Beginner Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった // Next 葬送のフリーレン, then ウスズミの果て

Funnily, they show up as ‘currently not available’ on amazon… I think that has to do with my amazon.jp account…

But the same volumes (1-3 for NANA, 1 for ご近所物語)are free on ebookjapan as well and i actually went and read volume 1 of ご近所物語 right after we talked about it, and enjoyed it like mad!

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I finished reading ご近所物語 today (though the word ‘reading’ is a bit of a stretch). It was actually pretty hard, granted I ‘read’ it without a dictionary, so I’d definitely like to come back to it at some point. It’s fairly text heavy and my grammar is pretty rough (though I just started on Bunpro last week, so hopefully that part improves).

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Thank you so much! I haven’t yet purchased the next book - it seems the universe gave me a hint to wait until a better chance comes. Woo-hoo! :partying_face:

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Hey, I keep doing this but Attack on Titan’s first three volumes are free for Kindle on Amazon JP.

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You keep doing this D:

Are the free Kindle ebooks free as in, you get them forever? Or free until said date?

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Some are free for a limited time, and some are free permanently, however, when you buy them and have them forever on your Kindle IIRC.
I just set up a kind of list for free books, if you’re interested.

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I was going to nominate 霧のむこうのふしぎな町, but it’s a little over 200 pages…

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Perhaps gauge interest for a spin off club? I’d read it.

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Here’s a poll to gauge interest in 霧のむこうのふしぎな町. I don’t really know anything about the book. It just has good reviews and seems targeted towards a younger audience, similar to 時をかける少女 or 魔女の宅急便.

  • I’m not interested in reading this book
  • I might be interested, but would need more information
  • I’d be interested in reading it with the beginner book club, even though it’s slightly longer than the 200 page limit
  • I’d be interested in reading it with a standalone book club, at the beginner book club pace of 10 pages per week (~21 weeks)
  • I’d be interested in reading it with a standalone book club, at a pace of around 15 pages per week (~14 weeks)
  • I’d be interested in reading it with a standalone book club, at a pace of 20 pages per week or faster (~11 weeks or less)

0 voters

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I’m considering nominating Hunter X Hunter vol1. It’s fairly easy to read (except for Kurapika’s dialogue, Jesus H. Christ child please calm down you don’t need to talk so formally).
I’m also reading やがて君になる which is fairly easy but might not be everyone’s cup of tea.

Thanks for setting this up, I’d be keen to see what everyone else thinks, imo I’m never put off by the length of a book and I don’t personally see the need for a page cap, since lately we’ve been picking two choices anyway and we can always just read a little faster, but that’s just me.

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I don’t think that would be a good idea for the beginner book club. Early on, even 10 pages per week can feel like a lot. (Actually, I sometimes still feel that way, albeit with slightly harder books.)

Good to know it’s relatively easy. I’m planning to read that sometime in the next couple months. I’m probably going to buy about half the series first, and then assuming I like it I’ll buy the rest after the final volume comes out in November.

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imo, it’s probably easier than Shirokuma (which was in the ABC) and easier than a lot of other things that have been in the BBC.

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Maybe you should nominate it then. You say it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, and that’s true, but in that case they just won’t vote for it. No harm in trying.

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Thanks for the info. I heard there were 2-3 chapter left before the end, and I was curious about when was the final volume’s release date. I’m definitely reading it.

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I’ve put together a nomination already :wink: I counted the pages of text and it only has about 170 - my estimate is that it will take 16-17 weeks, which is on the long side but not unacceptable, I don’t think?

I was going to wait until we’d started One Week Friends to post it but sounds like I should just go go go!

page numbers
Chapter Pages
Chapter 1 20
Chapter 2 23.5
Chapter 3 23.5
Chapter 4 25
Chapter 5 21
Chapter 6 15.5
Chapter 7 21
Chapter 8 21.5

Total: 171

possible schedule
Week Chapter Pages
Week 1 Chapter 1 4
Week 2 Chapter 1 7
Week 3 Chapter 1 9
Week 4 Chapter 2 11
Week 5 Chapter 2 12.5
Week 6 Chapter 3 11
Week 7 Chapter 3 12.5
Week 8 Chapter 4 12
Week 9 Chapter 4 13
Week 10 Chapter 5 10
Week 11 Chapter 5 11
Week 12 Chapter 6 7
Week 13 Chapter 6 8.5
Week 14 Chapter 7 10
Week 15 Chapter 7 11
Week 16 Chapter 8 10
Week 17 Chapter 8 11.5

It’s a bit more than ten pages per week, but each page has fewer characters than 時をかける少女

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I finished vol 1 today and it’s SOOO cute! I’ll whip up a recommendation as re-reading this with people will surely fill in any blanks

Ooh aren’t you good!

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More like impatient :joy: I tend to channel my excess excitement after voting and things like that into needlessly preparing things ahead of time :sweat_smile: it’s been sitting in OneNote for weeks…

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I’ve also been holding off on nominating things I’ve read that seemed appropriate difficulty-wise for the same reason, but maybe I should then :thinking: …or maybe I shouldn’t :thinking: or maybe I should :thinking: …or maybe I shouldn’t :thinking:

Can also second that bloom into you definitely is pretty easy

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For those who are impatient AND bookwalker addicts: There is a coin top-up for the book until Monday (15.) morning (Japan time).

It already looks super-cute :slight_smile: Glad to hear that the contents keeps up with the wrapping.

Another plus is that there is a FloFlo list for it (and it states that there are only 2570 words in the book, which is even less than Time Girl). But lots of the words seem to be written in Kana, which of course leads to the occasional misparse on FloFlo, as for example:

(For those who don’t know that word yet: I’d bet significant body parts on it being 灰皿 (はいざら) - ashtray)

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Alright, at the risk of stealing @seanblue’s thunder…

霧のむこうのふしぎな町

(The Mysterious Town Beyond the Mist)

Summary

During the summer holidays, six-year-old Rina is sent on her own to stay in the village where her father stayed as a child. Getting off the train, the townspeople are only half convinced that her destination, the valley of mist, even exists. Following their uncertain directions she eventually finds her way, and her experiences over the summer with the eccentric residents help her to grow in confidence.

Winner of the 1974 Kodansha Award for New Writers of Children’s Literature.

Availability

Amazon JP | CDJapan | BookWalker | eBook Japan - click the white 試し読み button for a preview

Personal Opinion

This story apparently inspired elements of Spirited Away (the actual plot is totally different) so it might be interesting from that perspective, and it was well-received at the time of publication (admittedly a while ago!).

It’s aimed at children so might be light on kanji, but that’s hard to avoid and can actually improve your hiragana parsing ability. It also features some dialectal speech which you can see in the sample pages - this can make looking up vocab trickier, but is hopefully something we’d get used to quickly.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Interesting if minor link with Spirited Away
  • A full book that’s still short enough for this club
  • Cute illustrations!

Cons

  • It would be a longer pick; probably 16-17 weeks
  • Similar to most children’s books, it probably has light kanji usage
  • Some dialectal speech

Pictures

First Six Pages of Chapter One

Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Just right
  • Challenging
  • Impossible, even with everyone’s help
  • I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)

0 voters

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