Have you tried the Beginner Book Club? We just started reading a manga (Yuru camp), and in 6 weeks we will start reading a book (Kiki‘s delivery service).
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Technically, the book is independent from the book club.
The club will read another manga (fruit basket) after Yuru camp.
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Yeah, but it’s a good suggestion if chofas is specifically looking for a book 
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Thank you! I will try with Kiki then 
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Posted in the wrong thread, expand for spoilers
I’m mostly caught up and I have to say I didn’t know what to expect and it’s made me re-read a few things to make sure I got them right. A tanuki wearing a kimono? A smooth stone being sold for a hundred million yen? I don’t know why I assumed this was going to be about the type of night market you might find in real life 
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First book with the book club, and first book I’ve read in Japanese (I’ve done a few manga and magazines, but nothing so dense). Loving it so far! I’ve probably got about 40 words or so that I’ve had to look up and write down to study later. But I managed to get most of the story in my first read through without looking things up, which felt great. Can’t wait to keep going.
The opening paragraph has definitely been the highlight so far. It set it up a tone so well. And my favourite learned word so far: とりとめもない話
Loving all the support above with getting meaning from some of the grammar points. Has been helpful to confirm/explain some parts
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This might be for the week 2 thread perhaps? Unless I’ve missed a whole lot in this first week’s section…
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I think you’re right, sorry about that! my ereader shows me as being on page 6 so I thought I was just below the threshold of 7 pages…something went weird with the format conversion I guess.
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All good, it was perfect timing. I’d just finished reviewing it the start again, so it was a nice sneak peak at the next section. Got me curious for what comes next
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I don’t trust ereaders on that point at all! Even the percentage I get is inconsistent across devices…
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I like it so far ! One question:
3%: 細い林道があるにはある。
I think I have seen this pattern a few times already [verbにはverb(が)] but I’m still not clear on the meaning.
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I’ve only seen this pattern as some variation of Nがあるにはある, meaning that yes, technically there is N. (But…)
Edit: oh wait, I have also seen the pattern VたことはVた
I’d give it a bit longer. The first page is way harder than what comes after. The flowery language is just setting the scene.
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I think this just means something like: there exists a thin/narrow forest path in there.
N1 がある N2 is usually just a N2 containing N1.
I think I read something like this once. Took place in a company, the dialog went:
Did you heard anything/any rumors about this guy ?
聞くには聞くけど…(but only bad things)
Anyway, I found this in the Handbook of Japanese Grammar Patterns for Teachers and Learners
- V-ruにはVが
With the same verb repeated, express the meaning of "one will do it/did anyway, but it is not clear if the result will be satisfactory
- 行くには行くが、彼に会えるかどうかはわからない
- A: 明日までに完成させると約束したんですって?
B: うん。約束するにはしたけど、できるかどうか自信がないんだ。
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Ah, yes, now that you mention it, I have seen that pattern.
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Just started this read yesterday and it has been such a good experience, not far from my level of knowledge (ignore my WK level lol). Aside from new vocabulary, there are some small grammar points and sentences that I didn’t know well before, such as 〜げ (聞きたげ) to express an appearance of a verb or adjective. Hopefully I can keep it up until the end!
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