Justification

I really enjoy listening to English audiobooks. And I want to read more and more books, both English and Japanese. I'm too busy. And I'm not young anymore. I have no time for preparing English tests. I'm really sorry, but I couldn't. Forget about studying English. If I were young, I'd study hard, maybe, perhaps, possibly. 

Don't blame me, if I couldn't get good score or grade in English tests. The reason is above. 

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Listening to Audiobooks

I listened to some audiobooks for 2 hours and 40 minutes today. I'm listening to The Alchemist now. I've read the novel once. 

I don't really like the voice of the narrator, so I couldn't concentrate the story so far. But that's okay. It might happen, of course. 

In these audiobooks, l learned that even the same sentences have different meanings. For example, "What can I do for you?" has many meanings. Sometimes, it means what do you want? Sometimes, I want to help you. That's really interesting.

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Norwegian Wood

I'm reading Norwegian Wood in English. I'm a big fan of Haruki Murakami, so I have read it as soon as it was published. But that was a long time ago and I forgot about the details. I feel it's a new novel for me. 

Thanks to kindle, I can look up unfamiliar words immediately and review these words easily. 

I'm not reading only that book, but some other books. That is because I'm losing interest in books quite easily. That's not bad for English learners. 

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Japanese Immigrants to the South America

Kita Morio wrote many popular books. Kagayakeru Aoki Sorano Shitade was a series of novels that described Japanese immigrants to the South America in Meiji era.

The immigrants figured a bright future in the new world, but the reality was different. The places assigned to them were not suitable for agriculture. People died one after another due to starvation. 

The novel was not completed. Kita could not wrote the last part before he died.
「輝ける碧き空の下で」

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Kataoka and Murakami

When I was in my twenties, one of my favorite writers was Kataoka Yoshio. After reading his books, I wanted to buy a Yamaha and wear white t-shirts and blue jeans. 

Then, Murakami Haruki appeared with a novel called "Hear the Wind Sing". I began to drink a lot of beer and ate spaghetti. 

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Reading

My younger son likes playing video games. His older brother likes it too, but he also likes reading, so I don't worry about him. Reading has made him mature. 

I often say "you should read books" to my younger son, but he doesn't listen to me. Manga would be great if he doesn't want to read novels. At least, they have Japanes in it. 

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How to Learn English Books

I often read articles, blogs and books about how to learn English. Some books are written by authors experiences. These books stimulate my enthusiasm a lot. Some books are not because the authors don't have successful experiences. They just steal ideas of others, perhaps. 

I have to forget about how to learn English efficiently. I should listen, read, write and speak English as much as I can. That's what English masters said in their books. There is no easy way to get good English skills. 

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Editors

Editors play important roles for publishing. A writer needs editor's help for a book. For example, without his editor's support, Raymond Carver couldn't get over serious alcoholic behavior. Of course without that, he couldn't write remarkable novels. Without a female editor's effort, Naoki Matayoshi didn't think he could write a novel. I think he couldn't get the Akutagawa Prize alone. 

When you read a book, and you think it is really good, you should feel thank the editor. 

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Books About How to Study English

When you go to a bookstore, you can see hundreds of thousands of books for English learners. These books are usually divided into many specific categories, such as for TOEIC, Eiken, grammar reference, words and even how to study English itself. 

The writers are mainly professional teachers or native speakers, but many amateurs also write "How to study English" books. Amateur authors give us motivation for learning English. A major baseball player Hasegawa or succor player Kawashima gave us that. That's really good for learners' enthusiasms. It might be worth only for that at most. 

Remember, there's no easy way to learn English, so if you seek a good result for your ability of English, you should follow professionals' methods. This professional doesn't mean earning money from English, but the attitude for English. Don't waste your time. 

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Raymond Carver Again

My next English book is Raymond Carver again, a short stories collection "What We Talk About When We Talk About Love ". Seventeen stories in it and they are quite short, at most 10 pages. 

I once read the book in Japanese. A famous Japanese writer Haruki Murakami translated the collection. I liked it. I really look forward to reading the book again in English. 

I've read two of them today. Six people were in these two stories. They were all something strange. I enjoyed Carver's world already. 

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50%

I'm reading "A Pale Wiew of Hills" by Kazuo Ishiguro. The author is a Japanese born British. I've just read half of the story. I enjoy reading it so far. 

The book describes old Japanese lives after World War 2. Reading the book, I can imagine the situation well. And I can hear the sounds, smell the atmosphere clearly. He wrote it really well even he left Japan when he was five and he published it when he was 28. I'm not sure, but he might interviewed his parents. Or he remembered his childhood? 

