爱的布鲁特斯，错误并不在于命运，而在于我们自己。”(The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, But in ourselves.)

The novel asked us to think how we enduretragedy, who we become in its wake and how, within it, we may just find both the terrifying and the miraculous.

这本小说让我们思考如何承受悲剧，在经历过悲剧后成为怎样的人，而在悲剧中我们是如何可能既体验惊悚，又见证奇迹的。

6. Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China By Jung Chang; 538 pages

《鸿：三代中国女人的故事》，张戎著(538页)

Because we got a literary visa to a long-hidden part of the world.

推荐理由：此书让我们借助文学，得以探知这个世界隐藏已久的一角。

Chang's memoir reads like a blockbuster multigenerational novel, but it's true. Through the portrait of her family, Chang paints a picture of mid-20th-century China, the suffering of its people and the resilience of women everywhere.

张戎的这本回忆录读起来像是一部讲述多代人故事的卖座大片，但它是写实的。她用自己家族的自画像勾勒出中国二十世纪中期的景象——遭受苦难的人与抗打击的女性随处可见。

7. Wild By Cheryl Strayed; 315 pages(315页)

《涉足荒野》，谢莉尔·斯瑞德著(315页)

Because Strayed showed us how to leave our tough, destructive pasts 1,100 miles behind us.

推荐理由：斯瑞德向我们展示如何将那些苦涩又刺痛人心的过去远远甩在身后。

Cheryl Strayed, 26, admitted herself as a total mess. She righted herself by setting out to hike up the Pacific Crest Trail. How she did it, and what she learned about life, love, and survival of the emotional and physical sort, is the subject of her moving memoir, Wild.

26岁的谢莉尔·斯瑞德承认自己一团糟。她为了让生活恢复正常，便前往太平洋山脊国家步道远足。她实现这一想法的方式，对生活、爱情以及维续精神和身体存在的感悟，构成了《涉足荒野》这本回忆录的主题，感人肺腑。

8. White Teeth By Zadie Smith; 464 pages

《白牙》，查蒂·史密斯著(464页)

Because wildly smart novels never go out of style.

推荐理由：行文极为精明的小说永不过时。

In her daring debut novel, Zadie Smith takes us straight to 1970s multicultural London. Smith's wit and audacity is simply irresistible -- as she had written entirely in the language of charisma.

查蒂·史密斯的这本处女作大胆地将20世纪70年代的多族裔伦敦直接展现在我们面前。整本书中的语言极具魅力，彰显出作者的聪慧果敢。