There are free samples on Amazon.co.jp if you want to see the first few pages for yourself.
EDIT: I believe you can get them through the Kindle app.
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Thanks for letting me know! I tried looking at the amazon page on my computer, it wasn’t until I used my kindle that I got to see it.
I will probably pass for now, its a bit above my level and I don’t have the time right now to tackle it. I will definitely read it later though (probably when I’m preparing for N1!)
Calling all club members! Week 1 thread is up. Happy reading! 
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It’s time for Week 2!
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This week we finish the first chapter!
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Starting chapter 2!
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Maybe this was obvious to everyone, but I just realized some things about tatami rooms, so I thought I’d share. I knew that in Japan they use tatamis (畳 or 帖) as a measure of room surface, as in our book title’s 四畳半. I guess I just never realized that if the room is actually a 和室 with tatamis on the floor, then it has to have standard dimensions for the tatamis to fit nicely. They do have half tatamis though so it doesn’t have to be a whole number, and 4.5 tatami rooms are indeed standard. They are square, and there are two common ways of arranging the tatamis (image courtesy of wikipedia)
Turns out that the version on the right is the pattern that’s on the book’s cover!
And the version on the left (mirrored) is used as a logo for the anime (made to look like 四):
Larger tatami rooms like 6畳間 or 8畳間 also have standard patterns btw:
Also it turns out that tatami sizes are not actually always the same, and they vary from 1.44 sqm to 1.82 sqm which is a pretty big difference! But when using it as just a generic measure of surface, it seems the usual conversion is 1帖 = 1.62sqm?
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Week 5 starts tomorrow!
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Calling all readers!
We’re currently in Week 5 of reading Tatami Galaxy, and participation, never particularly high to begin with, has fallen to what seems to be two active readers only.
Please mark your status in the poll below so we can see where we stand:
- I’m still actively reading
- I put the book on hold but plan to continue at a later time
- I’m still reading but slower than the club
- I dropped the book
- I never even started the book, but maybe later
- I never even started the book, and I don’t think I ever will
0 voters
For those of you who may have dropped the book or just stopped for now, I’d be interested to know why:
- I didn’t find it interesting
- It was not what I was expecting
- It was too hard for me at the moment
- The book club’s pace is too fast
- Life happened, nothing to do with the book or club
- Other
0 voters
And for those of you who are still reading, how do you feel about the club’s pace?
- It’s just right. Let’s not change it.
- I’d be interested in speeding up and reading a whole chapter in two weeks
- I’d be interested in speeding up and reading a chapter per week
- I’d rather we slowed down (propose preferred pace)
0 voters
To be fair, even though I included a slowing down option, I’m not sure we can do that now without messing up the Advanced Club’s scheduling. But we could check.
Current pace is one chapter takes up 3 weeks, and any change of pace would affect the last two chapters of the book.
Please let me know your thoughts! 
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That would be quite the speed up! On the other hand, I think I can do it, and if at this point it’s just you and me, might as well get it over with so the book club can move on ^^’ But that would mean organizing the poll for the next book asap.
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Yes, that would be super-advanced speed, and we’d only use it if it’s really only the two of us at this point and we both agree. In any case you’re right, the Advanced Club needs to be notified of the possible speed change, and I think current club master @NicoleIsEnough is on a trip right now, so I’m not sure an earlier poll could even be arranged 
Let’s wait until Saturday or so and see if anyone else votes here first.
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Life happened, so I didn’t start with the club - in fact, I started reading just yesterday, without knowing participation had dropped so much. So I was just checking in for the schedule, and then I see this, haha. I hope it’s not because it’s boring. 
I’ll be very slowly catching up (or reading behind the pace), so there’s no need to consider me in your decision making. I’ll be late to the threads either way.
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Yay, welcome! 
For what it’s worth, I’m not finding it boring at all, on the contrary. It’s a strange book though. I have not watched the anime so I have no idea what to expect, even if I’m about halfway through
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Admittedly I fell into a deep deep holiday 穴 
but I will have more time at hand from tonight or tomorrow, so an earlier poll is no problem. I could start it on Sat, maybe? And have it run until the end of the following Sunday to make for an improved weekend polling experience 
Just let me know how you decide!
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穴 can certainly be fun 
Thanks! Is it okay if I close this poll on Monday morning, so that anyone visiting over the weekend can have a chance to vote? (I’m optimistic there will be some votes at least 
). It wouldn’t be terribly important to know the date of the next book at the time you start the poll, is it?
@miwuc, if no one else votes on pace, do you prefer the fast speed or the ultra fast speed? 
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So usually we try to separate poll and reading start not toooo much (in order to retain people‘s interest), but with the initial schedule the poll would start the weekend after this so it really doesn’t matter that much. Take your time! 
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I don’t know, as you want, if you’re up for ultra speed I’m up for it ^^
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Maybe we can summon a few people? @_Oerli @Hijiki @jacquisaysno @Greti33 @WaniTsunami please vote on the polls if you have the chance ^^
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I did my part. I am sorry I failed to participate T-T
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Thanks, and don’t worry about it
You can always come back to it later. I’m always happy to see new participation in older book club threads.
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