Here we go ! This week, we start easy with the first three stories. We’ll be guided by a cat through an… unseen part of town, test our ability to read kanjis out of any context, and experiment a solution to sleepiness. Enjoy !
Everybody should feel free to post and ask questions–it’s what makes book clubs fun! But please do not post until you are familiar with Spoiler Courtesy! (even tho, to be fair, there is no real story in that book and not much to spoil).
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.
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.
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).
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 or a the very least the chapter 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!
Proper Nouns
Name
Reading
Notes
あやこ
Main character
ねね
A little girl from the same neighborhood
かご中
かごなか
Ayako’s colleague. Her head is a bird cage
Discussion Questions
What was you favorite story this week ?
Would you use the hat of chapter 3 ?
Participation
Will you be reading along with us this week?
I’m reading along
I have finished this part
I’m still reading the book but I haven’t reached this part yet
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0voters
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Don’t forget to set this thread to Watching in order to stay abreast of discussion!
It’s been a few months since I did a book club so feels like I’m back in the saddle
These were pretty light and easy to read. The 2nd story was tougher because of the sort of fanciful/lyrical language in the middle, but the stories are easy to follow. I like the illustrations, especially the cat in the first story. The leprechaun guy was also written pretty oddly (using hiragana and katakana where you would normally use the other?)
I ended up transcribing the stories in a Google doc so I could parse them more easily.
ノロマ - dunce, blockhead
寄り道 - making a side trip, stopping off on the way
目の前 - right in front of one’s eyes
年代もの - antique item
解読 - deciphering
睡魔タイム - literally “sleep demon time” but seems to indicate after-lunch sleepiness
Phew, translated the first chapter. Easy but that last bit of vocab about everything a cat might want was annoying. Corrected many compound words in the vocab sheet.
page 8
Whaaa, I’m late, I’m late !
Aaaaah, I missed the bus.
Hahaha, Looks like you’re in trouble !
Where are you going ? I’ll [explain] a shortcut [for you].
page 9
This way !
Yeah.
W..wait a bit !
You slowpoke right ?
oooh…
I have not walked this are in a while…
You still following ? (Word is 付いてくる)
y…yeah
page 10
What is this place [here]?
Hey ! (can ちょっと mean that ?)
It’s not this way ! Don’t go wandering around !
Y… yes !
Once we’re out [of this bush] we’ll be almost there !
Ouch…
Ah ! [It’s] right here !
Wow ! We ended up arriving before the bus !
page 11
Thanks to you, I’m saved ! Please accept this.
That won’t do !
But..
[I want] a grilled eel ! A whole one !
Bring a long and big one to the Azuki Shrine.
You can do this on the way back from work.
Yay - I made it through the first chapter! It wasn’t too difficult to follow the story, even without furigana.
I actually think the lack of furigana is a bit of an advantage - there’s more space in the speech-bubbles, which makes the text feel clearer compared to manga that use it.
Story
I really liked the secret world in the back alley, especially the elderly cat reading a newspaper. It was funny how helpful the cat was at first, and then suddenly became very demanding about his reward - asking for all those expensive fish dishes.
I probably spent the most time trying to figure out what those fish dishes actually were in the end
Oh I didn’t see these lol - my favorite story was the cat shortcut (I’d love to hang out in the cat town, even though I feel like I’d be unwelcome), and I would use the hat (I always get sleepy at 3 PM, and it looks like the bad/sleepy effects fall on everyone else anyway!)
The sleepy hat really felt like a Doraemon invention.
I have a couple books without furigana, and I always read a few words and then lose interest. But so far, this one has been unexpectedly charming.
Of all silly things, I spent way too long on あたたかな. I’m so used to あたたかい, and the idea that there can be two almost identical -i and -na adjectives is a surprise.
I read the first chapter weeks ago, but then read it again a week ago in preparation for the club about to start, and then just read it again. I feel like I’ve read three chapters now. I forget so much grammar and vocabulary, I really should just never go back, because it’s a bit discouraging, lol.
I started the second chapter and hope to keep on schedule. It’s definitely a lot of juggling my phone to take pictures of the book to look up kanji. Luckily (or unluckily) I like the style and feel, so I’m not throwing in the towel yet.
A little late to the party (wanted to wait until after the start of the month so this would count for the Spring Read Every Day Challenge), but I intend on reading this earlier in the week from now on. But, hi! It’s my first Beginner Book Club!
From the first two wordless pages I was charmed by this story! Of the handful of manga I’ve read so far this has been my favorite language-wise. It feels playful and lyrical but still easy to understand. And the stories themselves are adorable!
Also, shout out to the first Japanese wordplay I've recognized so far:
I felt pretty comfortable with understanding this one, aside from some vocabulary lookups, of course. There was one sentence I didn’t quite understand, but scanning through again I can’t seem to find it. Oh well!
Just now writing up my notes on the third chapter…
Hat Story
なきゃ — casual contraction of なければならない. Maybe this will be the last time I get tripped up by this? Lol.
I guess it’s a pun? 帽子 (hat) and 防止 (prevention) share the reading ぼうし
Got a little tripped up by てくれる when the magic guy is describing the hat… My first take was that the guy was giving her the hat as a favor, but I think it’s “The hat does this for you”.
