We begin week 1 today!
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Week 2 is starting today 
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It turns out the *** marks in the book are not so easy to use as ending points, so here’s a revised schedule with the end of the sentence at the end of each section :
| Title | Week (up to) | End at | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 序曲 - up to 春, second *** section | Week 1 : 15 pages | 「あなたのお陰で．．．．．」 | 61% (the novella starts at 55%) |
| 春, second *** section up to 風立ちぬ, fourth *** section | Week 2 : 17 pages | 「私は心から羞かしかった」 | 67% |
| 風立ちぬ, fourth to ninth *** section | Week 3 : 18 pages | 「うんと散歩もするよ」 | 74% |
| 風立ちぬ, ninth *** section up to 冬, 十一月二十日 | Week 4 : 16 pages | 「そんな風に感じさせるに過ぎないであろうか?」 | 81% |
| 冬, 十一月二十日 up to 死のかげの谷, 十二月五日 | Week 5 : 17 pages | 「それには少しも気がつかずにいた。…」 | 87% |
| 死のかげの谷, 十二月五日 to the end | Week 6 : 14 pages |
The percentages refer only to this edition !
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Thank you so much! I’ll update weeks 1 and 2 tonight
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Here’s the thread for week 3! A bit delayed, because I update the other club I’m running on Monday’s, and somehow I keep getting a bit lost in time with when I have to make each thread…
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Join us for the discussion on week 4:
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I’ve started reading week 5 a bit early… just to be clear about the schedule: week five should end just before the 十二月五日 paragraph/entry in 死のかげの谷. There’s also a 十二月五日 paragraph/entry in the previous section, 冬 … but they’re one year apart (冬 is written in 一九三五年, 死のかげの谷 is 一九三六年, but the year only appears in the first paragraph of each section)
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Week 5 is up everyone, and we’re getting closer to the end:
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Hope everyone is enjoying the book. I didn’t even finish two pages before I decided I’d rather take it easy with the intermediate book club. 
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Yeah, I kinda did the same. Read roughly the first two sections before going “yeah, I do not have the energy for this…”
Don’t tell anyone.
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It’s definitely hard. I actually read it a first time, too quickly, in January, and am rereading it at the club’s pace : it gets better the second time around !
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If it helps, it does get a bit easier to read with every week 
It is definitely a very different read from Silent Witch though, and reading both can be a bit challenging due to the pace
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I think it definitely needs the slow pacing we’ve given it, both because the language isn’t easy (the author loves long descriptive sentences with lots of subclauses and parentheticals), and because the subject matter isn’t something I want to read in big chunks at a time. I don’t know if “enjoying” is the word I’d pick, but I am finding it interesting and sometimes thought provoking.
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My thoughts exactly. I wouldn’t usually read this type of book, and considering both the pacing and the subject of the story, enjoying would be a… strong word. But it’s definitely interesting, and I appreciate it’s also not a super long read (I’d probably drop it if that were the case).
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I enjoyed the book, though picking up without that much clue and wouldn’t choose without the club. I like the descriptive language and got attracted to that, but at the same time, long sentences and big paragraphs are eventually tiring to parse – and so I find the club pacing on the fast side, as expected of ABC.
Another thing is, I find it hard to completely parse the sentences and understand the paragraphs well enough… The club helps by discussing.
I don’t find it getting easier by the week. Some weeks could be on a harder side.
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I was able to keep up for the first two weeks, but after that a mix of difficulty, pace, and unexpected busy life stuff got in the way 
But I do still want to read it!! I think I’ll build start again with a really easy, like one page a day, goal. And then read the threads to get more context :))
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