[2024] 多読/extensive reading challenge

Looking good! I’ve just read 1 chapter, only 284 to go (in the first 30 volumes).

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:pirate_flag:

My One Piece burnout was so bad, now I don’t even like wearing my One Piece T-shirt anymore (once a cherished souvenir from the OP floor at Tokyo Tower), but it still would be interesting to watch someone binging it, especially with

that speed :grin:

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Content should be the same. Long books that are first published as hardcover versions are often split into two (or more) volumes for the tankobon/bunkobon version. I own the hardcover version, but ended up reading the (digital) two-volume version.

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Woohoo, welcome!

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wew lads, back from my little vacation and back on the reading horse. Interestingly enough, on one of my flights I was reading a bit and the person next to me was also learning japanese and ended up asking me about how I learned. Turned out her husband is getting stationed in okinawa so shes going to be living over there for a few years.

Anyways I finished 義妹生活 1 and its pretty solid. I heard it was supposed to be wholesome, but it definitely seems like its just…not going to be that lol. Absolutely down with that as I love a juicy story with some drama.

harder material v2

I’ve also been scouring some more difficult reading materials, getting kindle samples, and even leaving the book realms and checking out what VNs have to offer (was able to find some so wack that they look like they’re written in chinese lmao). I think for the time being, the smart thing is to just buy the first volumes of series and stray away from authors that write too easily and don’t use a whole lot of new vocab/grammar. Like 平坂 読 has wrote stuff I liked, but I decided against reading his most popular series (using study time, at least) because he clearly writes in simpler ways. I’ve got enough stuff I want to read that just picking the harder stuff from that pool shouldn’t limit me really, so theres no reason not to do it. Its just the easiest temporary solution I can come up with. Of course, I already have some books purchased that I can’t refund, so I’m gonna have to finish those so as not to waste my money :upside_down_face: .

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Let’s do iiit! :joy:

I don’t have a tshirt, but other than that I experienced something similar. I think I read up to somewhere between volumes 40-50? It’s difficult to tell because I only read up to 30 by legal means. :upside_down_face:

As a series it’s really too long imo.

Anyway, I finished the first 10 volumes so far, which has reminded me about what I used to like about One Piece. I haven’t gotten tired of it yet, but who knows how long I’ll feel like keeping up this pace. 10 more chapters to go in the first arc!

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And it is done!
So far this has all been really nostalgic and fun, and I cried a couple times, haha. What can I say, I’m a sucker for well executed shounen tropes.
The pacing during this first arc is really good. The over the top character design is pulled off really nicely and everyone is so uniformly unique that it fits together really nicely.

The last time I read manga extensively was when 黒執事 was free to read, so theres a theme here. This time I can’t cheat (and there’s 3 times as many volumes), which means… I’m reading more extensively! :joy: Somehow I’m doing pretty well so far. If I finish another volume today, I’ll have made up for my late (and slow) start and will ‘only’ need to read 3 volumes a day from now on.

As long as I’m having fun, that is. :slight_smile:

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Today I finished 伯爵と妖精 15 and have thus hit my goal for the year at 30 novels! :tada:

After considering it since my last post, I’ve decided not to change anything going forward in 2021. I’m starting to think about what my reading goals might be for 2022, but for now I will loll about on my laurels and read whatever my hand reaches for.

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For those interested, all six volumes of 終末なにしてますか? 忙しいですか? 救ってもらっていいですか? are on sale on Amazon for 109 yen each. I have no idea if it’s any good (I think @Naphthalene read the first volume and said it was meh?), but I’ve had my eye on it for a while so I figured I’d buy all six given the price. The sequel series is also partially on sale, though the sale isn’t as good.

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Just the first 55%. There was an “extended preview” special on Booklive.
It was meh indeed.
At the same time, I just finished 鬼滅の刃 and found it super meh (would not have read it if someone hadn’t lend it to me) but apparently a lot of people loved that. So, I guess I just can’t really judge the quality of works aimed at a different demographic.

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Different demographics. Different interests. Someone could recommend me a mecha anime/manga that is objectively very good, and chances are I still wouldn’t like it.

Ha, oh well. Still, couldn’t resist at such a cheap price. I’ll give it a shot at some point. It’s always possible I’ll end up liking it more than you did.

Of course, I say I’ll try it at some point, but I don’t know when with my current backlog. Definitely not before I read 魔法少女育成計画 book 3 and finish the third arc of 本好きの下剋上. And I plan to read one or two regular novels in that time too. So it’s unlikely I’ll get to it this year.

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Manga check-in for 2021 so far!

