コンビニ人間 by 村田沙耶香 is a book about a middle-aged woman who has spent her entire adult life working at a コンビニ. It is a fascinating critique of Japanese social norms and provides a great look into Japanese culture. It was originally read in 2019 by the Intermediate Book Club. This club will follow the old Intermediate Book Club discussions and will target those who are starting to transition from beginner to intermediate level.
Membership
Will you be participating in the コンビニ人間 repeat club?
Yes, I’ll be reading along for the first time
Yes, I’ve already read the book but I’ll be discussing and helping out on the forums
Me! Unfortunately, I just got around to the current intermediate book too late and will never catch up. This one looks like a suitable level for me, so I’d love to do it.
Ooh definitely count me in! I’ve been curious about this book for a while, but since it’d be my first novel in Japanese I think having an active book club would keep me motivated to keep pushing on if it gets tough.
I’m not going to be joining because I read it already but I just wanted to say it’s a great book. I read it around lvl 45-50 and it felt quite easy too.
Also even if you’re not going to do a repeat club the completed threads are still there. I was actually reading them when reading the book (about a year after the book club ended).
I will read the book for sure, planned to do this after I finish my current book - that means, no earlier than in January. So in case the club starts in Jan 2021, or around mid Dec (so I am able to catch up), count me in too!
Ed: forgot to add that I tried to read it with the club at that time, but it was too difficult for me vocab-wise. Hopefully now it goes better
Well this was a well timed thread. I just learned of this book the other day and I was considering reading it, so it’d be nice reading along with others!
I was already planning on reading this book after 魔女の他急便 and I am very happy to be able to read it with others. I would like to add a vocab spreadsheet to the club. I would be doing a it for myself anyway because I am only level 22 and there are a lot of kanji I don’t know. If anyone else is interested we may share it.
I think last time there wasn’t a vocab list because you could prestudy vocab with floflo (now koohi), but if you’re making a spreadsheet anyway yes please share
That would be swell! It would certainly help those more toward the beginner side of the beginner/intermediate spectrum and would also make this great book more accessible to others down the line. I would likely throw in some words as well if you want to make it community-editable.
Tbh the lack of a vocab sheet is why I’ve not given it a try so far. I am about halfway with kanji as well and it’s still pretty rough trying to read ‘real’ books. But maybe that just means intermediate books are still a bit too difficult for me.
We’ll see. I’ll give it a try. I am really keen to read this book in its own right, not just for Japanese practise, so maybe that is enough motivation to keep me going!
It seems to me like there is definitely a good amount of interest! When would people like to start? I know I can’t wait to get started but we definitely have to allow shipping time at the very least. Once we have a date I will make a home thread for the repeat club. I’ll also look into whether we can use the previous book club forums for discussion like we did for the きき repeat club.
Thank you for the tip. I have never used floflo or koohi, but I may give it a try. By the way, I went into koohi and couldn’t see a way to input your wanikani level.
I am also in for the vocab spreadsheet. Unfortunately floflo does not have this book, which is really a loss for me. Koohi has one Konbini Ningen at koohi, but I do not use this site. Its structure is not suitable for my preferences anyway…
So I will need a vocab list, ready to create one or join if anyone else starts it.