I got a chance to read the English version of this journal out loud on Clubhouse. I rarely read this so couldn't do it smoothly, but I did. After that, a member said about the problem of L and R in my reading. Yes, this is a very Japanese problem so I have to care. But I could be got praised reviews for my journal so I felt fine. It has been half a year since I had started using Clubhouse. Have I made any progress in my English skill? And I remember I have been writing this journal for about eight months. In these months, I could meet Judith. I think that I am happy because I had learned English literature at Waseda.
I borrowed a volume of the Selected World Literature series which is edited by Natsuki Ikezawa. The volume contains Danilo Kiš’s and Italo Calvino's novels. Both are very different novels but I thought that the attitude toward 'telling stories' is the same. Danilo Kiš tries to tell his father's life. Italo Calvino tries to tell the history of cities. Life and cities are based on a long history and the creation of human imagination. So the novels show their respect for life and cities. They are quite difficult stories.
I can remember. Today seven years ago, I had to stay in bed because of a headache. That stopped my drinking alcohol, and I decided to stop alcohol because I treated it as a sign. Until now I have never drunk it. I think now that the period of drinking was quite a strange time. I have never thought that I could stop drinking for over seven years. All I have done was just stop drinking alcohol day by day. Just today I stop drinking, and I repeated that stop. That might be a life. Every day, I do my work and read. Repeating them might lead me to a certain great job. Like this journal, day by day. What a wonderful life.
I went to a library. TBH I had learned English literature but had never read Jane Austin's novels. Reading "Mansfield Park" is a good idea I thought, but I chose Katsumi Hirakawa's new book. After that, I took a pic of Sakura in the backyard park of the library. I shared it with my mother and friends on LINE. I remembered "Amarcord" by Fellini. Seasons change. After winter, spring comes. Everything has its end. That's our life. I decided to read Austin's "Pride and Prejudice" which I already have. If possible, I want to read Junichiro Tanizaki's "The Makioka Sisters" too and compare both of them.
