Absolute Beginners Book Club // Now Reading: Granny Girl Hinata chan!

I updated the op a bit to show that we’re now reading the new books \o/

4 Likes

Cool. Thanks! I also tweaked it to list チーズスイートホーム in the previous books section.

2 Likes

Oh right, thank you!

2 Likes

The reading club for 10分で読める物語 二年生 started, too. Join the first story here: 10分で読める物語 二年生 Story 1 (きつねのしゃしん)

7 Likes

Going to order these books tomorrow so hopefully they come in quick

5 Likes

Ooh, I’d been wondering - how much is the shipping fee from amazon.co.jp to Germany usually?

Sorry for the off topic. :sweat_smile:

Last order was around 14€ (1700yen)

But I ordered 3 books together, so the package was a bit heavy

1 Like

Completely new to the book club and I can’t wait to dive in. Having trouble to decide what to start with, though.

Maybe I’m asking the impossible here, but I was wondering how the past and present books compare in terms of difficulty? Based on discussions I’ve seen so far, it seems to be something like:

  1. 10分で読める物語 二年生
  2. なぜ?どうして?
  3. にゃんにゃん探偵団
  4. チーズスイートホーム
  5. しろくまカフェ Vol 1

Where would 結婚しても恋してる fit in?

I would recommend going with what the book club is currently reading. I think the motivation is higher if you read along with others!

Apart from that I prefer reading “books” (like naze and nyan nyan) over mangas. But it really comes down to personal preference. The first book I’ve read was naze (I’d say I was about JLPT N5 level maybe with a little bit of N4 Knowledge) and although it was difficult in the beginning , I learned a lot in just a few weeks and later on didn’t have much trouble to read 3-4 pages every day without getting tired from looking up words and grammar. And I think reading at least one page every day for several weeks helped a lot in me passing the JLPT N4 and getting an “A” for the reading section :slight_smile:

So what I want to say is: Everything will be difficult in the beginning but it will pay off if you put in some effort! Just start reading whatever title you’re most interested in!

6 Likes

Yeah, that seems fair. I never read にゃんにゃん, but チー had a lot of baby-talk, and しろくま had a lot of puns. 10分で and なぜ?どうして? are both a little tricky to read in that they lack the kanji of higher-level books, meaning you’re trying to read solid strings of hiragana, but they’re actually aimed at kids, so I’m guessing Japanese kids wouldn’t have much issue. I’d probably peg 結婚して at somewhere in the ballpark of しろくま - though it lacks the puns, it’s definitely written in adult-level Japanese, though the fact that it’s a manga makes it easier to read than a novel or light novel. (To be precise, it’s basically Twitter posts re-written as manga.)

3 Likes

I will be reading the same book starting today. Thank you for the thread.

3 Likes

Amazon’s Global Shipping Rates can be viewed here:
https://www.amazon.co.jp/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=201910850

Make sure when shopping you check off “Eligible for International Shipping” (it’s in the column on the left) or you might be unpleasantly surprised when you get to checkout and find they won’t ship an item to your location.

3 Likes

The 10分で読める物語 二年生 reading group is now starting the second story named 半日村 !

Join us now –>–> HERE <–<–

:smiley:

2 Likes

Hi guys! I’ve set up the Kitty Detectives group I’m planning to run from late October (pretty much following just after 結婚しても愛して), which people from this club might be interested in joining.

It would make sense to me if this were effectively considered an ABC book as it follows on from the first Kitty Detectives book, so if that seems like a good idea I can add the link to the OP, but no worries if not :blush:

9 Likes

I guess it’s fine. The beginners book club had several spin-off book clubs

1 Like

I think that sounds fine.

Also, this made me wonder when we’d have the next vote for picking another book. When do we consider the current book done: when we finish the book book or the manga?

The book book’s going at a page a day, and there’s 180 pages (though some of those pages are images). It’s not gonna be done any time soon.

1 Like

Yeah, I was gonna time にゃんにゃん to follow on from the book book, but… I’m not that patient :stuck_out_tongue: still, にゃんにゃん could potentially tide the club over till then.

4 Likes

The second story of 10分で読める物語-二年生 is finished and we start the third story. Join the 10分で読める物語-二年生 book club now 10分で読める物語 二年生 Story 3 (さるじぞう)

5 Likes

Wait, so no voting for the next book/manga and we just default to Kitty Detectives? :thinking: Or is it purely a side book for the club?

Because the 結婚しても is close to ending, and it would make sense to start voting on what’s next, I guess…? xD

2 Likes