Unfortunately one of the books got damaged And you’d think the world’s largest bookstore knows how to package books
But anyway, I’m excited to jump in! I guess I’ll start from コンビニ人間 or 氷菓 (sorry guys, I voted for it in the bookclub poll but didn’t get to it back then ).
I will leave 西尾維新 for last. I bet it’s going to be a tough read, so I need more practice before I dare tackle it. But to my advantage I’m a big fan of the Monogatari series anime, so I have all the motivation to go through the novels
It’s weird isn’t it. Usually Amazon packages the books really securely. Other times, not so much. If you email them about it they’ll probably refund the cost of that book, if you really care.
Getting a refund won’t fix the book and the price is pretty low, so it won’t make me feel better either.
I’m surprised they put the books in a soft plastic bag. They inserted a cardboard sheet for rigidity but it doesn’t protect the corners. Could be a coincidence but I’ve ordered a lot of books from Amazon (US, EU, JP) and it seems that the packaging quality is going down every year.
Maybe we can even do a book club for it. I think it should be an interesting read given all the wordplay. Could be something for the advanced book club or a standalone one.
Guess I’m doing my halfway report a bit late now that I have some time, and just finished the first volume of コノスバ! That put’s me at 4/5 in my original yearly goal, and I’m over 60% both in intermediate book club’s 夜市 and my personal book キノの旅 II. I think I’ll have to up my goal from 5 to at least 10, since soon the total is going to be 6. Maybe even push 12, since my reading speed and habits have both improved a lot ,I feel. I’m also finalizing my Master’s thesis finally (which probably would have completed a lot faster without me escaping to study Japanese all the time, oh well). Let’s see what graduating and work do to my reading.
Haven’t really been feeling the second story in Night Market, but I would feel bad about not finishing it, so I’ll try to push through somehow. Meanwhile I’m thinking about what I should start next. I’m trying to lean towards my physical books, where I’m looking at 青春ブタ野郎 and はたらく魔王さま, maybe 甘城ブリリアントパーク (ignoring book club nominations, trying to save those, Your Name plz). Then again, there is the advanced book club coming up later, as well as the 1Q84 one, so have to gauge my future workload… I guess a poll is in order.
青春ブタ野郎
はたらく魔王さま
甘城ブリリアントパーク
時をかける少女
SAO
You’re trying to read too much.
0voters
All in all I’m really been having fun with my first half-year of reading. Little by little it becomes smoother. I think people really underestimate how much you have to read even simple stuff for it to really become effortless (obv. not there yet). Though, happy I didn’t really have to look up many words at the end of Konosuba.
You’re maybe right. But sometimes reading easy stuff is good, too, just for reinforcing stuff. And strengthening my weak confidence I find in the “older” stuff there’s sometimes quite a lot of hiragana words that aren’t obvious. But I’m basing this on when I browsed through it a bit last year, guess I’ve improved quite a bit since then.
Mostly thinking if it is considered a classic and somehow feel a bit obligated to read it as a learner But if it’s not that good anyway…
I’ve read the first four volumes (and a bit of the fifth) of the 青ブタ series and the first one was pretty good! Sadly, the series just devolves into pure fan service beyond that point. I gave up at 20% through the 5th volume. With all the books the world has to offer, I don’t really see myself go and finish it either.
Well, I mean, it’s not like horribly horribly bad. It also has some interesting twists and stuff. But sometimes the story just does not progress at all, and sometimes it feels rather rushed, which left me a bit puzzled at times. Also, it’s time traveling stuff, and of course there’s logic flaws in there, but if you are ok with that and don’t expect too much in terms of quality of writing, then I would not forcibly try to talk you out of it.
(You have been warned, after all )
Curious to hear what you think about it if you decide to read it!
I’m still on week 8 so basing it on like 20 pages Some of it is also probably from the fatigue of starting a new story; moving to a new setting and characters after a nice closure.
Well, volume 12 of DanMachi is done.
That felt… uneventful. Not that nothing is happening, but I didn’t feel there was much pressure as the main character is basically OP at this point. The author pulled a One-Punch-Man and kinda increased the tension by just yeeting Bell away from the group, so that they have to fend for themselves. That was also a good occasion to showcase their full strength and the result of their training. After all those volumes of telling us that levels and stats are not everything, it’s good to see an actual improvement without level up. Still, the pressure never really felt on, since all named characters seem to have plot immunity. There were 6 expendables unnamed adventurers they saved as well, I guess they could have died, but they didn’t. Anyway, it was just “let’s survive until Bell can make it back”. And then he did. And then he won. The end.
The idea for the main antagonist was interesting, but underdeveloped. I thought he would just run away and be a constant threat for their further progression in the dungeon, but nah. I guess at this point pure fights do not generate the same level of tension, especially after the previous arc. After all, the risk was never to be killed in the last couple of volumes (well, except when it was, but anyway), it was for the group to become outcasts. It’s a lot harder to go about buying groceries when you’ve been publicly labeled an enemy of humanity. Still, the author had showed he would not hesitate to make it happen. Dying, though, not a thing.
So about that sale on the ebook - would you consider them worth 300 yen a piece? Up to and including vol 5 I suppose, because that is where the sale ends.
That’s a tough call. I guess I would consider it at that price. I remember volume 5 being fun. I think volume 4 was a bit disappointing (very short with two side stories; the first of those, as I expected at the time, became very relevant, but they still break the flow). The other three volumes were okay. (I think you read volume 1 already anyway?)
And you’d think the world’s largest bookstore knows how to package books 
).
and the price is pretty low, so it won’t make me feel better either.
I find in the “older” stuff there’s sometimes quite a lot of hiragana words that aren’t obvious. But I’m basing this on when I browsed through it a bit last year, guess I’ve improved quite a bit since then.
But if it’s not that good anyway…
