Frankenstein

　　《弗兰肯斯坦》，1818年

　　作者：Mary Shelley 玛莉·雪莱

　　This pioneering work of science fiction and Gothic horror developed an indelible "monster" of a theme that has endured for centuries: of the scientist as a "modern Prometheus".

　　这部先锋作品集科幻和哥特式恐怖于一身，营造了一个难以磨灭的“恶魔”主题，即科学家中的“现代普罗米修斯”，几世纪以来经久不衰。

　　Mrs Dalloway

　　《达洛卫夫人》，1925年

　　作者：Virginia Woolf 弗吉尼亚·伍尔芙

　　If the most precious gift of the novel as a medium is the power it has to break into the prison of human consciousness, to expose the gossamer (蛛丝似的，纤细缥缈的) weave of thought and feeling and memory that makes up our innermost lives, then Woolf's fourth novel stands alone at the pinnacle(顶峰). Virginia Woolf made modernism live and breathe.

　　如果说这部小说作为媒介最天才之处在于其破除人类意识的囹圄、暴露人们那些构成内在世界的细若蛛丝的思绪、情感和记忆，那么伍尔芙的第四部小说就是孤立巅峰之作。弗吉尼亚让现代主义焕发生命、鲜活起来。

　　Lincoln in the Bardo

　　林肯在中阴

　　作者：George Saunders 乔治•桑德斯

　　February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returns, alone, to the crypt several times to hold his boy’s body.

　　1862年，林肯的儿子威利死于伤寒，年仅11岁。在他经历丧子之痛时，美国内战爆发，战局混乱，伤亡人数不断攀升。作者通过佛教“中阴”的概念来呈现威利墓地上的悲伤幻象，同时也揭示了林肯作为父亲的悲伤和他决定“勇敢面对，解决问题”的关键决定之间的联系。

　　A Separation

　　一场分离

　　作者：Katie Kitamura

　　A married couple are faced with a difficult decision - to improve the life of their child by moving to another country or to stay in Iran and look after a deteriorating parent who has Alzheimer's disease.

　　“故事始于伊莎贝拉的一个电话。她想知道克里斯托弗在哪里。”伊莎贝拉的儿子克里斯托弗隐瞒了他和妻子已经分居6个月的事实。随着克里斯托弗的消失，他的谎言和背叛也即将暴露，妻子决定飞往雅典和丈夫离婚……

　　The Book Thieves

　　偷书贼

　　作者：Anders Rydell 安德斯•李戴尔

　　1939 - Nazi Germany - The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier. Liesel, a nine-year-old girl, is living with a foster family on Himmel Street. Her parents have been taken away to a concentration camp. Liesel steals books. This is her story and the story of the inhabitants of her street when the bombs begin to fall. Some important information - this novel is narrated by death. It's a small story, about: a girl; an accordionist; some fanatical Germans; a Jewish fist fighter; and quite a lot of thievery. Another thing you should know - death will visit the book thief three times.

　　作者本身简约的文字风格，赋予这部小说一种冷冽、抽离的情感，加上死神的口吻，让读者不断感叹于人性的光辉与险恶之中。孩子们单纯快乐的童年生活中，飘着纳粹的乌云。偷书贼住在天堂街，不断面临生存的压力与思想的桎梏，支撑主角灵魂去面对现实的，不是真正的天堂，而是这些偷来的书!本书的故事很容易让人想起《安妮日记》，似乎与它有异曲同工之妙，同样的背景不同的人物演绎着那一段对犹太人来说刻骨铭心的历史。一个用日记体记录着每天的点点滴滴，而另一个则用小说站在第三者的角度上来审视纳粹的历史。表达了同样的主题和思想：对罪恶战争的控诉和对崇高心灵的赞美。