Happiness Volume 1 (Absolute Beginner Book Club)

[MagicalGrill]

@KuroNeko1313

I read a few of his works, English version. Including The Flowers of Evil, Inside Mari, Happiness, and Blood on the Tracks.

I read the first few volumes of Inside Mari myself recently. I completely failed to realize it’s the same author until you pointed it out - now I’m definitely looking forward to this

[msbrown]

I have the bookwalker version and I scanned the first chapter briefly. I had to zoom in a bit, but I don’t see any furigana that is difficult to make out. Resolution seems at least on par with other digital manga I’ve read.

[amygdalena]

I think I will be joining this book club. It’ll be my first ever longer read in Japanese (and first manga in maybe 12 years?) so definitely a challenge. Exciting!

[PaleDragon]

If I’m still alive and around here by then, I’ll join to motivate myself to read outside the typical graded books.

[hakulus]

Well, I’ve never read a manga before, so doing it in Japanese the first time should be fun. Hopefully I’ll be able to do it at my level (darned near absolute beginner).

[hiukan]

Just ordered a physical copy from Manga Republic
I wasn’t able to keep up with Mitsuboshi Colors, but I’d really like to (be able to) read (a) Manga(s)
Hoping the physical copy will help me keep at it

[Evymeow]

This will be my first time in the bookclub, I just ordered a physical copy. Looking forward to it!

[flaymeariver]

Just got myself the physical copy from manga republic too. This will be my first book, I’ve only dabbled in graded readers here and there, but never really got far. Aaaah I’m excited

[radieschenlisa]

This is also the first book club I participate in for me. I prefer phycial copies when it comes to manga so I just purchased the book. Even though I’ve only worked half through Genki I I’m thrilled!

[smoabby]

I’m right with you! Going to give it a try but if it’s too much too soon- that’s okay too

[KuroNeko1313]

Heads up - shipping from Manga Republic is now available in some countries (including where I am from, Canada).

You do have to pay extra for priority shipping though.

[BaradaMC]

Looking forward to reading this
I’m about halfway through Japanese For Busy People II, so hopefully I can keep up, but book club with other people is too good to miss
(an introvert’s idea of being an extrovert )
Not long until March!

[Micki]

Schedule Proposal

This one is a bit tricky to divide up. I think to stick to absolute beginner pace we are best splitting most of the chapters into two week’s reading.

The text in each chapter is not evenly split, so I’ve tried to pick a break point which roughly divides the dialogue in half, but also is a natural stopping point. I’ve indicated a very rough number of total dialogue pages for each week, counting some as only part of a page if they are quite light.

I think the last chapter is straightforward enough to read in one week and lends itself to reading all in one go.

Week	Starting	Chapter	Pages to read	Dialogue pages
Week 1	Mar 5	Chap 1 - part 1	3 -19	7
Week 2	Mar 12	Chap 1 - part 2	20-42	7
Week 3	Mar 19	Chap 2 - part 1	43-58	7
Week 4	Mar 26	Chap 2 - part 2	59-86	11
Week 5	Apr 2	Chap 3 - part 1	87-111	9
Week 6	Apr 9	Chap 3 - part 2	112-130	6
Week 7	Apr 16	Chap 4 - part 1	129-140	6
Week 8	Apr 23	Chap 4 - part 2	141-158	9
Week 9	Apr 30	Chap 5	159-189	11

Any comments let me know otherwise I’ll add this to the OP.

[Cruciarius]

Absolute beginner here.
I haven’t got it yet, but I’ve googled it a little, and this manga does not look like a text-heavy one, so I believe the amount of time given is more than enough.

[melisma]

I’m totally interested in this but worried i’m too new. Any recommendations on what level you should be to take part in this?

[Micki]

@Micki

Who should join

We’re reading this as the Absolute Beginner Book Club. This book club aims to help readers who are new to native Japanese content successfully read their first book. It will be helpful if you have completed the first volume of a beginner Japanese textbook such as Genki 1 or Japanese for Busy People. That’s around the standard required to sit JLPT N5.

If you’re not at that level yet but interested in reading along you are still very welcome to join. You might need to look up more vocab and grammar, but we try to help each other by compiling a shared vocab list and answering each other’s questions. This is probably one of the most approachable books we’ve read in the Absolute Beginner Book Club in terms of difficulty.

Welcome! Wanikani level isn’t really relevant as all the kanji have furigana. Around N5 level for grammar/vocab or better is about the right place.

[melisma]

Thank you so so much! I’ll give it a go, so excited!

[flaymeariver]

Mine from MangaRepublic already arrived yesterday! Ordered it ten days ago (to Germany). Was only held in Customs for a few hours, no import fees (declared as worth 300 yen) and in perfect condition!
They even sent a lovely note with it and some paperback covers.

Apart from being really excited to read my first book entirely in Japanese, I really want to thank you guys for that recommendation!

[yemi90]

Uhh, I’m so jealous! Still waiting for my copy from manga republic. It’s been almost a month.
Greetings from Poland

[Noctis92]

Glad to read that !
I live in France and was looking for some feedback from Europe! I’ma order my copy right now.