Read, or Record, the History We Are Experiencing
Read, or record, the history we are experiencing
—Simon Meihua's 2019 Reading and Writing Life Summary No. 1
Do you remember a year ago, Brother Xueye asked each friend around the bonfire at Dayton Society: What is your wish for the new year?
Behind was the chilly night with a lingering scent of plum blossoms, and in front was a crackling fire.
Everyone thought about it seriously, and one by one, they answered him earnestly.
Xueye is truly a remarkable conversationalist. It allows him to quickly and accurately understand his friends, understand the world around him, and encourages everyone to seriously contemplate what they should do in a new year.
The previous friends' answers were relatively serious, orderly, and well-considered. I didn't think too much, just answered based on my first impulse: In 2019, I wanted to slow down a bit, I wanted to draw more paintings and read more books.
This is because, at the end of 2018, I was very busy.
At that time, I had two manuscripts in progress. In addition, several older friends were publishing new books, and the publishers or design companies weren't satisfied with their cover designs, so they asked me to do the design. Apparently, the author understood the author's intentions well, so I knew what kind of design they wanted.
However, all these tasks had to be completed before the end of the year. So, I felt my brain and body were severely overused.
In the past, before the Spring Festival every year, we would have some leisure time to cut paper window flowers and paper gods, which is both rest and a wish for the coming year. But this year, there was no time, and finally we only drew two pigs as paper gods.
When I met Xueye and other friends, I had just finished all my work, so I thought, in 2019, I wanted to slow down a bit.
In 2019 spring, as I wished, I finally slowed down, several spring outings, following the spring's pace, I sketched a group of works: 'Spring Hunt,' 'Spring Sounds,' 'Spring Rain,' 'Late Spring.' I recorded the fluctuations of springtime mood, and I was very happy about it.
Spring was over, and another round of busyness began. And it continued until the end of the year.
It's becoming increasingly difficult for new books to be published, and new books are constantly encountering difficulties. Therefore, by the end of 2019, the manuscript from the previous year, 'Writing the World: An Interesting and Fun Reading and Writing Course', needed to be revised again.
Looking back at my reading this year, it was slightly more than usual, about sixty or so books.
The wish to 'slow down, draw more, and read more' was partially realized.
Many of the most insightful books I read this year were related to time.
The most touching poetry collection to me was Hao Shen's 'Letters of Human Feelings'.
In the past, when I read poetry collections, I would only read one or two poems at a time. In my opinion, reading poetry requires a mood and leisure time. Only when there is blank time can the soul freely feel. There's also a kind of fate in reading poetry, and you're likely to be moved by a poem only when you're in a certain state. If you don't encounter it at the right time, even a good poem may not resonate with you.
However, I read this collection meticulously, from the first poem to the last. It's like a continuous work with a sense of time for me.
I would often stop while reading. Sometimes I was shocked by the intense emotions in the poem, sometimes I was disturbed by the fluctuating emotions in the poem, sometimes I was imagining the scene described in the poem for a long time…
This collection is like reading a person's four years and a person's life for me. The poet endured suffering and made a wish in the suffering. Now, he has transformed the suffering into nourishment for life.
's collection of essays, 'Eventually, Pop Goes Popular,' is also a work related to time. is known for his poetry, but after reading this collection, I realized that her essays are also of excellent quality.
This work traces the 1980s love, fashion, reading, and film, those subtle humor and the social and political behind daily life and popular culture, under the seemingly light and casual tone, the author is truly persistent and wrote it sincerely. Writers know that this is the most precious quality now and in the future.
