Not really. I might have had that problem in the past and just don’t remember, but at the same time I waited to be nearly N1 before I started reading novels…
Trying to consciously analyze what I am doing, I am parsing the sentence by block, stopping at each connection (ex て form or even just 、)
I don’t know if that’s any help for you, though 
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I also need a bit of time to adjust to the writing style of an author in the beginning. I think that’s pretty normal, and if you are not very experienced as a reader, of course you also have to cope with the general fact that text in books is quite different from text in textbooks.
For your particular sentence, this seems to be a bit of a “train-of-thought” writing style. It’s kind of like when you talk to a close friend, and you go like “and then this happened, and then that, and then I thought X, and then I would…” and so on. It’s just little bits of information that get chained onto each other, but they are not really connected, so like Naphthalene said, you can read each one individually and take in the information and then forget about the Japanese and focus on the next sentence part.
Another typical writing style is the “long-relative-clause” writing style, which I actually find much harder to parse. I remember one situation where I read a sentence that was already more than 2 columns long, and I could barely keep it in my head any more, and then I found the qualified noun 
In these cases it helped me a lot initially to read the sentences backwards, i.e. starting from the verb and then discovering the nouns and then their qualifying sentences.
Btw what book does this quote stem from?
That’s what happened to me, at least I built more stamina remembering the bits I read and building up their connection as I went, and now I’m able to read many sentences from beginning to end without a double-take.
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It’s more of a thing of the past kinda like nath said (assuming he actually experienced it and just forgot). There’s definitely a level of just raw effortless understanding of the language that you gradually build up, and that goes for understanding sentences as a whole as more and more info is presented throughout them. Since you get used to certain presentations and grammar you see often first, when a new author pulls something out you’re not used to or a syntax that isn’t effortless it can feel tougher to parse stuff. Once you get used to all the grammar, words, and syntax of various authors it gets pretty easy tho. I feel like in terms of writing style there’s not a whole lot to get used to and you just gotta get exposure to more. Then the real challenge is just the content and the vocab associated with that.
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Y-Yeah, me neither!
It does! ^^ I was indeed thinking how I’ll have to take break it off into section where I stop as needed if I have to parse something. With this author, mostly due to to what @NicoleIsEnough mentioned
The same thought struck me last night. I hadn’t really given much thought to why it felt so bumpy to read while not actually being that difficult. And I took another look at the sentence and wondered if that really need to be one sentence.
I mean… the book wasn’t that highly rated when I bought it, but I wanted to give it a try anyway. On that note:
The ジョジョ LN ゴールデンハート/ゴールデンリング.
That’s fine. It’s fine. I’m fine.
I always forget to do this, but I’ll keep that in mind if I’m particularly confused.
I think in my floundering, read-a-VN-at-mid-N4 days I struggled to even keep a short sentence in mind properly on the first read-through. 
I’ve also been reading in very short bursts, so maybe I should try for a longer reading session to get familiarised with the style.
I definitely feel like that’s the case. The style of the other VN was very straightforward and extremely easy to follow. I’m hoping to get used to this author’s style soon, since I would prefer to enjoy the book a bit more than I’m doing right now.
Yeah… 
I got really sick of SRS for a long while, but I didn’t put enough effort into solidifying new vocab in other ways, so I often feel like I’m sub-par on that front.
But due to those frustrations while I read, I’ve been very motivated lately to pick up the pace on vocab acquisition again.
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I’ve stopped reading books in my native English for this very reason. Narration sentences would run so long that by the time I reached the end of one, I’d forgotten the first two thirds of it…
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Interesting, isn’t it? This style can also be quite exhausting to me. Maybe because the bits can be really random disconnected stuff? No idea, really.
I’m sure you will be fine. I mean, it starts off with 赤いりんご and before you know it, you are used to read long qualifying sentences 
You see? You came a long way already. Now the rest is just another step!
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I didn’t mean to sound harsh or anything! I actually think (in hindsight) that it’s better to start earlier rather than later… but, I just didn’t have the mental strength to push through at earlier stages. Since my post, I have remembered various attempts I did at N3 or early N2 level and giving up after a few pages. I don’t remember ever coming across a stream-of-thought sentence like the one you posted at the time, though; my problem was always that I massively lacked vocabulary and got quickly tired of looking up everything.
So my “not really” is more related to the fact that I just didn’t even try hard enough to fail (in that specific way) 
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Phrraww, finally finished the last remaining pieces of からかい上手の高木さん (1).
I started 2021-04-29 and finished 2021-08-21, so just under 4 months, although I did have 2 surgeries over the period.
That was super fun and I learned so much breaking down every single line.
I definitely found it getting easier throughout the manga (with a few speed bumps, naturally).
