☕ 夜カフェ ☕ (Offshoot Book Club) Home Thread (Starting Book 5 from July 1st)

Japanese Language Book Clubs
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Welcome to the :coffee: 夜カフェ :coffee: Offshoot Book Club Home Thread!

This is a book club for the second book in the 夜カフェ series. Thanks to the wonderful @sumsum for their recommendation and our members for picking it, we read the first book with the Beginner Book Club and loved it so much we’ve decided to continue the series in an Offshoot Book Club. If you haven’t yet read the first book in the series yet, please find the Home Thread for 夜カフェ 1 here and then join us for the next book in the series when you’re done. :wink:

As is true with all book clubs, this thread and subsequent discussion threads will always be open for readers to ask questions and express their thoughts in regards to the reading, so feel free to jump in even if you’re several years from the future! Don’t be a stranger!

Before we can decide on the schedule and pacing, we’re going to take a vote, which means… to the polls (at the end of the post)!

In regards to the book outline below (for vol 2)

Below is the outline of the Table of Contents with the schedule and start date to be decided after a majority’s vote. Please note that there is a character list similar to the one at the start of book 1 as well as a recap of book 1 (both of which are two pages each). I decided not to include in the outline below and will leave it to each reader to decide whether they want to read them or not. Feel free to comment below if you feel strongly otherwise.

Please also note the page count for each chapter. Chapter 1 is a little heavy from the get go so we could split it into two weeks for those who want a slower pace in the beginning. On the other hand, chapters 2 and 3 are quite short and could be combined depending on how everyone feels. By chapter 7, the page count hits 20+ so we can either take a week break between chapters 6 and 7 or we can spend two weeks each on the remaining chapters (or both).

Volume 5 Official Reading Schedule

Week Start Date Chapter Title Start Page Page Count
Week 1 July 1st Ch 1 捨て猫 8 13
Week 2 July 8 Ch 2 トラ 22 15
Week 3 July 15 Ch 3 うそつき 37 12
Week 4 July 22 Ch 4 会いたい 50 16
Week 5 July 29 Ch 5 学園祭 67 12
Week 6 August 5 Ch 6 猫耳ヘア 81 19
Week 7 August 12 Ch 7 家族いろいろ 103 20
Week 8 August 19 Break! なし なし
Week 9 August 26 Ch 8 クレーム 124 21
Week 10 September 2 Ch 9 里親 146 14
Week 11 September 9 Ch 10 さよなら 160 22
Week 12 September 16 Extra pages including あとがき 184 6

Volume 4 Discussion Thread
Volume 3 Discussion Thread

Volume 4 Reading Schedule
Week Start Date Chapter Title Start Page Page Count
Week 1 March 4 Ch 1 8 12
Week 2 March 11 Ch 2 21 16
Week 3 March 18 Ch 3 38 15
Week 4 March 25 Ch 4 55 15
Week 5 April 1 Ch 5 71 15
Week 6 April 8 Ch 6 86 13
Week 7 April 15 Ch 7 101 15
Week 8 April 22 Ch 8 118 14
Week 9 April 29 Ch 9 133 11
Week 10 May 6 Ch 10 145 15
Week 11 May 13 Ch 11 161 14
Week 12 May 20 Ch 12 & extra pages 176 18
Volume 3 Reading Schedule
Week Start Date Chapter Title Start Page Page Count
Week 1 December 10 Ch 1 8 22
Week 2 December 17 Ch 2 31 13
Week 3 December 24 Ch 3 45 27
Week 4 December 31 Ch 4 74 17
Week 5 January 7 Ch 5 92 16
Week 6 January 14 Ch 6 109 16
Week 7 January 21 Ch 7 127 22
Week 8 January 28 Ch 8 151 19
Week 9 February 4 Ch 9 170 23
Week 10 February 11 Ch 10 + Extra pages 193 9
Volume 2 Reading Schedule
Week Start Date Chapter Title Start Page Page Count
Week 1 Aug 6 Ch 1: 線香花火 8 20
Week 2 Aug 13 Ch 2: あこがれの先輩 27 9
Week 3 Aug 20 Ch 3: 夏野菜カレー 35 7
Week 4 Aug 27 1st BREAK 0 0
Week 5 Sept 3 Ch 4: 友だち 41 13
Week 6 Sept 10 Ch 5: サプライズ 53 19
Week 7 Sept 17 Ch 6: ヤキトリ 71 18
Week 8 Sept 24 2nd BREAK 0 0
Week 9 Oct 1 Ch 7: ウジウジモード 88 21
Week 10 Oct 8 Ch 8: ケンカ 108 21
Week 11 Oct 15 Ch 9: 世界は広い 128 22
Week 12 Oct 22 Ch 10: トイレ事件 149 23
Week 13 Oct 29 Ch 11: 夜カフェス 171 24
Week 14 Nov 5 Ch 12: 本番 194 8
Week 15 Nov 12 Hanabi’s Recipe & あとがき 201 5

Vocabulary List

It’s likely that a number of the words used in book 1 will appear again in book 2. But for good measure, we’ll keep a vocab list going for those who want to pop in with the words they’ve looked up. This is a team effort, so the more people contribute to the list, the more you’re helping others and yourself!

