《纽约时报》2012年度十大英文好书排行榜
作者：PHBang 来源：综合 时间：2013年03月13日
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《纽约时报》每年都会发布当年的最佳好书推荐榜。前日
《纽约时报》书评版编辑评出了“2012年度百部图书” 榜单，并精选出“2012年度十大好书”，小说类与非小说类各五册。其中既有布克文学奖、美国国家图书奖获奖作品，也有《卫报》首作奖得主；既有反映战争的现实故事，也有新奇讨巧的卡通图书；既有关于“存在”之意义的跨领域探讨，也有反映亚洲底层社会的纪实类文学。说不定哪一天我们就能看到这些好书的中文译本。
FICTION
小说类
BRING
UP
THE
BODIES
By
Hilary
Mantel
.
《提堂》 作者：希拉里·曼特尔
作为曼特尔2009年作品《狼厅》的续作，曼特尔在本部小说中将亨利八世与安妮·博林老掉牙的故事有趣而充满悬疑地重新呈现了出来。小说采用亨利的首席大臣托马斯·克伦威尔的视角，讲述了宫廷残酷的体制迅速演变至不可避免的死刑。本部小说和《狼厅》一样，均荣获了英国布克文学奖。曼特尔有望续写第三部终结版，届时克伦威尔将以死亡告终。曼特尔能否上演“帽子戏法” 呢？
Ware
’
s
innovative
graphic
novel
deepens
and
enriches
the
form
by
breaking
it
apart
.
Packaged
in
a
large
box
like
a
board
game
,
the
project
contains
14 “
easily
misplaced
elements
” —
pamphlets
,
books
,
foldout
pages
—
that
together
follow
the
residents
of
a
Chicago
triplex
(
and
one
anthropomorphized
bee
)
through
their
ordinary
lives
.
In
doing
so
,
it
tackles
universal
themes
including
art
,
sex
,
family
and
existential
loneliness
in
a
way
that
’
s
simultaneously
playful
and
profound
.BUILDING
STORIES
By
Chris
Ware
.
《大楼故事》作者：克里斯·韦尔
韦尔以分体形式升华并丰富了这部新颖的图画小说。作品是在一个类似棋盘游戏盒子里盛有14个“极易放错的小玩意儿”（包括小册子、书籍以及折叠卡片），这些小玩意儿一起构成了一栋芝加哥大楼（类人化的蜂窝）居民的日常生活。通过这种方式，韦尔寓教于乐地阐述了艺术、性、家庭以及存在主义的孤独等普遍主题。
A
HOLOGRAM
FOR
THE
KING
By
Dave
Eggers
《国王的全息图》 作者：戴夫·埃格斯
In
an
empty
city
in
Saudi
Arabia
,
a
¬
middle-aged
American
businessman
waits
day
after
day
to
close
the
deal
he
hopes
will
redeem
his
forlorn
life
.
Eggers
,
continuing
the
worldly
outlook
that
informed
his
recent
books
“
Zeitoun
”
and
“
What
Is
the
What
,”
spins
this
spare
story
—
a
globalized
“
Death
of
a
Salesman
” —
into
a
tightly
controlled
parable
of
America
’
s
international
standing
and
a
riff
on
middle-class
decline
that
approaches
Beckett
in
its
absurdist
despair
.
在沙特阿拉伯一座空城里，一名中年美国商人日复一日等待交易结束，希望挽救他孤寂绝望的生活。在这部被誉为“世界版《推销员之死》”的小说中，埃格斯继续了他在近作《泽图恩》和《什么是什么》中的俗世观，紧凑的寓言式故事折射出美国的国际处境及其中产阶级的衰退，其荒诞而绝望的手法堪比贝克特。（译注：贝克特·塞缪尔为《等待戈多》的作者）
NW
By
Zadie
Smith
.
