I like that it seems every time we start a new book in the intermediate club there is some element that gives [insert previous book here] vibes.
In other news I finished the reading and probably have some questions but I’m too busy right now so maybe once I’m done with exams in a few days.
I read the first bit this morning and I was pretty surprised by how the bit I read was fairly easy. I guess that’s what happens when you up your studying to several hours a day of textbook study instead of just reviews from WaniKani and Memrise for an hour every morning…
I also had Haruhi vibes.
Had a 10+ hour flight and a 11+ hour car ride these past two days and am now 57% done with the book - I’ll probably read the rest before the month is out, since there’ll be 3 more travel heavy days. ^^; I’m a bit sad I won’t read this in with everyone (I’ll join the reading discord from February on though), but I think reading it faster made it more interesting?
If you’re a bit on the fence about this book, for me personally it picked up from chapter 4, so about a third of the way in.
I think we should be most impressed by the fact that JPod101 has audio for this…
http://assets.languagepod101.com/dictionary/japanese/audiomp3.php?kanji=業務上過失致死&kana=ぎょうむじょうかしつちし
Almost done with this week’s reading.
I saw a character list somewhere but I can’t find it again. Can someone be awesome and link it? I keep forgetting how to read name kanji. 
First post of the home thread.
It’s at the end of the first post of the home thread 
(Seems like I was beat to it )
Oh jees I probably skimmed over it a dozen times without noticing.
Better to ask and feel dumb than be confused forever, though. XD
Is there an echo in here? 
My book came in the other day but I’ve just now had time to get to it so I’ll be a bit behind. Read chapter 1 tonight and it wasn’t too bad – I almost got paralyzed on the first line because I couldn’t figure out what ベナレス was and what it had to do with the beginning of the book (^～^;)ゞ
It’s a city in India. Benares. Better known as Varanasi. 
Yep, I figured it out eventually – I think part of it is that I didn’t realize it was a letter and couldn’t figure out what India had to do with anything. Times like this when knowing about the material ahead of time is actually a bad thing!
A bit late but here are the promised questions. They are a bit all over the place so sorry about that.
こいつと言い争うなど、浪費もいいところだ。
I’m guessing this is an expression but I couldn’t find an explanation in English so I’m not entirely sure I get it.
「ホータローなら、帰れと言う前に自分から帰るのが本当じゃないか。無所属のホータローが放課後になにか用でもあるのかい」
I feel like I almost have it but the translation sounds weird. I understand something like ‘When it comes to Houtaro, wouldn’t you go home on your own before telling me to go?’ But according to Jisho that’s not really the meaning of 自分から and the 本当じゃない also feels a bit weird so maybe someone has some insight.
「もちろんさ、だけど、なんだってホータローが古典？ 突然国学にでも目覚めたかい」
Is this a literal waking up or more like ‘awakening, realization’? I’m leaning towards the latter but not sure.
I read it as もいい it’s more than enough/too much
+ ところだ just about to do (the thing in front)
The problem with that reading is that, as far as I know, it only works with verbs.
Basically ホータロー (I like that spelling :p) is saying that to argue with “this guy” is a higher waste of energy than he is willing to spend.
I don’t have time to look at the rest right now 
Edit: I have 5 more minutes yay.
That’s pretty much it! 本当じゃないか: isn’t it true that…, but it makes the sentence a bit verbose in English. The context is that the speaker whose name I forgot at the moment is surprised that ホータロー would be the one telling him to go home, since ホータロー would usually be gone already by the time such utterance would be relevant.
Ah and 自分から isn’t on your own. It’s “yourself first”.
That one.
I think I’ve hit my stride and I’m feeling pretty good. Just about finished page 10 so I should be caught up by tomorrow 
There’s been a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary but fortunately only a couple of places where I got stuck on the grammar.
Edit: And we’re done! On to week 2
Kind of late to the party but I’m gonna see if I can catch up.
「省エネ でも 厭世 でも いい さ。 どっち に し ても 同じ こと じゃ ない か。 道具 主義 って 知っ てる かい」
「さあ な」
「要するに だ ね。 これ といった 趣味 も なく、 この 多彩 な 部活動 の 殿堂 神山 高校 で 部活 にも 入っ て ない ホータロー は、 結果 だけ 見れ ば 灰色 そのもの だって こと だ よ」
俺 は 小さく あくび し た。 「じゃあ なに か、 殺人 も 業務上過失 致死 も 同じ か」
その 質問 に、 里志 は 全く ためらわ ず に 答える。
「ある 一面 から 見れ ば ね。 死体 が、 ああ 僕 は 過失 致死 で 死ん だ ん だ なあ、 って 納得 し て 成仏 する なら 別 だ けど」
米澤 穂信. 氷菓 「古典部」シリーズ (角川文庫) (Kindle Locations 57-63). 角川書店(角川グループパブリッシング). Kindle Edition.
I haven’t read in the last four months lmao. I’m so rusty.
Can anyone give me the overview of what they’re talking about here? I understand the first two paragraphs but then I got lost on Hotaro’s response to what Satoshi said. The context was them talking about Hotaro’s whole バラ色 life thing
What’s with the weird spacing? Has this been OCR’d?
「省エネでも厭世でもいいさ。どっちにしても同じことじゃないか。道具主義って知ってるかい」
“Whether it’s energy conservation or pessimism, it’s fine. Either way, they’re the same. Have you heard of ‘instrumentalism’?”
「さあな」
“Dunno”
「要するにだね。これといった趣味もなく、この多彩な部活動の殿堂神山高校で部活にも入ってないホータローは、結果だけ見れば灰色そのものだってことだよ」
“Well, in short, for this Houtarou who has no hobbies, and hasn’t joined a single club here at Kamiyama High, the palace of variegated club activities, however you look at it, the result is greyness itself.”
I can run through the grammar here for you, but please don’t ask me what it means. Or how it relates to instrumentalism.
俺は小さくあくびした。「じゃあなにか、殺人も業務上過失致死も同じか」
I yawned slightly. “So you’re saying that murder and death by negligence are the same?”
Straw man argument FTW
その質問に、里志は全くためらわずに答える。
Satoshi answered that question without a moment’s hesitation.
「ある一面から見ればね。死体が、ああ僕は過失致死で死んだんだなあ、って納得して成仏するなら別だけど」
“From a certain point of view. Though, for the corpse, consenting to ‘Aah, I died from negligent homicide’ so that it can reach Nirvana is a different matter.”
Uh… I think. That one’s a bit tricky.