ゆびさきと恋々 ・ A Sign of Affection 💕 (Absolute Beginner Book Club) - Starting June 7th

[josephsl]

Welcome to the ゆびさきと恋々 ・ A Sign of Affection Book Club!

This is the main thread for reading the manga along with the Absolute Beginner Book Club here on the forums. If you have a bit of experience with Japanese, but you are still easing into reading, then this would be a good place to start!

We’ll read together according to a weekly schedule, ask and answer questions in weekly threads, and we’ll have a vocabulary sheet we’re building together to make this easier for everyone. We aim to keep the schedule slow enough so that beginners can follow along. If you have questions feel free to ask them here or in the ABBC main thread, but also please check out @ChristopherFritz’s guide for joining the Absolute beginner book club.

@MyAnimeList description

Yuki Itose is a hearing-impaired university student whose world has been shrouded with silence since birth. She has lived in the same place her whole life, and rarely interacts with others save for her best friend, Rin Fujishiro. During her commute one day, she meets the silver-haired and multilingual Itsuomi Nagi, a mutual friend of Rin. Unlike most, Itsuomi is unwavering when he learns of Yuki’s impairment; this, along with his experiences abroad, fascinates and touches her. After they part, her fondness of him starts to grow. A new world begins to open for both Yuki and Itsuomi as they learn about each other’s different lives.

View the nomination post here!

Also check out the book on Natively!

Where to purchase

Physical: Honto | Rakuten | CD Japan | Amazon US | Amazon JP | Kinokuniya JP
Digital: eBook Japan | BookWalker | Amazon Kindle JP

Proposed Schedule

Week	Start Date	Chapter	Page Numbers	Pages with text
Week 1	June 7	1	3-14	6
Week 2	June 14	1	15-21	6
Week 3	June 21	1	22-27	6
Week 4	June 28	1	28-41	10
Week 5	July 5	1	42-58	13
Week 6	July 12	2	59-75	11
Week 7	July 19	2	76-84	9
Week 8	July 26	2	85-100	13
Week 9	August 2	3	101-119	13
Week 10	August 9	3	120-137	14
Week 11	August 16	4	138-152	14
Week 12	August 23	4	153-172	14

• Pages are physical page numbers (they are printed on some pages). The digital version will vary slightly.
• No. of pages with text is the amount of pages with more than one short sentence.

Vocabulary

Vocabulary list (Google Sheets)

• Please read the guidelines on the first page before adding any words.

Discussion Guidelines

Spoiler Courtesy

Please follow these rules to avoid inadvertent ネタバレ. If you’re unsure whether something should have a spoiler tag, err on the side of using one.

1. Any potential spoiler for the current week’s reading need only be covered by a spoiler tag. Predictions and conjecture made by somebody who has not read ahead still falls into this category.
2. Any potential spoilers for external sources need to be covered by a spoiler tag and include a label (outside of the spoiler tag) of what might be spoiled. These include but are not limited to: other book club picks, other books, games, movies, anime, etc. I recommend also tagging the severity of the spoiler (for example, I may still look at minor spoilers for something that I don’t intend to read soon).
3. Any information from later in the book than the current week’s reading (including trigger warnings that haven’t yet manifested) needs to be hidden by spoiler tags and labeled as coming from later sections.

Instructions for Spoiler Tags

Click the cog above the text box and use either the “Hide Details” or “Blur Spoiler” options. The text which says “This text will be hidden” should be replaced with what you are wishing to write. In the case of “Hide Details”, the section in the brackets that is labelled “Summary” can be replaced with whatever you like also (i.e, [details=”Chapter 1, Pg. 1”]).

Hide Details results in the dropdown box like below:

Example

This is an example of the “Hide Details” option.

The “Blur Spoiler” option will simply blur the text it surrounds.

This is an example of the “Blur Spoiler” option.

Posting Advice

• When asking for help, please mention the page number, and check before posting that your question hasn’t already been asked. As the threads get longer, it becomes more convenient to use the Search function, which is located in the upper right corner of the forum. It is the magnifying glass which is near your profile picture! The best way to search is usually to type part of the sentence you are confused about, and select “in this topic”. This will show you all posts within the current thread which has that string of text.
• Be sure to join the conversation! It’s fun, and it’s what keeps these book clubs lively! There’s no such thing as a stupid question! We are all learning here, and if the question has crossed your mind, there’s a very good chance it has crossed somebody else’s also! Asking and answering questions is a great learning opportunity for everyone involved, so never hesitate to do so!

Membership

Will you be reading with us?

• Yes
• Yes, but I might start late
• Maybe
• No

How will you be reading

• Physical
• Digital
• I’m not sure yet

Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to be notified when weekly threads get posted!

[ChristopherFritz]

Looking for a way to pass the time until we begin?

Aside from joining along with Scary Stories, I recommend using Anki or another SRS application to pre-learn the highest frequency words from the volume we’ll be reading.

When making SRS cards from vocabulary from a frequency list, don’t hesitate to include furigana on the front of the card when you don’t know the kanji. Since this manga has furigana, it’s more important to recognize the word from its reading rather than its kanji.

[sonartica]

Already bought my copy. Can’t wait to start.

[poina]

Hello! I ordered my book and am excited to start hehe.

Just wondering about the schedule, will it have a later start compared to the other book club? Just because it still says TBD - sorry if this has been discussed already as I couldn’t see it!

[hotdogsuplex]

A Sign of Affection will start after the Scary Stories book club ends, I think with a one week break in between. Scary Stories is looking like it will end at the end of May, so A Sign of Affection would start in the beginning if June.

[poina]

ahhh i see! I think because the main page had both listed next to each other/i think it was a tie breaker I thought it was happening at the same time! That’s dissapointing - but at least I have the book now!

[soggyboy]

@poina

I think because the main page had both listed next to each other

My bad, fixed the home post of the club page so it’s hopefully more clear. In the meantime, you could choose something from our previous picks to read!

[josephsl]

I’ve added dates to the schedule, since the Scary Stories schedule now looks set.