晃晃以書換宿——旅人與書的美好相遇

THE MERIT TIMES

文／劉嫈楓 2015-07-05 10:00

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提要
「到了台東，要到書店晃晃嗎？」這聲問句，彷彿成了行銷獨立二手書店「晃晃書店」的最佳文案。
放滿書籍、手作小物、國內外獨立創作者作品的晃晃書店，是移居台東的書店主人素素，以旅人的浪漫與愛書人的堅持，一手打造的空間。不論你是拿著二手書交換住宿的背包客，或是踏進書店找書的客人，彼此聊聊，手裡每本書、每個作品都有精采的故事等著述說。
Hidden in the back alleys of Taitung City is a white building. When you open its door, several cats saunter across your path, occasionally stretching. Backpack travelers from Hong Kong are saying goodbye to the store's proprietress as they prepare to hit the road. As ballads by Huang Weijie, an independent singer from Meinong, play, a few customers check out the merchandise, flipping through books.
This pleasing scene blending travelers, cats and books is typical of what you'll find on any given day at Huang-Huang. Its unique atmosphere drew Hou Chi-jan for his 2014 documentary Poetries from the Bookstores. In it, the bookstore's owner Luo Su-ping, who goes by Susu, sits at a large familiar table and describes the store's history.
Seven years ago Susu and her husband Hope were a typical working couple in Taipei. One was an engineer, the other worked at a community organization. City kids born and bred, the two had never thought of leaving. Then one day in 2007 her husband suddenly said: "Taiwan is so small; there's no reason one has to live in Taipei." They decided to move to Taitung and try living there without making any big declaration about a life transformation. Susu and her husband gave themselves one year.
Working as freelancers over the Internet, they were seeing if they could make a go of it in Taitung. When friends came to visit, they'd serve as tour guides. After a while, Susu began to think back fondly on the "house mamas and papas" who ran the guesthouses she had stayed at when she traveled overseas, and she decided to open a guesthouse for backpack travelers.
Accustomed to making decisions through a process of elimination, Susu selected as the governing principle of the bookstore that it could not cause her to lose her freedom. Secondly, she didn't want her own personality to overwhelm the bookshop.
Consequently, an unstated modus operandi became, "The bookstore can exist without me." Once she had decided on the location, she still hadn't yet decided on the opening date. "There was no ribbon cutting ceremony to announce its opening," she says. "When the first customer wandered in, the store was open."
Like its opening, the naming of the store was also serendipitous in nature. It's named after Huang-Huang, a stray cat with an injured ear that a friend brought in one day. Inspired by seeing the cat sway as it walked, Susu named it with the Chinese word that means "swaying." Moreover, since the character HUANG (晃) is composed of the character for DAY (日), and the character for LIGHT (光), it's well suited for warm, bright and sunny Taitung. So she named the store Huang-Huang, which, as it happens, also means "to hang out."