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In case any of you are up for a particularly exciting challenge, I recently discovered my inability to read certain fonts and decided to spice things up to get some practice. If you wanna join in, its the KouzanBrushGyousyo font and will definitely make your reading more challenging
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Well that looks awful!
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Yes!
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I cleaned up my 読んでる page on bookmeter today, because I had three novels in progress that I hadn’t touched in various levels of quite a while. What let me 積読 them for now is that I think a part of my reading goals for 2022 will be to finish some of the things I’ve left in progress. Now the only novel listed is the one I’m actually reading: 乳と卵.
Probably because my stamina for 乳と卵 is not very high (due to relative difficulty), I’ve also been reading more manga! I finished another volume of ミステリと言う勿れ, which is good but oof can be really heavy, and I finished three volumes of スキップ・ビート in the last few days, the last of which I did in one sitting. That still takes me quite a while, so it’s something I haven’t done much–I think the last time I managed it was when I raced through the last few volumes of ハイキュー last year. As that illustrates, I’m very very much enjoying スキップ・ビート. 
And then I’ve found myself in a place where I’m reading manga aloud with people 3-4 times a week??? Three different manga, and having a great time with all of them.
Starting to learn Mandarin means I’ve also been imagining whether or not there will be a day when I do these read-aloud sessions in Mandarin too, way down the road. Is there an ABBC for Mandarin somewhere? 
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Hello everyone 
I got into the habit of reading and and am finishing my 3rd book this summer. I’m now starting 蜘蛛ですが、なにか？ vol. 7 and planning to order vol 8-10 so that they arrive by the time I finish the current volume. I feel like I’m getting much faster and also am not sure I’ll want to stick with the series (even if I do there are only 14 volumes). Which is why I’m looking for other LN series to read.
I read Konosuba but found it boring (the rare case of an anime adaptation being better than the source). I also tried reading Danmachi but found it a bit difficult. Although it was a year ago, so perhaps it won’t feel nearly as difficult now. I don’t know, I only have an ebook but I prefer to sit down with a paper book lately, so I haven’t checked it recently. I also have the first 3 Monogatari books but I kinda have little motivation to read them now.
I have 本好きの下剋上 in my sights. I’ve watched the anime, so I have an idea of what the story is like. It also seems to be pretty popular, so I’m willing to give it a try.
Which LNs would you recommend? Also, how do you find stuff you want to read? Are there any good critical sites, rankings etc?
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What kinda story are you looking for?
I find stuff I wanna read by amazon recommendations a lot of the time. I just look at the cover and read the description and see if its interesting. Other than that, I’m a part of a server where like literally everyone learns by mining books and VNs, so pretty much everyone has stuff they read and recommend. Youjitsu is the big one ive been hearing a lot about.
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I don’t really know, something not too cliche, I guess. Something new and unexpected is the best. I also like witty writing, which is why I liked Monogatari and Kumo. But overall, anything goes.
Never heard of it. I’ll check it out!
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I’ve actually thought about starting that next. It’s on sale on Bookwalker atm, too. The art is pretty cool, at least. One of the artists whose name I remember for some reason 
I think I saw a few episodes of the anime long time ago, but didn’t really finish. Definitely had some crazy twists, and the premise is quite unique.
@d-hermit Full name is ようこそ実力至上主義の教室へ if you’re wondering.
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Well, if you don’t have genre preferences, かのウワ struck me as unique for a romcom harem. I’ve only ever met one other person who read it and they loved it and felt the same way. 今夜世界からこの恋が消えても isn’t a LN and is just a normal book, but same thing. Seemed like it would be a cliched story kinda but honestly was a great take on the whole romance with memory issues thrown in. Like…a GREAT take. I can’t say much without spoiling it…but by the end you will definitely have felt like it was not the kinda story you expected.
Yeah the general recommendation btw is to read at least the first 3 volumes and then decide. Apparently the start is pretty slow for whatever reason.
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I am sold! Actually being a stand-alone book may be an advantage because stuff like this really saddens me…
I understand watching 3 episodes of an anime and spending an hour… but at my current pace reading 3 volumes would take me like 60 hours 
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Yeahhh, honestly I can ask around and maybe you can just watch the anime up until a certain point and then switch over? Some anime adaptations take from multiple volumes and aren’t in order/have scenes changed, but if youjitsu has a pretty smooth adaptation then that might be an option.
Woooo!
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Would definitely recommend. I think it’s relatively easy, so it’s probably a good fit for you since you haven’t read a ton of variety yet. I really like the main character and the story in general (I finished volume 9 recently).
Honestly, the only other LN series I’ve read more than one of and liked so far is 魔法少女育成計画, but this series is very hard, so only read now if you want a challenge.
If you’re interested in non-LN books, I’d recommend コンビニ人間 and 獣の奏者, depending on what genres you’re in the mood for.
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