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A Day Off

I was completely off today. My wife and son was out today so I could do anything I want. But I didn't do nothing special. 

I listened to the radio and reading all in English. I went to a curry shop for lunch and  went to a cafe. I organized my book shelves because I got a new book shelf. 

I just relaxed myself. 

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What Buddha Said

I'm not a religious person, but I'm interested in Buddhism. I've read several books about Buddhism and found lots of things I've never known. 

There are so many sects which called themselves Buddhism. My understanding is that only few of them still remain original Buddhism. They are called Theravada Buddhism. 

We have many Buddhist sects in Japan, but almost every sects are not from Gotama Siddhatta himself. I was shocked by the fact when I found it as a Japanese. Gotama's Buddhism is rather self-disciplined system. There are no miracle power or mysterious force that saves you. You have to save yourself. You have to do what Buddha said. That's it. I can't do that, anyway. I even don't know I can call it a religion. 

Japan's sects are made by these founders, like Kukai, Saicho, Nichiren, Shinran and so on. They are more likely western regions, like Christianity. 

I'm still learning it, of course I can't learn everything in my life, so I'd like to know more about it. 

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A Small, Good Thing

Today's Raymond Carver was "A Small, Good Thing". There are a wife and a husband. They lost their boy by hit-by-run. The accident occurred at exactly the boy's birthday. The wife ordered a birthday cake and it was ruined due to the incident. 

The baker was waiting for the wife to pick up the cake, but she didn't come on the day. The baker called and hang up to the parents' house again and again. The parents was angry about the calls and went to the bakery even it was midnight. 

The baker never had a child and being lonely. He said sorry for the parents. He told them to eat. He said that was a small, good thing and they did. They feel for each other and talked until in the morning. 

Life is sometimes hard to accept, but we still have to live along with that. We have to find something small, good thing for over come the fact. 

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Feathers, Chef's House

I'm reading Raymond Carver's short stories book. I've read two of them, Feathers and Chef's House. 

There are not big events. Simple stories. Things can be changed by small things. 

Carver wrote stories with simple words and short sentences, but I'm really into his stories while reading them. 

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Raymond Carver

I like reading English books. I've read four novels since February. The fifth book is Cathedral by Raymond Carver. He is an American author and famous for short stories. 

I really like his works. I've already read his two books in English and many other books in Japanese which translated by Haruki Murakami. Murakami introduced him to Japan and translated most of his stories. 

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Reading Books

I'm reading a novel about an immigrant family from the Soviet Union to Canada. The family is Jewish and adults are struggling to adjust the new world. 

I read 30 pages today and I have 50 pages left. I was supposed to finish this book by the end of February, but the plan is delayed. I think I should be in a hurry to read it. 

My ultimate goal of reading English book is to read John le Carre's spy novels with no stress. The goal is far, but I'm going to be there someday. 

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To Be Friends with Dictionaries

I have more than 60 English books to read, both kindle and paper ones. There are different types of books, novels, none fictions, reference books and so on. 

Sidney Sheldon is the author of whom I have most numbers of books. I have nine of his books and I have read only one book. It was The Master of the Game and it was really nice. 

I swear I'll read at least two of them this year. Really. 

I didn't care much about unfamiliar words in the books when I read them before, but I think I never get understand the meaning of them unless I check them in the dictionaries or something. 

I need to be friends with the dictionaries. Indeed. 

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Without You, There Is No Us

I listened to the Diane Lehm Show this morning. One of the guests was a Korean-born American writer Suki Kim. She was born in South Korea and moved to the U.S. when she was 13. She published a book about North Korea where she stayed for six months in 2011 as an English teacher.

She taught English at a missionary school. The staff there were missionaries, but they never mention Christianity openly. They even had to say J for Jesus, M for Minister. In addition, the students were watching each other so no one can talk about Christianity and even their leaders, Kim Jong Il and Kim Jong Un. But they sang songs to honor the Kim families. One of the songs was titled "Without You, There Is No Us."

They didn't know what the Internet was even they learned computer science. They only asked questions to the author like what is your favorite color or what is your hobby. She said they were so pure. 

She came back to the U.S. and when she was about to publish the book, some North Korean authority asked her to stop publishing. She said "No."

I'm really interested in such a mysterious totalitarian country and their life. 

Learning English

I'm reading an English text book. I think I'll finish it in two or three days. The book is quite difficult to understand, but it helps me to read English.  

After reading the book, I'll read lots of books again. I have so many books to read in my bookshelf and kindle.