With books, customers and a name, Susu had a sudden inspiration: If she was letting travelers stay for a fee, why not let them bring in books to exchange against their room charges? On the one hand it would solve the problem of acquiring books in Taitung, and on the other it would let travelers rid themselves of volumes that had been lying idle on their shelves at home, extending the books' useful lives. Every book brought by the backpackers, moreover, was enriched by their own unique perspective and life history.
Huang-Huang's model of exchanging books for a place to stay is unique in Taiwan and has helped spread the word about the Susu Guesthouse among travelers from Taiwan and overseas.
For instance, among the books that some backpack travelers from Hong Kong brought was Under Umbrella, a book documenting the Umbrella Movement there.
Not only has Huang-Huang bookstore become a must-stop for creative types visiting Taitung, some of the cultural activities it sponsors have even moved out from the store to be held nearby in the communities of Luye, Chishang or Guanshan. The recently completed Yeman ("barbarity") Film Festival, a joint effort by Huang-Huang and other Taitung independent retailers, for instance, screened ten films aimed at awakening concern for animal protection.
Now, seven years later, Susu's bookstore itself has become a Taitung fixture, welcoming travelers and local booklovers alike.
解說
一棟白色的公寓，藏身在台東市區的巷弄裡，敞開的大門前，兩三隻貓咪腳步輕巧地走過，偶爾伸伸懶腰；香港背包客背上行囊和晃晃獨立二手書店主人素素道別，準備踏上下段旅程；美濃獨立民謠歌手黃瑋傑的歌聲唱著，三兩客人隨意翻著架上的書。
這幅由旅人、貓咪與書香交織的愜意畫面，是晃晃書店平日最尋常不過的景象了。這裡才有的書店風景，一○三年還吸引導演侯季然前來拍攝，成為紀錄片《書店裡的影象詩》的一幕。本名羅素萍的書店主人素素，就坐在許多人熟悉的大桌子前，說起晃晃書店的開始。
七年前，素素和先生Hope是一對在台北工作生活的小夫妻，一個是工程師，另一個則任職於親子共讀協會。兩個從未想過離開台北的都市人，在九十六年先生的一句：「台灣這麼小，不必非得在台北生活。」決定來到台東，開始新生活。沒有人生大轉彎般的宣示，素素和先生給了自己一年，透過網路接案，嘗試在台東生活。年輕的他們盤算，「就算不行，頂多打道回府而已。」
一年多的時間過去，即使收入少了些，但是減少電視娛樂的簡單日子，也足以過活。留在台東的兩人，時常成為朋友旅遊時的最佳地陪。久而久之，素素想起旅行國外時受到許多Home爸、Home媽的溫暖照料，決定經營背包客棧，接待旅客。
習慣用刪去法決定事情的素素，對於書店的定位，第一是決不能因此失去自由，其次則不希望讓個人色彩蓋過書店特色，因此一間「沒有我在也可以的書店」，隱然成形。決定好店舖定位，開張日子卻遲遲未定，素素說，「沒有大張旗鼓地舉辦開張儀式，哪天有顧客上門，就當成是開張的日子。」
不僅開張日隨心所欲，書店命名的過程也有隨緣的味道。取名晃晃，是當時朋友送來一隻耳朵受損的流浪貓，素素見牠走路搖來晃去後得到的靈感。而「晃」字由「日」、「光」兩字組成，適合溫暖和煦、充滿陽光的台東，沒有名字的書店便成了「晃晃書店」，也隨時歡迎任何人進門「晃晃」。
有了書、有了人，素素靈機一動，與其讓旅客付費入住，何不如讓他們帶著書本交換、折抵住宿費用，一來解決台東收書不易的難題，閒置的書本，也得以延續生命。每本隨著背包客而來的書本，也因為帶著每個人獨特的觀點和生命故事而豐富起來。晃晃書店以書換宿的獨特模式，不僅在台灣首創，也成為國內外背包客口耳相傳的熱門住宿地點。
春節結束後的旅遊淡季，自助旅行台灣多次的香港背包客，就特地帶著來記錄香港雨傘革命運動《每一把傘》等書籍，前來換宿；還有作者本人直接登門造訪，例如獨立出版社逗點文創創辦人、出版《那些乘客教我的事》的作者陳夏民、《再見楊德昌》作者王昀燕、創作《香港美好時光》的插畫家肉肉熊，都曾住過晃晃書店樓上。
背包客在此留下的痕跡，讓素不相識的彼此有了相遇的機會，離開前，還能帶走屬於自己的回憶。此前晃晃書店舉辦的「帶書去旅行」活動，就讓背包客任選一本喜歡的書在旅途上閱讀；三個高掛在店內的登山背包，則是知名背包客藍白拖免費提供給有緣人，只要向書店登記，就能跟著上路。
不過有著旅人隨興與愛書人氣息的素素，作風看似隨和浪漫，卻有一點原則很堅持，背包客帶來交換的書本必須是自己喜歡閱讀的主題，因此店裡擺的多數都是素素最愛的文學、旅行書籍。近來書店還擺上許多音樂、圖文的獨立創作，素素有時看到喜歡的創作，還會一時興奮地不顧庫存壓力，先進了再說。「店裡的東西愈來愈多，有時都會煩惱賣不出去怎麼辦。」素素笑著說。
如今晃晃書店不僅成為不少創作者到台東必訪的地點，部分活動甚至走出書店，前往附近的鹿野、池上、關山舉辦。此前剛剛結束的「野蠻影展」，是晃晃書店與台東在地小店聯合策畫的活動，希望透過十部電影的播放，喚起人們保育動物的觀念。
放在店裡的每本書籍、一盒特產甜點、遠方捎來的明信片……，在素素嘴裡說來全是故事。因為經營不易，這些外人眼中不足為道的善意，讓她特別珍惜。曾有一對夫婦造訪晃晃書店後，每個月主動寄來舊書；也有嫁去桃園的台東女兒貢獻書籍，甚至有陌生的企業老闆見到媒體報導後，主動致電詢問是否需要幫助。
七年過去，對素素來說曾經陌生的台東景緻，如今已多出了晃晃書店，隨時歡迎旅人駐足、愛書人到處晃晃。
（摘錄轉載自104年5月《台灣光華雜誌》
全文請參考http://www.taiwan-panorama.com/）

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