《西北》 作者：扎迪·史密斯
Smith
’
s
piercing
new
novel
,
her
first
in
seven
years
,
traces
the
friendship
of
two
women
who
grew
up
in
a
housing
project
in
northwest
London
,
their
lives
disrupted
by
fateful
choices
and
the
brutal
efficiency
of
chance
.
The
narrative
edges
forward
in
fragments
,
uncovering
truths
about
identity
and
money
and
sex
with
incandescent
language
that
,
for
all
of
its
formal
experimentation
,
is
intimate
and
searingly
direct
.
史密斯这部新锐小说讲述了伦敦西北角的一个小镇里一起成长的两个女性之间的友谊。她们的生活因命运般的抉择和残酷的机缘而各自纷扰。史密斯用卓越的笔调以片段式叙述方式触及了身份、金钱及性别等方面，密切又无不直白地揭示了严肃的课题。
THE
YELLOW
BIRDS
By
Kevin
Powers
.
《黄鸟》 作者：凯文·鲍尔斯
A
veteran
of
the
Iraq
war
,
Powers
places
that
conflict
at
the
center
of
his
impressionistic
first
novel
,
about
the
connected
but
diverging
fates
of
two
young
soldiers
and
the
trouble
one
of
them
has
readjusting
to
life
at
home
.
Reflecting
the
chaos
of
war
,
the
fractured
narrative
jumps
around
in
time
and
location
,
but
Powers
anchors
it
with
crystalline
prose
and
a
driving
mystery
:
How
did
the
narrator
’
s
friend
die
?
作为伊拉克战争的退役兵，鲍尔斯在他第一部印象小说中再现了战争的冲突。小说讲述了两名年轻士兵的故事，他们密切相连却又渐行渐远，其中一人甚至难以适应回家以后的生活。小说再现了战争的混乱，叙述片段化，时空交错跳跃。不过小说行文干净纯粹，而且鲍尔斯还留下一个引人遐思的谜团：故事叙述者的朋友究竟是怎么死的呢？
NONFICTION
非小说类
BEHIND
THE
BEAUTIFUL
FOREVERS
Life
,
Death
,
and
Hope
in
a
Mumbai
Undercity
.
By
Katherine
Boo
.
《永恒美丽的背后：孟买地下城的生命、死亡与希望》 作者：凯瑟琳·布
This
National
Book
Award-winning
study
of
life
in
Annawadi
,
a
Mumbai
slum
,
is
marked
by
reporting
so
rigorous
it
recalls
the
muckrakers
,
and
characters
so
rich
they
evoke
Dickens
.
The
slum
dwellers
have
a
skillful
and
empathetic
chronicler
in
Boo
,
who
depicts
them
in
all
their
humanity
and
ruthless
,
resourceful
glory
.
这份荣获国家图书奖的报告记录了孟买贫民窟
Annawadi
的生活。报告极其写实的风格使人想起狄更斯笔下的各色下层人物和角色。凯瑟琳·布娴熟且入木三分地刻画了贫民窟的居民，展现了他们的悲天悯人、冷漠无情以及足智多谋。
FAR
FROM
THE
TREE
Parents
,
Children
,
and
the
Search
for
Identity
.
By
Andrew
Solomon
.
《背离亲缘：父母、儿童与自我寻求》 作者：安德鲁·所罗门
For
more
than
a
decade
,
Solomon
studied
the
challenges
,
risks
and
rewards
of
raising
children
with
“
horizontal
identities
,”
traits
that
they
don
’
t
share
with
their
parents
.
As
he
investigates
how
families
have
grown
stronger
or
fallen
apart
while
raising
prodigies
,
dwarfs
,
schizophrenics
,
transgendered
children
or
those
conceived
in
rape
,
he
complicates
everything
we
thought
we
knew
about
love
,
sacrifice
and
success
.
