Thanks for the grammar explanations and hints. It makes a lot more sense this way.
I really need to study grammar more.
Wow. It blows my mind how obvious the meaning of this seems to be… now that I look at it as mind の growth, but actually isn’t at all in a new language (or maybe it’s just me). 
Thanks to both of you. That shed a bright light on these sentences! <3
I can’t talk for everyone, but I am always happy to see people asking questions here in the book club threads. Many times when I see someone else’s questions I discover there were other interpretations I hadn’t thought of that make more sense than mine. Sometimes when attempting to answer questions I also discover that I don’t really understand why something means what I think it means. Many times I have to re-read grammar explanations to check that an answer I am trying to give actually makes sense, and it helps reinforce my own knowledge.
I think it is a win-win situation for everyone, the one asking the question, the ones answering the questions, and the ones reading the thread.
I agree! I love reading the thread and seeing all of the grammar explanations. Sometimes I don’t even realize my initial thoughts were way off until I read the translations suggested on here.
Really enjoying this! Thanks for all the contributions this week which have been really helpful.
Page 30
寝たよりじゃない？
寝た - slept
より - except, other than (Jisho meaning 3)
じゃない - not
Perhaps: He’s not really asleep is he?
パパのパソコンで遊ぼっかー
Something to do with playing on Dad’s computer but I’ve got no idea what’s going on at the end of the sentence (and nor does ichi.moe). Any ideas?
I believe this one is a typo. My version says 寝たふりじゃない Isn’t he pretending to sleep?.
In my understanding this is a colloquial contraction of the (volitional) form of the verb (遊ぼう) + か particle for asking a question. Shall we play on Dad’s computer?
I parsed it like this:
もう - already
10歳 - 10 years old
か… yes?
つないだ - plain past of 繋ぐ = “connected”
その手 - it’s either “that hand” or “that kind of, that way”
は - topic marker
双子 - twins
の - possessive particle
姉弟 - siblings (this wasn’t in Jisho and is normally written as 兄弟 - perhaps these kanji imply that his siblings are a younger brother and a younger sister?)
より - more than
しっかり - tightly
していて - is doing
He’s already ten years old… that connected hand is doing more tightly than his (twin) siblings
or - He’s already ten years old… his grip is tighter than the twins.
Exactly! The 兄妹 (older brother + younger sister) combination also exists.
jisho does have them both, by the way…
Aargh! Sorry, doing badly on the typos tonight! Thanks for your help both of you!
Thanks for correcting より to ふり = pretence (He’s pretending to be asleep, isn’t he?)
Now you found 姉弟 in Jisho but that was another typo (!) the original was 妹弟 which I still can’t see on Jisho, but anyway the meaning is clear, and luckily the book gave us the furigana きょうだい to help us 
Oh, good point. I don’t see that in jisho or goo. Though I guess it just follows the same pattern as 兄妹 and 姉弟…
ふりがな is magic. I don’t know what I’d have done without it in this other manga I’m reading:
ロングホームルーム
(Of course, I then had to look up “long home room”.)
The new thread is here \o/
Wow, about a week late to this week’s reading. (I did it yesterday.) Reading have taken a bit of a backseat lately. But hopefully that will change.
I really enjoyed this week’s reading and I keep being surprised at how easily I read it compared to what I expected. I think it also partly helps that I’ve gotten okay with not having perfect understanding.
Also thanks to all who asked questions. Made me realize I hadn’t quite understood everything (even the more gist-y sort of way) especially on the son father story about holding hands.
I know it’s just a typo, but just because I can’t help but fix little things like this… Satoshi is the 10 year old.
Satoshi is four years old when introduced on the first page of this week’s reading, but becomes ten during the course of the first story.
Ah ha, yes, four on page 25, and ten on page 29. Thanks for clearing that up Belthazar!
They grow up so fast, don’t they?
Page 32
In the 真似っこ chapter, Haru is painting her nails, sees Shingo and says あ, and he says どうしたの?, “what’s up?” Then Haru says …
足… 冷えちゃって… いま両手使えないから もこもこ靴下 はかせて? おねがい 
足… feet…
冷えちゃって… 冷える is to grow cold. But what is ちゃって? Is it “unfortunately”?
いま - now
両手 - both hands
使えない - can’t use
から - because
もこもこ - lumpy?? fluffy??
靴下 - socks
はかせて? - to entrust, in て form, ie, can you do it for me?
おねがい - please xxx
“my feet have got cold but right now, because I can’t use my hands, can I ask you to help with my socks? pleeeease?”
What I really don’t get is this もこもこ and how it fits into the sentence. And help much appreciated!
ちゃう is something I continue to struggle with. Hopefully someone chimes in with insight!
In the meantime, I may have to read through http://maggiesensei.com/2010/09/14/request-lesson-ちゃうちゃったchau-chatta/ again.
Who doesn’t want to wear their もこもこ (fluffy) socks when their feet are cold?
Oh, I see! Of course! “Can I ask you to help with my fluffy socks?” - she’s identifying which socks! Got it! Thank you so much! And for the link too!
Yeah, this is one of those japanese concepts that don’t have English equivalents and can take a while to get used to.
ちゃう is the informal version of てしまう. When you take a verb in て-form and add the auxiliary verb しまう, it means that the action described by the verb was accidental, and usually has some unfortunate or negative effect.
