OBSCURA Vol 21 / Autumn & Winter 2016

A book is a dream you hold in your hands.

英國劇作家約瑟夫.艾迪生曾說道:「閱讀之於心靈,猶如運動之於身體。」你,又有多久沒端視過書架上的書;多久沒進行過,一場令你或感動或平靜、或喘氣或嘆息的心靈運動?

《OBSCURA》2016年秋冬季號,以「A Book is a Dream You Hold in Your Hands.」為題,願你在夢中也有書本相伴,讓閱讀相隨著夢般的質地。

〈A Bookstore without Bounds〉,信步走在巴黎,與獨立書店Ofr店主與老顧客們,細談一個閱讀場所,如何聚集全國最棒的創意人才;〈Dog Ear〉,尋找詩人Eric Baum,看她從平常的讀物中蒐集材料,而只輕輕在書頁折上一角,就化作一首首奇譎的詩句;〈The Worst Reading, The Best Reading〉拜訪日本作家、專欄作者與古書店店主——松浦弥太郎,談他如何以閱讀療癒自身,也推薦那些他成長過程中,讀過無數遍的好書;〈The Books of Solitude〉,訪問台灣設計師林小乙,看她把字句化為畫面和觸感,重新為經典文學讀本打造樣式,帶來一本本詩意盎然的書幀設計;〈To Mend the Broken Yet Beloved〉,與「英國書藝協會」香港唯一會員Jennifer對談,窺探書籍修復世界的奧秘,以及那些沉實又美麗的古董修復工具。

“Reading is to the mind what exercise is to the body,” said Joseph Addison, a British playwright. How long have you not set eyes on the books on your bookshelf? And how long have you not done any mental exercise which touches your feelings, brings tranquility to your mind, or makes you pant or heave a sigh?

OBSCURA’s Autumn & Winter 2016 issue is titled “A Book is a Dream You Hold in Your Hands” in the hopes that books can follow you into your dreams and reading can carry a dream-like quality.

“A Bookstore without Bounds” transports you to Paris, where we get hold of the owner of Ofr, an independent bookstore, as well as its customers, with whom we explore in depth how a place for reading manages to gather the most outstanding creative talents from all over the country; in “Dog Ear”,  we find out how Eric Baum, a poet, gathers materials from ordinary readings, and how, with simple folds of pages, she transforms them into one after another ingenious poetic lines; in “The Worse Reading, The Best Reading”, we pay a visit to Matsuura Yataro, a Japanese author, blogger and secondhand bookstore owner, who shares with us how he uses reading to heal himself, and offers his recommendation of many great books that he has read on his road to adulthood; “The Books of Solitude” interviews Taiwanese designer Lin Xiao-Yi, and takes a look at how she turns words and sentences into images and texture, and how he helps reinvent the outlook of classic literary works, giving birth to one after another book boasting covers with poetic qualities; in “To Mend the Broken Yet Beloved”, we sit down with Jennifer, the only Hong Kong member of The Society of Bookbinders, who leads us to the mysterious world of book restoration and shows us antique restoration tools which are both beautiful and humble.

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