1. General Thoughts
I’ve read 11 books (10 in Japanese, one on Japan), ranging from 136 to 560 pages, and a couple of manga. That’s 5 more than last year, and I’m planning to finish another on until the end of the year. May was especially productive, I’ve managed to finish 4 books in a relatively short time. I didn’t read much at all from July to October, though.
I don’t know how much I improved, but I think my vocabulary proficiency increased a lot. On the other hand, I also got kinda lazy. I used to look up almost every unknown word but because I don’t read much on my computer anymore, I’m often too lazy nowadays and only look up the stuff that feels important or words I encounter recurrently. But I guess that’s a healthy process, though I’ll have to be careful not to get too comfortable.
Being able to read even more difficult books (looking at you, ジブリの教科書１９) at a decent pace without roadblocks made me more confident overall. On the other hand, we’ve been reading a book on Japanese history in one of my classes recently which uses a lot of specialized vocabulary and scholarly language. That’s definitely still a challenge. I’ve come a long way, but still have a long way to go!
Book List 2019:
☑ # 1 – 22.01.2019 (135/135): コンビニ人間
☑ # 2 – 04.02.2019 (272/272): しずかな日々
☑ # 3 – 19.02.2019 (288/288): 魔女の宅急便その４
☑ # 4 – 29.04.2019 (312/312): The Chrysanthemum and the Sword
☑ # 5 – 01.05.2019 (560/560): 獣の奏者その３
☑ # 6 – 02.05.2019 (136/136): 世界の真ん中の木
☑ # 7 – 09.05.2019 (225/225): 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん
☑ # 8 – 19.06.2019 (224/224): もう一つの「バルス」 -宮崎駿と『天空の城ラピュタ』の時代-
☑ # 9 – 27.06.2019 (184/184): ジブリの教科書１９ かぐや姫の物語
☑ #10 – 24.10.2019 (274/274): ふたりのトトロ -宮崎駿と『となりのトトロ』の時代-
☑ #11 – 11.12.2019 (140/140): キッチン
#XX – XX.XX.XXXX (128/512): 獣の奏者その４
#XX – XX.XX.XXXX ( 49/216): 夏の庭 The Friends
Manga List 2019:
☑ # 1 – ??.02.2019: ポケモンが作った男 田尻智
☑ # 2 – 28.02.2019: 星間ブリッジ ＃１
☑ # 3 – ??.03.2019: 鬼滅の刃 ＃１
☑ # 4 – 02.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃１
☑ # 5 – 02.05.2019: リューシカ・リューシカ ＃１
☑ # 6 – 03.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃２
☑ # 7 – 03.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃３
☑ # 8 – 04.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃４
☑ # 9 – 04.05.2019: 水域 ＃１
☑ #10 – 06.05.2019: 水域 ＃２
☑ #11 – 14.05.2019: 星間ブリッジ ＃２
☑ #12 – 15.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃５
☑ #13 – 16.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃６
☑ #14 – 17.05.2019: 町田君の世界 ＃７
☑ #15 – 20.05.2019: 星間ブリッジ ＃３
☑ #16 – 21.05.2019: 星間ブリッジ ＃４
2. Favorite Books
The one I enjoyed most is 佐賀のがばいばあちゃん (Saga no Gabai Baachan), one of the funniest and most heartfelt books I’ve read in my life. Read it, read it, read it!
The books on Ghibli by Hirokatsu Kihara also deserve to be mentioned! Very witty and personal, but also super informative. Really compelling to read for a Ghibli nerd like me.
As for manga, I loved 水域 by the Mushishi mangaka. Just beautiful in every way!
3. Ambitions for 2020
I’m pretty satisfied with the 2019 yields and let’s face it: Since I have many more hobbies, I’ll never only read books. So 12 books per year is already a decent number for me (before I started reading Japanese books, I was down to 1-3 books per year for a looong time, so that’s already a big improvement).
So for 2020 I want to:
- read more manga (so much good stuff out there that doesn’t get made into anime)
- read at least 10 Japanese books
- read one Murakami book
- read one older work of literature (e.g. Sōseki)
- finish the 獣の奏者 series
- start the 鹿の王 series
- continue with 魔女の宅急便 (2 books left)
- read another book on Ghibli