Maybe I overlooked it in your Bookmeter list but I was thinking of this one:
Episodic narration of a boy growing up at his (extremely poor) grandmother’s after WW2. Each episode is basically some funny or otherwise remarkable event in the life of the boy or a story of what the grandma does to manage their lives. I thought it’s very lighthearted despite the dire circumstances. It’s also a series if you want more of it.
If you are ok with books aimed at younger children, I can also recommend
It’s a Bookstore-Owner-turned-Detective story. Quite funny, but of course nothing deep or serious. Also has a sequel and also a sister series called WanWan club: わんわん探偵団 (1) | L19.
If you are looking for manga I can also recommend
Art student comes to a remote place for an exchange year, adopts a dragon baby. I’ve only read the first volume so far but I thought it’s very cute.
Just finished 陰陽師, which I think I picked up after it was mentioned here somewhere. It was interesting to read some historical fiction that wasn’t set in the Edo period for once. I liked this quite a bit, but it’s very much episodic, and there’s surprisingly little character development – I think the author just wanted to tell a bunch of Heian-era ghost/demon stories. The writing style has lots of single-sentence paragraphs, so there’s a lot of blank space on each page, which makes it a faster read. There seem to be a ton of further books in the series; I may pick the next one up at some point, but there’s no rush because there’s no broader story arc that it would be continuing.
Since my last post I’ve finished 本好きの下克上 7 and 8. In the interim I got two other books from the library and started both of them after finishing 本好きの下克上 8, fully expecting 本好きの下克上 9 to come in and take over. I did start 本好きの下克上 9, but one of the books from the library is actually winning out!
So now I’m about 80 pages into 消滅, by 恩田陸 who also wrote ユージニア. I am enjoying it very much. There’s something about her writing with her multiple distinct points of view and seeing the same situation from them in different ways, with each of them having the mundane interior details of an everyday person right next to their impressions of the actual plot unfolding. I really like it. Hopefully this one will stay compelling, too.
In my scant minutes of distracted reading during the work day, I’ve tried both 聖女の魔力は万能です 2 and ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 2. With the former, I zipped through the first book, finding it just okay but also super easy to reach for and keep reading. With book two, I started out with it as a normal book before downgrading it to a scattered attention work book, and now I’m not sure I’m interested enough even for that. With the latter, I read the first book fairly slowly, or at least it felt that way. Though I enjoyed it, I (obviously) didn’t much feel compelled to read on. But since I need something to be my scattered attention work read (or else I’ll zone out and not be of much use standing there at the desk), I gave ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 2 a shot. It’s not like it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be good, it’s just that I (currently?) have no patience for it. Get out of here with all the drawn-out ellipses-filled dialogue and close description of things that will surely be important later but don’t hold my attention now. Perhaps someday I will be in the mood for a (presumably) well-written and -plotted book that moves on the slow side.
So now I don’t know what to put in the scattered spot. It can’t be too good or I get too absorbed to do my job properly, but I guess it can’t be too boring-to-me either. Maybe I’ll go back to ハリーポッター 5.
Ah, and the other paper book I got from the library was 推し、燃ゆ. I started it before 消滅 and might’ve stuck with it except that 恩田陸 came along and stole all of my attention again. However, it’s short, so I’ll probably try to fit it in after 本好きの下克上 9.
伯爵と妖精 1 keeps getting exciting and also keeps getting paused on because of schedules and energy and stuff. Hopefully we can finish it soon!! It’ll be the first time I’ve finished a novel entirely read out loud and rough-translated.
I own the audiobook, debating giving it a whirl after I tie up some of my in-progress books. Maybe can do an impromptu reading group with some of the impulsive readers…
From what I’ve heard it’s a harder read, but nothing too terrible.
I heard that too, but it was not? There’s a lot of young people slang, but it’s not terrible.
I have no clue why it’s level 37 on Natively. Feels like level ~32 to me.
The language itself isn’t that hard – it’s just that the stream-of-consciousness style of writing with long sentences/paragraphs at times makes it more challenging to follow than your average book. I personally thought it was interesting, but also weirdly exhausting.It’s definitely not a “turn you brain of and read” kind of book.
Ah, I see why people could find it more challenging, then. I actually love that kind of writing and the flows just pushes me forward effortlessly. Instead, writing style that involves shorter and more straightforward sentences is more tiring for me.
That was almost the state I was in, though Well, maybe not “off”, more like a state of flow. I just couldn’t put the book down until the end (which I found a bit disappointing, though… but that’s part of the experience, I think). That book would have been an easy 10/10 for me IF I cared about idol culture even a little. I still really enjoyed the book, though.
I’m very much the same as Naphthalene here - I adore that style of writing and find it easier to read for the same reason. It sounds a bit like おいしいごはん (which was my first book to read in one day) so I might do the same with 推し.
I suppose if there is any interest in an impromptu book club where I may read the whole thing in a day again sometime soon let me know
I keep seeing this one around, and I’m always attracted by the cover, but the subject matter (obsession with idols, right?) always turns me off.
However,
I absolutely love the stream-of-consciousness style of writing too. And the fact that the protagonist feels like she doesn’t belong, does make it look like it might be a good candidate for the ‘profoundly weird people trying desperately to be normal’ genre I seem to love reading lately.
So I guess I’m in if you are. I probably won’t pick it up on my own because idols, but I’ll be extremely easy to convince
That’s a great idea, actually. Let’s make the genre official!
Will you do the honours, since you’re the one who defined it in the first place?
(I can do it too, if you prefer.)
I thought we could compile suggestions for the genre and also list their Bookwalker/Amazon links so we can keep on top of potential discounts. I’ve added the two books that are currently being read and I’ll see what other options were discussed in the booktuber thread.
I wasn’t sure about the title. I guess it is likely to titillate and draw people in as it is, but I also feel like it should be a yojijukugo? Something like 深変試常? Feel free to nitpick and improve lol
In hindsight, I think the Murata club might have been the spiritual ancestor of this club
Technically, the object would come before the verb, so it should be 常試… but that doesn’t sound right either (it feels like a “regular exam” )
I was hoping there would be a two kanji word for “masking” (the act of matching “normal” behavior patterns on purpose; I only know カモフラージュ) in Japanese, but I can’t really find anything that makes sense out of context
Ignorant bliss 
We could collect the various ‘at your own pace’ threads there.
