Coming Up for Air上来透口气 英文原版

We Only Live to Mkae It Through Today — Book review on Coming Up for Air It was a long time ago when I first developed an interest in Coming Up For Air, which was recommended by AI. By the way, I've gotten to know many good books, podcasts, and YouTube channels that meet my requirements with the help of AI. The best thing is that I've tried and finished many of them, and am also making progress on some of them. This is the second book this year, without counting The Invention of Yesterday, which I read from last year to this year — a quite slow pace, actually. I’ve read only Summer Knight and Coming Up for Air, and it's already July 12 now. However, this book is meaningful to me in many ways. I was attracted by its name. Coming up for air. How important that is to me, as I've been living with a heavy burden for a dozen years. Coincidentally, I've been extremely busy recently, and yesterday was the day that I finished so many tasks in this phase and this book simultaneously. Now, I can really feel the fresh air at the moment. (Ironically, I only rested for one complete day yesterday, and have been doing about 10 hours of extra work today. However, the meanings of this book have not been reduced.) While reading it, I started finding my urge for reading again. I took some time at noon to read a few pages before my nap, I integrated it into my speaking practice — which was not good for my speaking training as it was kind of slacking off, but was good for me my reading progress. I felt myself immersed into the story and the descriptions completely. This experience could be my fuel for future books. More importantly, it made me more capable of reading classics. The feeling is strong, that the why although I have been always trying and sticking to serious books, Coming Up for Air is definitely in the top tier for feeding me the desire and ability. It gave me the idea that yes, books are fresh air. This is also the second book by George Orwell that I have read. From Animal Farm to this one, I find his books quite interesting, meaningful and readable. As for the “interesting” aspect, his books contain funny plots and details, such as how the farm's rules are changed throughout the whole story, and how Bowling makes up his alibi to get himself a window to go back to the Lower Binfield and keeps speculating how Hilda gonna find it out. His thoughts and assumptions before and during his journey are very detailed but somehow really fun to read. The climax is that after hesitating over whether the seriously ill announcement is true or only Hilda's trick, he finally feels that Hilda might be really sick or even dead and rushes home looking for her. Then he finds that Hilda is totally fine and gets angry due to the idea that it was totally Hilda's trick to get him home. Then the twist comes strongly — Hilda totally doesn’t know about (or at least is pretending not to know, which is also a fun part left to the readers) the announcement, and occupies the high ground instantly by catching Bowling with the truth that he didn’t come back immediately after knowing she was sick and, more severely, with the evidence that Bowling wasn’t at the hotel he told Hilda about at all. Then the whole book ends sharply, leaveing you with the feeling that it should have continued. It's interesting that although the book is kind of heavy and conveys a faint, gloomy, and tragic feeling underneath the story, I am deeply attracted and impressed by the ending. The secret is humor. Humor, including self-mockery, is a vital element in both work and life. Bowling’s constantly mentioning his body shape and false teeth is like Wang Er talking about his ugly face with a light tone. Because this book is written from a first-person perspective, one can easily relate when Bowling laughs at himself. And the funny details of the story can lighten the heaviness in the book. As Xiaobo said, “举重若轻(carrying weight lightly)” is a great trait. It's precisely this temperament that makes Coming Up for Air quite easy to follow despite its quiet melancholy. As for the “meaningful” aspect, I'm not capable of understanding the deep themes like a dedicated reader of literature or history might, but I can always get the significance, at least for myself. For this book, the significance is that we have to live in the moment. About two or three years ago, I read The Power of Now and Siddhartha and started freeing myself from regret over the past and anxiety for the future. In recent years the inspiration and enlightenment I have gotten from all my trips and reflections have gradually enhanced my awareness and concentration on the present. However, memories from the past, even the faraway ones, have been popping up so frequently, vividly, and irresistibly. I still remember when I was in the Anti-Bribery Compliance Dept. — which was four years ago, when I was fresh and young — how I always heard the BGM of DNF while I'm sleepy at work. I don't intentionally recall things too much. Instead, it's always the nostalgic feelings that come to and rush through me naturally. I like the past. Even though about eleven or twelve years ago in a collage class, Mr. Mao said that people who always miss the past are the ones who aren’t doing well now, I still miss the past. The era of sincerity has passed. Now we can't immerse ourselves in things and we can't enjoy simple activities like reading. We are afraid of staying still as everyone and everything moves forward. We're impatient. Boys and girls can't interact with purity. This fondness for the past isn't the same thing as regret, as the latter one belongs only to my postgraduate education period. However, no matter whether it's nostalgia or regret, don't let it outweigh the present. That's what I've confirmed more deeply by reading this book. Bowling missed his chance with the hidden pool full of big fish, and it had vanished when he returned. Lower Binfield is buried by a new world. His journey to Lower Binfield reflects man's search for the past, but in the end, we all start understanding that when the shadow of past things emerges every now and then, their beauty somehow only exists in the imagination. The present is misery, but we have to live in it. As a comment on Meditations said, Marcus sighs about how time flows and how, consequently, people can only control and have to focus on the now. For me, the path to escape this miserable mortal life in the present isn't moving forward to the future or back to the past, but diving into a spiritual world, a poetic world, my own world. Next, I'm finally going to read The Conquest of Happiness, which has been on my "Fundmental" list since around the Spring Festival. I'll read Of Mice and Men as well. One book for seriousness, one for relaxation — the same as usual. As the last quarter of Coming Up for Air has given me back my concentration and serenity in reading, it's good timing to start reading the fundamental framework books. July 18, 2026