Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Reading. Show all posts

26/02/2019

Snail Mail : Written History

"Snail Mail" is a term my friend used in one of our letters we have sent each other.

At this day and age, sending letters might be something that is old fashioned, time consuming and expensive  compared to texting, sending a email or a message. I believe that there is a beauty in writing and sending letters and cards. 

I grew up in Japan when the internet did not really existed and was not accessible around me until I was in junior high school (I sound that I am old but I am not). Even that, texting and using the internet was something that was really expensive from my point. I saw my friends everyday and I did not have/see the need to communicate except for meeting up and arranging plans.

Letters, parcels are somethings that was something special for me. It meant that I could connect with my Australian side of the family, and most importantly I get presents!! Birthdays and Christmas was those special occasions where I was able to connect with my 'other side' of my heritage.

There are so many reasons I really like wringing hand written letters.
I really enjoy the atmosphere when I writing a letter. I normally go to a cafe, order tea, sweets(like scones) and then think. Carefully, and let my mind wonder, gather my thoughts to start writing.
I might write some keywords on a note pad before I start but most of the time I just start writing.

One thing I do not use a computer. I have few reasons for this and I prefer to hand write.
One is that as I said I just start writing while I think. I just let things flow. In the olden day,  there was no such thing as a computer where you can delete and edit!
The second thing us that I think nowadays people do not really do anything with their hands.
It is much personal and have more thought and connection when you see hand writing.
It does not matter if you think your hand writing is bad, it is the effort to write something and itself is beautiful and meaningful.

My friend once told me that letters are/were the way scholars understood what people lived and  figured out what happened reassuring old letters. When I was told this I was really amazed about this. Now I can see that this does make total sense because even when my aunt and my mother were looking though all of these olde letters which were kept written by my grate-grandfathers and grate-mothers. Letters are things that can be reopened and read again an again and even be a part of a genealogy history. I recently found one letter I received from my friend when I was going though some tough times in Japan. It makes me happy and feel really valued.

As internet access is one of the essential thing in the modern lifestyle,  I think it is also important to continue writing and sending letters.

It is such a small thing,  but it brings me joy and makes me feel special and valued and loved.

    

19/09/2017

Buffering: Book Review

I am not sure how to write a book review but I am just going to do my best.

This book(buffering) is the first autobiography(?) that I read and also finished in about a day.

While I enjoyed reading this book, it and made me think about lot of things.
Family, relationships, friends, mental illness, LGBTQ+, and everything about life...

I am a subscriber to Hannah's youtube Channel for about 4-5 years. I came across her while I was going though my youtube "recommendations" and also seen some videos with British youtubers collaborate with her. I really enjoyed her content and how she was all ways smiling and having fun with what she does. 

I think it was when I was listening to one of Rhett and Link's Ear biscuits podcast episodes that Hannah talked about her family and mentioned her Study abroad to Japan was some how a shock and made me feel close and felt a connection even though I have never met her her before. 
"I have something in common! Japanese!" Then I realised that her YouTube channel was literary "Hart" in Japanese. (γƒγƒΌγƒˆ)

I was curious, I am a curious person and I wanted to know who she is. 

literally I am writing this after I have finished reading and I am having problems to comprehend. 

Some Key worlds I got out of it.

No matter what, you are not alone: different circumstance but we have people around
"depression isn't about tying to run away from the feeling; it's about learning to walk along side it"(p72)


To Hannah,

I would love to meet you and talk about many things. but most of all, want to give you a big hug.


I hope I can meet books like this that have an positive influence to me. 

13/01/2017

The Mystery Parcels (Part 2)


Now it's time to tell you about the next day I got the first mystery parcel.

I woke up from the my mother knocking on my bed room door early in the morning(at least for me).
Mum had a parcel in her hand and handed it to me. I jumped awake and want up to the kitchen to open it as soon as possible so see what, what kind of book was inside. 
I opened it. The parcel had 'Cinder', the first for the Lunar chronicles!

Then I checked the receipt/order details and again it was from the US. At this point I had a more clear idea who it was from. I just need to conform it some how.

I checked my post on facebook, and there was another clue that pretty much conformed who it was from.

It was from my friend Rebecca!!

I opened messenger to write a thank you email and there was a message earlier in the month (that I have clearly forgotten about until then) when she asked for my address which is common for us because we some times write to each other.

I met Rebecca at university. She was doing her year abroad at my university. I have also lived together with for a short while when I was going through some tough times. But the time I spent with her was a positive thing for me. We talked about books, movies, culture, life and many things.

Our interests cross over at places and we have very different interests in some things.
Which is really good because we tend to introduce new things to each other and then talk about them and experience a broad range of things. I might write a blog post about us but I simply I miss her.

Rebecca is really good at writing and she loves reading. She actually has a blog called:
"The Lonely Reader" about books she enjoy and reads you can click here to go to her blog!

I have learned one thing about myself from these two mystery parcels.
I really like surprises but on the other hand I have this 'instinct' or 'ability' to notice signs(not always but most of the time).
But in this case, this surprise was a success and I did not notice a thing!

I hope you liked my story about the mystery parcels.

See you soon!
Ellen
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Instagram: @ellenkoala
  






04/12/2016

2016 Reading Goal Completed!

I have reached my goal for reading!!!

In early January,  I made a new year resolution that I am going to read at least 10 books this year in English.

Today, I have finished reading my 10th book!! I feel some accomplishment and a little more confident!

10 books might be not that much but it is quite a big deal for me.

I am actually a bookworm and I used to read I lot of books in Japanese when I was at school and went to the library quite frequently. But I was reading in JAPANESE not English.

My favorite genre were fantasy novels like: Harry Potter, Chronicles of  Narnia, Howls Moving Castle, Deltora Quest, Never Ending Story, Momo, and more!!

As I got older I started to read books from Japanese authors like Ishida Ira, Arikawa Hiromu, Abe Kobo, Dazai Osamu, Murakami Haruki, and many more.

I loved books and I read everything that interested me. I was curious at what the authors wanted to talk about. But everything I read was in JAPANESE not English. Of course I could read English but I did not feel comfortable reading in English. Maybe it was a type of fear and struggle that I have been avoiding for years. In terms of academic English I still did not like reading but I got used to it but I always wanted to read for pleasure!

Few years ago when I lived with Rebecca(my friend from America) for a little while, I started to push myself more to read books in English. I knew that I wanted to read more English books in there original language instead of waiting for it to come out in Japanese. I did not want to put too much pressure on myself so I did not made it big. But now I have finished and completed I am putting it down as a milestone here in my blog.

I have a couple of challenges that I want to complete.

1. Another reading challenge (I am not sure how many books I will set myself.)
2. Read all "Lord of the Rings" books.

For the second challenge, I have been inspired by a good best friend of mine and I have been meaning to read this book for years!!

What kind of books do you enjoy reading?
Is there any recommendations?

If you want me to get into authors or particular books, let me know! :)

See you soon!
Ellen
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Instagram: @ellenkoala