パノラマ島綺譚 (Advanced Book Club)

Japanese Language Reading
#1

Join the Advanced Book Club here!

Welcome to パノラマ島綺譚 (Advanced Book Club)

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NOTE: Sometimes also called パノラマ島奇談 and other variations as well.

Where to buy

Amazon | Bookwalker | Aozora (free!) | Aozora version on bookwalker (also free!)

(paid versions tend to come with another shorter story, which varies depending on the edition)

Discussion Threads and Reading Schedule

We will start reading on October 23, 2021.

Week Start Date Chapters covered End Page Kindle LOC Kindle % Page Count
Week 1 Oct 23 1-3 20 ? ? 14
Week 2 Oct 30 4-6 35 ? ? 15
Week 3 Nov 06 7-9 51 ? ? 16
Week 4 Nov 13 10-12 64 ? ? 13
Week 5 Nov 20 13-15 80 ? ? 16
Week 6 Nov 27 16-18 95 ? ? 16
Week 7 Dec 04 19-20 110 ? ? 15
Week 8 Dec 11 21-23 126 ? ? 16
Week 9 Dec 18 24-25 142 ? ? 16

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for major events in the current chapter(s) and any content in future chapters.
  • When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number. Also mention what version of the book you are reading.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarrassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun!

Member List

Are you planning to read パノラマ島綺譚 with the book club?

  • Yes
  • Yes, but I might start late
  • Not sure
  • No

0 voters

If so, which version will you be reading?

  • eBook
  • Paperback

0 voters

3 Likes
Week 1: パノラマ島綺譚
[2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge
Week 2: パノラマ島綺譚
Master List of Book Clubs
Week 5: パノラマ島綺譚
Advanced Japanese Book Club (Now reading: 本陣殺人事件)
[2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge
Week 6: パノラマ島綺譚
Advanced Japanese Book Club (Now reading: 本陣殺人事件)
Week 7: パノラマ島綺譚
[2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge
Week 8: パノラマ島綺譚
Week 4: パノラマ島綺譚
Week 3: パノラマ島綺譚
Words with 也?
Week 9: パノラマ島綺譚 [END]
#2

Schedule-wise, the book is divided very neatly into 25 sections (which seem to be present in every version), so I apportioned 2-3 sections per week to try to be even at roughly 15 (physical) pages. That works pretty well I think, since it goes right up to the end of the year with the usual between-book break covering new years and whatnot.

That granularity of obvious stopping points makes the schedule very flexible if anyone would like to go slower or faster or whatever (or if anything drastically changes in the months before the club actually starts).

I don’t own a kindle, but the chapter endings are so obvious that I’ll probably go in and remove those columns unless anyone objects!

3 Likes
#3

Ohhh, it’s so neat :christmas_tree:

1 Like
#4

As a taste of what maybe to expect from the book, the afterward by Kenji Ohtsuki to the previous collection of Ranpo stories I read has a fun list of what he considered 8 charms of Edogawa Ranpo’s writing:

① タイトルのネーミングのウマさ
② イラストレーションとのマッチングの妙
③ ユートピア願望
④ 母胎回帰願望
⑤ ショック！ 残酷描写
⑥ つっこみどころまんてんのトンデモなさ
⑦ ダメ人間の悲喜劇
⑧ レトロおしゃれな東京散歩

or as I roughly translated at the time:

  1. a knack for titles
  2. a strangeness living up to the illustrations
  3. utopian aspiration
  4. returning-to-the-womb aspiration
  5. shock!
  6. perfectly comic absurdity
  7. tragicomedy of hopeless people
  8. strolls through retro-cool Tokyo

All of these were amply demonstrated in that collection, except for the wild illustrations (I think he was talking about the editions that look more like this) and the “utopian aspiration,” which is where he talked about Panorama Island quite a bit. I’m not sure exactly what that means, but I’m looking forward to finding out!

5 Likes
#5

It’s been October 23rd already for quite a while in some parts of the world, so here’s the first thread!

4 Likes
#6

Second thread is up!

2 Likes
#7

It’s Saturday Morning on Panorama Island and here’s Week 3:

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#8

More like パノラマ島綺肆! Part four!

#9

Is it time to 五 to Panorama Island???

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#10

列五！

“Post must be at least 10 characters” :laughing:

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#11

It’s the dead of night, technically Saturday morning on Panorama Island, so here’s part 6!

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#12

It may technically be Sunday on Panorama Island, but it’s Saturday in my heart.

Week 7!

Please note also this is a 2 chapter week (because the next chapter is quite long).

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#13

Thanks for the heads up. I’ll time my teeth-brushing sessions accordingly.

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#14

I should start doing that again.
I stopped reading at night because I was scared off by the warning… and never got back in the habit. I’m three weeks behind at the moment, I think :sweat_smile:
Edit: Ah, but only one chapter away from being two weeks behind. Let’s go.

1 Like
#15

Technically it was a declaration of enthusiasm! :sweat_smile: (albeit one for grave robbing and rotting corpses…)

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#16

Enthusiasm? :sweat_smile:
Well, it wasn’t so bad (or at least very short) and nothing similar came up yet, so maybe I should just go back to my previous schedule. At one chapter a day, I should be able to catch up eventually.

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#17

You could brush your teeth in the morning as well for a change though :thinking:

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#18

I do too! But I’m usually busy making sure my kids are ready to go at the same time. Mornings are hell!

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#19

:joy:

I’m in favor of this conversation.

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#20

Time for the penultimate trip to Panorama Island!
I’ll warn it’s an intense section but I hope you bear with it for the last section next week!

3 Likes