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!
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, 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!
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I’m starting to get the sense that this author is responding to specific circumstances. Is speed reading currently receiving a lot of attention in Japan?
なぜ小説は速読できないのか
I see what he’s getting at, but I disagree with the premise. IMO, in really good fiction, none of it is noise—it’s all signal!
My favorite new vocabulary word so far is たらしめる. I’m itching to find an excuse to use it in conversation.
I feel like the author is somewhat merging two separate things into his discussion of “speed reading”. I’m certainly prepared to believe that there’s a fair amount of “woo” surrounding speed reading techniques, and I definitely don’t think you can actually absorb information unconsciously by looking at the page. But there’s also quite a wide variation in how fast people read in a “normal” way – I’ve always read in English faster than many people and definitely faster than most people who aren’t regular readers. Sometimes the author seems to be arguing against the “woo” kind of speed-reading, and sometimes only against reading quickly…
They do have a speed test on their website, which scores me at 243 characters a minute. (I have a feeling I’ve encountered this test before and it has a relatively limited number of texts, so it’s not much good for repeated tries.)
Interesting! The test is here for those interested. I got 188 with the vertical reading test But I lost a few seconds figuring out how to scroll the damn thing.
I tried to take the test just to see where I’m at, but after reading the first chunk, I discovered that the arrow buttons didn’t seem to work on my browser So that’s that I guess…
(Pardon me while I take a moment to be amused by the rhyme of 速読解力.)
Huh, I didn’t even see a scrollbar! Maybe because I was looking at it on a tablet? Oh well. I guess there’s not much point in trying to measure my Japanese reading speed anyway, since it varies wildly based on subject matter.
Finally managed to finish this section - and booy the author is way too opinionated for my taste
“If you read fast you clearly have no idea what you’re reading” is not very helpful as a starting point for discussion with people who actually do read fast…
Also, what was that at the end about the newspapers? To somewhat paraphrase the author, “it’s your responsibility to educate yourself politically” and “you need to read more than one newspaper to get out of your bubble” are points I can agree to, but how does this tie into slow reading? How much time does he think ordinary people have at their hands for these things? I think maybe he is not talking about “slow” in terms of time per character, but he might be getting at “conscious reading” or “careful reading” without actually focusing on certain measurements…
Same! I favorited it in my dictionary app and wrote down the sentence to put into Anki someday.
I will say overall I am more on the same page as the author compared to others in the book club, at least when it comes to reading literature. I’ve certainly met people who talk about being a fast reader, but then didn’t remember important details in the book/didn’t process the story fully.
I am guilty of only watching YouTube/Netflix sped up, even while knowing I’d get more out of it at the normal speed so I’m open to taking in the author’s advice trying to slow down a bit and make sure I’m grasping everything rather than going for extensive reading.
I think too there is/was more of a weird speed reading trend in Japan and so he’s going in heavy-handed to try to combat that. I have no evidence this is the case though lol Maybe I’ll try asking around later
But I fully agree I don’t see why that part about newspapers was in there.
And the part about “noise” reminded me of people who talk down about the Titanic because “it’s pointless to watch a movie when you already know the ending.”
But I lost a few seconds figuring out how to scroll the damn thing.
So that’s that I guess…
I think maybe he is not talking about “slow” in terms of time per character, but he might be getting at “conscious reading” or “careful reading” without actually focusing on certain measurements…