Book 2 Vocab List: If you have the time to contribute, everyone in the group will appreciate it! Thanks in advance!

Participation

Are you planning to read 夜カフェ2 along with the book club?

  • Yes, definitely
  • No, not really interested now
  • Maybe (haven’t decided yet)
  • Maybe (but I’ll catch up later)
  • I’m reading ahead but will join in discussions
  • I’m from the future and reading it way later
0 voters

Book Version

If so, which version will you be reading?

  • Paperback
  • eBook
0 voters

Schedule

How soon do you want to start reading/discussing?

  • The week after book 1 ends (start time: July 16th)
  • 2 weeks after book 1 ends (start time: July 23rd)
  • 1 month after book 1 ends (start time: August 6th)
  • No preference
  • Other (please comment with details)
0 voters

Pacing

What pacing works for you?

  • 1 chapter per week and a week break between chapters 6 and 7
  • 1 chapter per week with no break
  • Half a chapter per week
  • About 10 pages per week (shorter chapters we can cover in one week and others will be split in half)
  • No preference
  • Other (details in comment)
0 voters

Discussion Threads

How should we divide the discussion threads?

  • New thread for each chapter
  • New thread for each week’s discussion
  • In the case of splitting chapters, keep all discussion of that chapter in the same thread
  • No preference
  • Other (please comment)
0 voters
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Previous Updates

Update Summary 9/3

  • Week 4 Discussion thread posted

Update Summary 8/20

  • Majority of members chose to take a break for Week 4
  • Week 3 Discussion thread posted

Update Summary 8/19

  • Poll to vote on taking an early break posted

Update Summary 8/7

  • Updated the vocab list for chapter 1 (link shared in first post)

Update Summary 8/6

  • Book 2 Chapter 1 Discussion Thread posted (link shared in first post)

Update Summary 7/18

  • Book 2 discussion starts on August 6th
  • We’ll read 1 chapter per week (total of 14 weeks)
  • New discussion threads will be made for each chapter
  • Book 2 Vocab List added to first post
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Thank you for your interest and for voting!

It looks like the results are fairly unanimous, so I updated the reading schedule to reflect the current results which is start reading in about a month and to take a week break in between. This means we can finish this book in 14 weeks, a little faster than book 1.

Although voting has stopped in the last few days, I’ll wait until this Saturday (when I assume we’re officially done with book 1) to post the final results (though I doubt they’ll change much from now).

But if you’ve originally marked your reading status as “maybe - haven’t decided yet” and have made your decision to read with us based on the tentative reading schedule, please update your vote!

And if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to ask!

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It looks like the whole series is currently on sale on Bookwalker. This will probably swing me towards reading with the club.

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I’m a little late getting back, but anyway, since the votes have dried up for the last 5 days or so, I think it’s safe to finalize the reading schedule now.

You can find the schedule’s details in the first post, but to sum it up, we’ll officially start book 2 on August 6th and do a chapter a week, ending with the extra pages in Week 14. I’ll also create new threads for each chapter discussion so stay tuned for the first chapter thread!

I’ve also updated the link to the vocab list in the first post. Feel free to add to it as you wish! And as always, if you have any questions or concerns, feel free to share them here!

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Just here to confirm that I’ll be following along, since the main book club (Shadow House) isn’t too difficult and I’m left with plenty of time for this :smiley:
When is the week 1 discussion thread planned to be posted?

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Thanks for joining us! :blush: I’ll have it posted on Saturday (Aug 6th) morning when I wake up around 7AM or so (Japan time). That’s about 24 hours from the time of this post being published. I’ll also share the link in this thread too, so if you’re watching this thread, you can’t miss it :wink:

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Ooh woops, I did that thing again where I mixed up the month and day (I don’t know why I do that, it’s not like I switch between systems) and so I thought it was the 8th of August already XD
Looking forward to starting then, and thanks again for hosting the club!

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A little later than I intended (woke up a little late and wanted to wait until the moment of silence for the anniversary of the Hiroshima bombing to pass before going to work) but the first discussion thread for volume 2 is finally up! Feel free to jump in anytime!

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Just wanted to mention that I’ve updated the vocab list for chapter 1. I mostly focused on words I didn’t know in the first half and then started adding more words I thought some people would struggle with towards the second half, so sorry if it feels unbalanced! Please feel free to add more as you wish!

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Week 2 discussion is up! Let me know if you have any questions or struggling with anything (like the pacing). I’ll update the vocab list for this week as well when I get a chance to read.

