THE RETURN
Evening of December 2, 2008. Don't go thinking that I've "gone off-topic"! That opinion might have formed while reading my last two notes. Actually, everything is on topic. The book is called "Journey to the Edge of the Earth and Myself"! So don't ask me questions like:
— Are you in your right mind?
Well, no one is asking me that yet. Okay, I'm joking! There. And "returning" to the topic:
TODAY the Russian research vessel "AKADEMIK FYODOROV" ARRIVED AT THE PORT OF CAPE TOWN!!!
We saw Katya, she says Alexey woke her up with a morning call.
— I told you I'd be back!!! — he told her over the phone, according to Katya.
FAVORITE BOOK
December 3. Nastya (a friend from Kopeysk) wrote me roughly the following words today: "Semen, I'm reading your posts... I'm thinking, why have I started to like what you write? As I see it, many others like your new work more than the previous one (my personal opinion). I've come to the conclusion: 1. You always wrote fictional stories. But it turns out your life is already full of events and characters. And to "pour out" your creative energy, you don't need to climb deep into your head and invent things, sometimes straining and raping your brain to be interesting to readers. Life turned out to be simpler. 2. Human psychology, in my opinion, is this: people are afraid to open up themselves, they are closed off and sometimes lonely — that's why it's interesting for them to, as it were, "peek through someone else's keyhole" and try to live these minutes together with you, and maybe, somewhere, even for you!!!!"
I agree with her in many ways. She says everything correctly. Nastya is a smart girl! Lately, I've been especially pleased by the worldly wisdom that has appeared in her, which I didn't even notice when it developed. It never showed before. And now, sometimes, when she says something, I'm just delighted!
However, I want to say that my life is not always as saturated and interesting as it is here and now. Moreover, even here and now, not everything is as wonderful as it might seem.
I still have a long-standing dream to write a good story with fictional characters after all! But to make it as real as life. To write SUCH a book! Such... well, like "Harry Potter"! And to write a completely different work, but at the same time the same. I don't know how else to explain it? I wonder if these two contradictions will ever come together into one AGREEMENT? But I Dream! And not for the first day, not for the first month, not for the first year.
Right now I'm not planning to scribble such a long note about J.K. Rowling's seven-volume series, before whom I bow down for her "Harry Potter" no less than before Sylvester Stallone, although, truly, the book deserves to be talked about. And there is something to say. But maybe another time. Today I will only note that this is my favorite of my books. Before it, I never had a favorite literary work in my life. There were many that I admired. Or others that I liked. But there was no favorite. And then this one appeared. Many smart and educated people I know are skeptical about "Harry Potter". And some of my friends are also among such "skeptics". But as for me: in vain!
Of course, if you think about it, many will also be skeptical about Stallone. People cannot like the same people and works. People around us relate to events differently, look at life differently. And that's normal! So I'm not trying to impose — I'm sharing! Whether you'll be happy for me, laugh, or react in some other way — that's your business. But "Harry Potter" is my favorite book. And someday I would like to be able to write literature of the same level and quality.
CONVERSATION WITH MYSELF
— I did a great thing yesterday. Do you understand?
— Yes. Only you accomplished it earlier. And yesterday was just one of the peak moments.
— Perhaps... My tears were flowing. My heart felt so good.
— I know. You are touched not just by conversations, but even by movies, music, books — everything touches you.
— That's true. It touches me. But there it touches me with someone else's, and yesterday it was my own.
— Yesterday it was your own, yes!