数十载来，安德鲁一直在用“横向自我”概念研究抚养子女的挑战、困难和回报，以及子女不愿与父母分享的特性。作者涉及面十分广泛，在探索抚养神童、侏儒儿、精神分裂症患儿、变性患儿的家庭或所谓的强奸怀孕家庭的分离聚合时，安德鲁告诉读者：爱、牺牲与成功远比我们想象的复杂。
THE
PASSAGE
OF
POWER
The
Years
of
Lyndon
Johnson
.
By
Robert
A
.
Caro
.
《走向权力的通道：林登·约翰逊的岁月》 作者：罗伯特·
A
·卡罗
The
fourth
volume
of
Caro
’
s
prodigious
masterwork
,
which
now
exceeds
3,000
pages
,
explores
,
with
the
author
’
s
signature
combination
of
sweeping
drama
,
psychological
insight
and
painstaking
research
,
Johnson
’
s
humiliating
years
as
vice
president
,
when
he
was
excluded
from
the
inner
circle
of
the
Kennedy
White
House
and
stripped
of
power
.
We
know
what
Johnson
does
not
,
that
this
purgatory
is
prelude
to
the
event
of
a
single
horrific
day
,
when
an
assassin
’
s
bullet
placed
Johnson
,
and
the
nation
he
now
had
to
lead
,
on
a
new
course
.
本书为卡罗的“约翰逊总统传记”系列第四卷，这部卷帙浩繁巨作共有三千多页。作者以包罗万象的戏剧手法、心理学洞察力以及细致艰辛的调查展现了约翰逊作为副总统的风雨岁月。彼时，约翰逊受肯尼迪政府内部排挤，同时还被剥夺了权力。今天看来，约翰逊当时丝毫不曾料到会遇上那个可怕的日子——刺客的枪口顶着约翰逊，他所领导的国家正翻开新的篇章。
THE
PATRIARCH
The
Remarkable
Life
and
Turbulent
Times
of
Joseph
P
.
Kennedy
.
By
David
Nasaw
.
《开天辟地：老约瑟夫·
P
·肯尼迪时代的辉煌与动荡》 作者：戴维·纳索
Nasaw
took
six
years
to
complete
this
sprawling
,
arresting
account
of
a
banker-cum-speculator-cum-moviemaker-cum-ambassador-cum-dynastic
founder
.
Joe
Kennedy
was
involved
in
virtually
all
the
history
of
his
time
,
and
his
biographer
persuasively
makes
the
case
that
he
was
the
most
fascinating
member
of
his
large
,
famous
and
very
formidable
family
.
纳索花了六年时间才完成这部煌煌巨著。乔·肯尼迪身兼银行家、投机商、电影制作人以及大使等职，同时还是整个肯尼迪家族的创始人。他完全就是那个时代的历史风云人物，而他的传记作者则令人信服地将其视为整个庞大出名且强盛的肯尼迪家族中最具魅力的人物。
WHY
DOES
THE
WORLD
EXIST
?
An
Existential
Detective
Story
.
By
Jim
Holt
.
《世界为何存在：一个关于存在的侦探故事》 作者：吉姆·霍尔特
For
several
centuries
now
,
thinkers
have
wondered
, “
Why
is
there
something
rather
than
nothing
?”
In
search
of
an
answer
,
Holt
takes
the
reader
on
a
witty
and
erudite
journey
from
London
to
Paris
to
Austin
,
Tex
.,
as
he
listens
to
a
varied
cast
of
philosophers
,
scientists
and
even
novelists
offer
solutions
that
are
sometimes
closely
reasoned
,
sometimes
almost
mystical
,
often
very
strange
,
always
entertaining
and
thought-provoking
.
几个世纪以来，思想家们一直在思索：“世界为何存在？”为解答这一问题，霍尔特将读者引入一段智慧博学的旅程；从伦敦、巴黎到奥斯汀及德克萨斯州，作者走访了各个领域的哲学家、科学家乃至小说家，得出或合理或神秘的答案，有些答案很奇怪，却也很有意思、引人深思。
