Getting old is Good. Reading makes us tranquil.

Junnzo Shono was an author who wrote about his ordinary life such as playing with his children, observing nature, and arranging his garden.

The mood of his novels was always tranquil like the plants in his garden.

He loved Charles Lamb’s essays and learned from him what tranquilness is.

In his essay, he said that it’s difficult to live stillness as active life is hard.

I have read his essays and novels for ten years. At first, I didn’t like his writings because the authors of my heroes at that time were Dostoevsky, Hemingway, Yukio Mishima and some kind of dramatic literature.

I didn’t understand the worth of his just tranquil writings. Compared to the novels of Dostoevsky or Hemingway, those which Shono had written were too boring to read for me in my younger age. No conflict, nor philosophical dialogue, nor romance in there but just depictions of his ordinary life.

Maybe you have no interest in a diary which was written by an anonymous person, it was the same for me to read Shono’ s writings. It was a misfit. But it’s not rare for this business.

If you like Hemingway’s romance, you will be bored by Alice Munro’s short story, or if you are a keen reader of Dostoevsky, you will find it difficult to understand…