Donald Richie

May 15-- Current reading: The Literature Machine, Italo Calvino; Tsurezuregusa (Essays In Idleness) , Kenkou; The Japan Journals, Donald Richie; The Perfect Mile, a book about Landry, Santee and Bannister. Am spending most of my time with the Donald Richie, whom it is interesting to watch change as a writer and as a man over an almost 60 year span. At the point my reading is at now (1993) he is, it seems almost weekly, seeing his dearest friends pass on while he remains relatively vital. The Japanese funeral: proper place for an outpouring of emotion. I would do well there.

Calvino may number amongst the few "great" novelists whom I would not regard as mentally ill.