A list

からかい上手の(元)高木さん (v1) probably will read more someday
のだめカンタービレ(v4) will read more someday
フルーツバスケット (v5-v6) will read more someday
美少女戦士セーラームーン (v17-v18 end) complete!
天は赤い河のほとり (v8) will read more someday
SPY×FAMILY (v6) I have 7 and have been meaning to read it…
不可解なぼくのすべてを (v1) probably will read more someday
ゆるキャン△ (v6) maybe will read more someday
からかい上手の高木さん (v15) will read the next one when it comes out
暁のヨナ (v1) probably will read more someday
よつばと! (15) will read the next one when it comes out
日常 (1) maybe will read more someday
7SEEDS (v4-v15; reread) in the middle of v16
ミステリと言う勿れ (v1-v4) in the middle of v5
スキップ・ビート! (v6-v7) in the middle of v8
魔王城でおやすみ (v2-v4) in the middle of v5

It adds up, but I haven’t been reading manga steadily this year. That’s why I wanted to give a shout-out to the little engine that could: 魔王城でおやすみ! I’ve pushed through some book club stuff, and toward the beginning of the year I was finishing up volumes I’d started back when I was reading more. Now I’m having spurts with ミステリと言う勿れ and スキップ・ビート. However, the only manga I’ve read consistently this year are 1. 7SEEDS, because I’m reading it aloud with someone else, and 2. 魔王城でおやすみ. I’ve only read three volumes, but I’ve been reading it bit by bit almost every day. Things about 魔王城でおやすみ that got it into this position despite there being other manga I’m partly through that I would rate higher overall: 1. I really enjoy reading it, 2. it doesn’t stress me out at all, and 3. the chapters are short but it feels like I read something if I read one because each has some sort of plot and comes to some sort of conclusion (vs things with short chapters but it doesn’t really feel segmented like that). What those three things mean is that when I get to the end of a chapter in my novel and it’s not so late that I must immediately turn out the light but it’s not so early that I want to start another chapter, I can spend that little amount of time with 魔王城でおやすみ. After having laughed at whatever amoral gremlin shenanigans occur, I put it down, don’t have any lingering plot thoughts or worries, and おやすみ myself. :sleeping:

... 姫 is awful and I adore her, a screenshot collection








oyasumi 8

I also want to read the next ふしぎの国のバード, but I’d like to reread from the beginning before doing so. I feel like it could be fun to read aloud with someone, so if anyone’s interested, let me know! (Discord, twitter, or here, whatever’s easiest.)

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My first list update in almost a month…I banned myself from manga again until I get caught up with novels, which means I still need to read two more in August in order to be back on track. Mistakes have been made.

But I just finished 異世界食堂 1, which has been on the backlog since the beginning of 2020 – I bought it at the same time as 氷菓, my very first novel (read with the book club right here on the forums) so it feels good to have finally polished it off.

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When I was checking out manga in English from the library, Sleepy Princess was one of a handful of like, “comforting episodic series,” I guess is how I would put it, where it didn’t vary too much volume to volume but that was the charm, because it was consistently enjoyable in the way you describe. (some others I remember being like that were I think Case Closed, Black Jack, and Kaguya-Sama, each in different ways).
I really miss that! I suppose by now my reading speed’s to the point where I could try to recapture that rather than universally trying to churn through one series at a time…

Anyway, glad you’re enjoying 魔王城でおやすみ! I agree it’s really pleasant!

That does sound fun, but I’d be shocked if my speaking ability or out-goingness would be up to the task :sweat_smile:

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Month of July 2021

Reading isn’t going so well. I want to finish my book though. I read 6 pages this month and played a bit of my game.
August will be better!

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Third arc and 32 volumes done. It feels like I’m about at the point I stopped reading, possibly. Everything feels really fresh, or like there might be a vague memory buried somewhere…

The last couple volumes did feel more like work, but maybe I shouldn’t leave so much for the last day. :upside_down_face:

I liked the very end of arc 3 quite a bit, but then the first 2 chapters of arc 4 followed and completely failed to catch my interest. Here’s hoping that changes soon.

Other than that, I’ve been catching little details here and there that I missed when I read it before or forgot since, and that is pretty cool.

Some screenshots


Much 極秘, very 秘密. :eyes:


Love his tattoo. The character’s name is Ace. :joy:


風邪ぎみ. The character introductions are full of quirks, and they often become actually relevant! I really love these details.

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How the hell are you doing that. I’ve read 3 volumes >_<

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By prioritizing all the wrong things. :see_no_evil:

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I too have just reached my goal of 24 books for the year. Realistically it was a completely arbitrary number and imma keep on reading as I was before. Its also 8am so im going to start my next book and maybe get it to 25 books for the day.

Also I don’t know if this is common knowledge, but I’ve been using this site to look for/gauge how difficult material is

Its not perfect with its own rating, but it gives you the amount of kanji used, unique words, f1 words, sentence length, and all that which makes it a bit easier to compare books with one another. You can even get decks of the words if you want, but I use koohi and really didn’t have a use for that.

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Apparently the creator of that website thinks every book in existence is a light novel.

Shame they don’t have 魔法少女育成計画. I was curious what the stats were for that (beyond the first book) compared to easier light novels like 本好きの下剋上.

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