小城三月， 萧红著

含三个作品。《小城三月》是个精品，《回忆鲁迅先生》也有独特的风格。《生死场》很差，破坏了我对萧红的印象。

书中有一些老照片。和《回忆鲁迅先生》结合的很好，但是影响了《小城三月》的诗意和美感。

中国文联出版 社。2005年。ISBN 7505950738。

Dersu the Trapper, by V.K. Arseniev

A story of adventure and a geographer's expeditions. Not bad, but not exciting. Need better writing/translation. The reading would be different if John McPhee wrote or translated the story.

Translated by Malcolm Burr. Published by McPherson & Company, 1996. Recovered Classics series. ISBN 0929701496.

Another edition is titled Dersu Uzala, translated by V. Shneerson, published by Foreign Languages Publishing House, Moscow. The two editions differ a lot in the first chapter, and I ended up reading Burr's, which looks like a better translation.

Carried Away, by Alice Munro

In the dream, the explosion of sadness, so heavy. "This is not real!" I struggled to wake up, to the world of peace.

Finished the last story of the book. It made me sad. It is the memory that defines what we are. But what if it fades away.

Two nights before, I thought about the life and human intelligence. Probably it is not the real "life" or "intelligence". A stimulus, and an reaction, from the chemicals that make the body. Yes, made.

Go back to the book. Alice Munro is definitely a good "writer" -- the one who knows how to use words to express her. However, her topic is narrow, a perfect writer for housewives. But the book contains a couple of gems, like "Carried Away" and "The Albanian Virgin", which are much more complicated.

This is the first book I read from this library. Enjoy strolling to the library in the morning.

Beautiful Everyman's library edition. ISBN 0307264866.

Adventures Of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain

I read about 20 pages shortly after I came to LA. I did not find Mark Twain's humor which had amused me when I was a child. Either did I find it when I re-read some of his stories which I once enjoyed so much. Maybe it was because I could not appreciate the English language, or because I lost what I had as a child.

About one year ago, I started to read this book again. Very glad that Mark Twain became alive in front of me again. His humor was back. The peaceful nights, raft drifting along the Mississippi river, dark blue sky, the remote lights, and broken voices in the breeze.

The book I started to read is in Barnes Noble classics series. ISBN 1566192943. It is one of the three books I bought in the time of Internet bubble when I received a free $20 BN gift certificate. I like the book cover. I finished the story with the Library of America edition "Mississippi Writings" since the BN edition was packed during my relocation.