夏目友人帳 - Natsume's Book of Friends Home Thread (Beginner Book Club)

Join the Beginner Book Club here!

Welcome to 夏目友人帳 ! (なつめゆうじんちょう)

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Current Chapter: Finished!

Where To Buy

Amazon JP (physical book or ebook)
CD Japan (physical book)
Book Walker (ebook)
eBookJapan (ebook)

Discussion Threads

Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 3
Chapter 4

Reading Schedule

Week Start Date Chapter(s) Pages
1-2 October 13th Chapter 1 50 pages
3-4 October 27th Chapter 2 50 pages
5 November 10th Chapter 3 50 pages
6 November 17th Chapter 4 40 pages

Vocabulary List

:fox_face: Kitsun Deck (お疲れ様 @jprspereira!) :fox_face:

Please follow the following guidelines when adding vocabulary to the list. This will help ensure that everyone adds vocab in a consistent way, which will make it easier to use.

Vocabulary List Guidelines
  • General:
    • Make sure to use unformatted text by double clicking into a cell before pasting.
    • Try not to include the same word (with the same meaning) more than once for the same chapter.
  • Vocab (Kanji) column:
    • Use the kanji that are actually used in the manga. This also means leaving this column blank if the word is written in kana.
    • Use the dictionary form for adjectives and verbs, not the conjugated forms.
      • For example, if the word in the manga is 分かりました, you should add it as 分かる.
  • Vocab (Hiragana) column:
    • Use the hiragana that are actually used in the manga, UNLESS it is a made up katakana word for the series. In that case, use the most common real reading, and mention the made up reading in the Notes column.
      • For example (from Aria), in the manga, 地球 is given the reading マンホーム, but it should still be entered as ちきゅう (with マンホーム in the Notes column).
    • Use the dictionary form for adjectives and verbs, not the conjugated forms.
      • For example, if the word in the manga is 分かりました, you should add it as 分かる.
  • English Translation column:
    • If you are not (reasonably) sure which translation is being used in the given context, don’t add the word to the spreadsheet. Adding it without knowing which meaning is correct could cause confusion.
    • To keep the spreadsheet simple, use the definitions from jisho.org or a similar J->E dictionary.
    • If more than one of the definitions could be correct, separate them by a ・ (written using / in the IME).
      • For example, for 書く you would put to write; to compose; to pen​・to draw; to paint if you feel like either is a likely interpretation for the given context.
    • If the definition goes past the end of the column, try to remove alternate spellings first (e.g. “color” and “colour”) and then try to remove words with similar English meanings.
  • Notes column:
    • Use this column to add additional information that could be helpful, like if the word in the manga is a colloquial form of the official word.

Discussion Rules

  • Please use spoiler tags for content that would be considered a spoiler.
  • When asking for help, please mention the page, panel, and speech bubble.
  • Don’t be afraid of asking questions, even if they seem embarassing at first. All of us are here to learn.
  • To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation, it’s fun! :durtle_the_explorer:

Member List

Mark your participation status here!

Are you planning on reading this book with the group?

  • Yes
  • Yes but I may start late
  • No

0 voters

11 Likes

I approve of this. I’m not sure if I’ll read along yet since I don’t own it but I may have to pick it up.

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6 Likes

:star_struck:

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5 Likes

Me after a whole day of drama:
FittingFineAlabamamapturtle-small

Me when I opened the forum and saw this thread on top:
natsume-yuujinchou-gif-14
In other words, My day has been blessed

Yeah don’t mind me, just a huge Natsume fan here :eyes:
I’m looking forward to reading it with y’all >////< :hearts:

10 Likes

Why are so few people planning to read this? I hope you guys manage to get a good read out of it…

What kind of things do we add to the vocab list? Things that are unknown to us personally?

1 Like

8 seems like a reasonable number, though? And more people may come in. I’m on the fence personally.

I love the anime but honestly never read the manga so I’m excited to attempt reading it in Japanese!

3 Likes

Most people just add words that they personally didn’t know and had to look up, but there’s nothing stopping you adding other words. For example there might be an obscure word that you just happen to know, or a reference to something which might not appear easily in a dictionary.

Everything you add is likely to be helpful to someone :blush:

6 Likes

Thank you!

1 Like

Sure, 8 to read the whole volume is not bad. Take Non Non Biyori for comparison. There’s somewhere in the 8-12 range still reading. But over 50 people said they’d try reading it in its home thread poll. But it’s still early, hopefully more will join. (I won’t be though. :sweat_smile:)

1 Like

Despite the same number of people voting for it D:

(26 people - where are you all? :stuck_out_tongue: )

Maybe we just haven’t been posting enough enthusiastically in this thread. HEY PEOPLE. WE ARE READING NATSUME SOON. COME JOIN!!!

7 Likes

I have to study for the JLPT which is driving me mental already
and I have a full time job and WK reviews, so I don’t really have time until December.

I’m still reading Aria and Non Non Biyori for now though.

3 Likes

I’m guessing at least some people that voted may have intended to read both non non biyori and natsume, started reading non non biyori, felt like that was too difficult, and given up on reading either of them.

Of course, there still seems to be really few people who intend to read this, but at least it won’t that much fewer than non non biyori(still fewer than the amount of people that currently are reading Aria though) if most of us read the entire volume. Maybe some intend to just continue reading Aria instead, too? I personally intend to read both, but everyone may not have time for that.

1 Like

I think the people currently continuing Aria can mostly be broken into people who are intending to read Natsume or who never voted for it / intended to read it though :thinking:

I’m also not too convinced by the theory that the voters tried non non biyori and found it too hard :wink: I don’t think there was much overlap in voters / readers. In general it seems the majority of people who vote for a particular pick don’t actually even start reading it, which is a bit sad :pensive:

I’m looking forward to trying one with a more supernatural focus this time around. And we’ve got @MissMisc with us :blush:

3 Likes

I’d been keeping an eye on this club and I’m definitely joining this one, love natsume <3

7 Likes

com-resize:heart::durtle_love:

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I’m excited for the supernatural focus as well, I have a feeling we’ll be learning lots of great new vocab ^^ looking forward to reading it with you all! :high_touch:

3 Likes

goes to find another book with supernatural elements

2 Likes

:stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:

Why aren’t you reading it with us? It’s only for a few weeks!
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1 Like