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We’ve opened up a little discussion regarding whether to take a break to help readers catch up. This might help for those who are still trying to finish up volume 1 and/or having trouble finding time to read up to the current chapter or it can actually serve as a break to those who are up-to-date with the current chapter and want to catch up with reading in other clubs.

Since this is an offshoot club, I think it makes more sense to adjust the schedule time to help most of our members even if it means taking a break earlier than what is customary in most book clubs. So if a break sounds good or splitting the next chapter discussion to take place in the next two weeks or something might help you, please speak up!

We have a few opinions on the idea in the other thread, but I thought we should move the discussion here so more people can see it. From the way it sounds, we’re leaning towards taking a break in the coming week or so, but how soon do we want it? Keep in mind we have a break during Week 7.

I’ll give some time for others to pitch in ideas, and then I’ll make a poll to make the official vote on what we want to do.

Current discussion in the other thread
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If you were at all thinking about me, I’m fine. I’ve usually read one chapter in one sitting fairly easily. So as soon as I’ve done the weekly reading on the clubs I am caught up with, I’ll easily knock out the chapters I need to catch up with yoru cafe.

That said if others need an additional break to catch up, that is fine by me. :slight_smile:

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I did have you in mind (as well as some others that have been updating their progress on Natively - just didn’t know if they were the same members that were planning to participate in the next book or not :sweat_smile:) but I’ve noticed your progress in the Read Every Day Thread, and you’re doing great!

Early Break Poll

So it sounds like maybe the majority isn’t leaning towards a break after all… but in case there’s a few members who would still like to vote on it, let’s decide this with a poll. I’ll ping all the active members and those that voted yes or maybe in the original participation poll in case having an early break gives you the motivation to try to catch up.

Would you like to take an early break? (You can use this time to catch up on reading for this club or other book clubs or just relax.)
  • Yes, I think a break would help
  • No, I’m fine
  • I don’t mind either one
  • I’ve decided not to read with the club

0 voters

If you want a break, what timing is best for you? (Keep in mind we have a break for Week 7)
  • Immediately (starting week 3)
  • Soon (starting week 4)
  • I have a new idea (please comment)

0 voters

Pinging the following (potential) readers

@HaydenAscot
@shuly
@polv
@enbyboiwonder
@MrGeneric
@2OC3aOdKgwSGlxfz
@Oceansea
@sakuchu
@MissDagger
@Cathm2

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Since I can only ping 10 members at a time, here's a second post to summon the other half. Please see post above.

@repdesu
@sumsum
@lucylavelle
@meagstudies
@cheruko
@tsundokurey
@Miriamlpm
@ibabinruel

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I’d say a break around week 4 would be good such that we can better utilise the given break time, but I don’t mind it being either way, and if people vote for no break then that’s fine by me :+1:

I am curious though, what is this Natively thing?

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Thank you so much for taking us into consideration. I bought the book, but I was not sure if I should really join. However, I guess this is my sign to start reading :grin:

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Natively is a site that aims to give approximate difficulty ratings for Japanese books. The difficulty ratings are decided by community ratings, and so are a bit of a work in progress. Users can also use it to keep track of their reading.

For example, this is what my books section looks like:

image
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And on the home page:

image

That’s sorta the “quick-look” bubble of what I’m currently reading. These updates can be hidden, but generally speaking, most people tend to just let what they are reading be public, and progress can show up in a feed. You can also follow specific users if you would like, ala Twitter, and you can filter your feed to include just your “social” bubble, essentially.

Just realized I should probably also include a capture of the feed I’m referring to:

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Thank you @MrGeneric for explaining it much better than I could! It’s a great website to use if you’re interested in reading material in Japanese, but it can also be a little dangerous… :wink: I hear your ‘to read list’ can increase tenfold from being able to see other people’s titles (the plus side too is you can see the book cover). Since the forums have started recently, there’s some recommendations and (book clubs) there too.

And the community ratings aren’t just random numbers either. They sort of reflect the levels on Wanikani so if a book is at level 25, it means you can probably read most of the kanji in the book if you have cleared that level. It’s not absolute though as the levels change every time someone grades them. And since each member is at different levels, it’s more of a guess~timation really. But better than nothing!

I was going to hold off voting in the second poll because I didn’t want to influence the numbers. But if it comes to a tie-breaker, I was thinking Week 4 would be the best as it would put a halfway point to the next break.

If you want to read along and maybe post in the threads, then you should definitely join in! Reading and discussion is more fun when there’s more people! :slightly_smiling_face: But now I wish I had posted the poll or at least tagged you earlier! Then you could have started a little more time to start… sorry about that! :pray:

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I don’t know when I’ll be able to buy more books (I’m trying to finish at least a handful of the ones I already have before I do), but I am currently planning on reading the rest of this series and will probably get at least 2 and 3 when I do next get more, and I’ll be able to catch up whenever

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