参加活动 - If kisses cured cancer

hsy12

在一次书友聚会交换图书的时候，选了这本。


封面：


作者签名：


这本书是作者在妻子被查出脑瘤后开始写的。看书名心情难免沉重，不过正如作者自己说的：
The process was obviously awful, but there were lots of strangely funny and golden moments sprinkled in that journey. I wanted to create a fiction book that reflected those ups and downs, and would do the subject justice yet not be depressing or overly fluffy.

书中的一个插曲，主人公Matt有个邻居老人Bill，曾经他家的花园被所有路过的人羡慕和称道。自从老太太去世之后，老人变得非常粗暴，尤其对那些偷花贼。有一天Matt给他的信箱塞了一张小纸条还有五十澳币，大意是：自己的未婚妻要过生日了，能不能帮他准备一束花。（当然，这是编的。）再后来Matt建议Bill在花园放一个盒子，路过的人可以扔一两个硬币摘自己喜欢的花，”I hope you allow the joy of your flowers to be spread wider than your garden”。总之，Bill后来变了。

作者一定是位音乐爱好者，书中提到很多好听（悲伤）的歌：
Zed Zeppelin - Stairway to Heaven
Jeff Buckley - Lover, You Should've Come Over
Tom Waits - Hope I don't fall in love with you

很喜欢这一段：


也很喜欢小说的结语，与其说是一个故事的结束，它更像一个全新的开始。

第一次给读过的书画画，review得到作者Tim当然还有送给我书的Tracey的点赞。
作者的回复：
Looks great, xxx! Thanks so much for taking the time and effort into bringing it to life.

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图文并茂

linegar

What an impressive writing！

虞宅与美丽

窃以为卡通插画有些违和

hsy12

虞宅与美丽 发表于 2019-4-9 22:57
窃以为卡通插画有些违和

哈哈，有点啦。
非卡通就太难了，不过卡通更突显人物的特点。 其实男女主人公非常活泼可爱的，经常搞一些恶作剧。

回到主旋律，书里还提到一首曲子，Hallelujah，没有很喜欢Jeff Buckley的版本，最近一次游轮听到大提琴钢琴演奏的Hallelujah，才喜欢上，真好听。

hsy12

书中描写人物的句子：

Z:
Z is a lanky six-foot-two, with closely cropped hair, thick-rimmed glasses and a smile that comes across as more of a scowl. The wrinkles around her eyes make Matt think she's pushing forty, but considering the amount of age-inducing nicotine she inhales every day, she could be in her early twenties for all Matt knows. (P.7)

Matt:
"Honestly, I don't know what you see in the mirror, but I see an attractive young man, who is kind, has a sense of humour and not a conceited bone in his body. You don't have a supermodel figure like I do, but you're far from fat. You've got the ultimate dad bod without the drawback of having kids to weigh you down. You're a straight girl's dream." (P.96)

Joy:
pushed by a pale girl with black hair... She is around Matt's age, her pigment-free skin standing out against her raven hair. She is thin, dressed in a black t-shirt and tightly fitting jeans.
Matt can see she has green eyes like a cat, or a witch. Her nose is small and curves up slightly at the end. She looks beautiful in her calmness, yet as cold as the supermarket floor.

She steps forward, all cat-like grace. A lioness hunting her prey.

Her tiny ears wiggle slightly as she chews. (P.116)

Gerard:
He's short and scruffy-looking, with half a beard on an otherwise youthful face. (P.127)

Peter:
A shadow of movement appears in the window by the door. Slumping a little in his seat, Matt watches as a man in suit and tie steps out of the house. He looks like a button-down businessman in his mid-thirties. The man turns back to the door as Joy appears in the frame. He leans in and kissed her quickly on the lips, before waving goodbye. Joy closes the door without seeing Matt watching them.

He turns to Matt with a disarming smile.

The man smiles broadly again and holds out his hand. (P.281)

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楼主的画和人物描述可以一对一对起来吗

隔壁楼的书开始画了吗

hsy12

缓缓 发表于 2019-4-13 22:40
楼主的画和人物描述可以一对一对起来吗

隔壁楼的书开始画了吗

可以的，大家猜一猜，猜对了，说明画得像。

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hsy12 发表于 2019-4-13 22:44
可以的，大家猜一猜，猜对了，说明画得像。

左下角没对起来，其他五位貌似对上了

hsy12

缓缓 发表于 2019-4-13 22:52
左下角没对起来，其他五位貌似对上了

左下角书里倒是没描写他，不过在一楼我写到过他，就是Bill。

hsy12

How sweet is this

Vicki Walton recently discovered an envelope in her mother's letterbox with a special hand-written message thanking her for her beautiful garden. Inside was a $50 Bunnings voucher.

Vicki’s mother was in palliative care at the time so she read it to her as she lay in bed.

In a post on Facebook Vicki wrote:

“To the beautiful person who left this gift in my mother’s mailbox THANKYOU. Your kindness is greatly appreciated and a very thoughtful thing to do. So many hours of love and joy over 54 years have created this garden of colour and we are pleased somebody appreciates it.”

Via ABC Midwest and Wheatbelt



现实生活中的确有类似的事情发生，让我又想起了这本书。