Reading Murakami Haruki's 1Q84 (Intermediate/Advanced Book)

Really? It’s pretty advanced even in English.

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Yeah, this book was hell even in English–I can’t imagine challenging in Japanese, at least not for another few years :sweat_smile:

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I took the liberty to add this club to the Master List of Book Clubs. As there was some uncertainty about its difficulty, I’ve added it to the “Advanced” section. Please feel free to move it if you feel it belongs elsewhere!

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Thanks, sounds right to me!

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Wow, time goes by so fast! I totally forgot to do a thread for chapter 8… (for some reason my calendar didn’t notify me, curse my overreliance!) I’ll get on it today, and put out chapter 9 next Saturday!

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Two new threads up today!
Book One Chapter 8: 天吾:知らないところに行って 知らない誰かに会うHaruki Murakami’s 1Q84
Book One Chapter 9: 青豆:風景が変わり、ルールが変わった Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84

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Thank you. :slight_smile:

I started on chapter 8 today, but stopped at the first break point.

Are you planning on continuing with the rest of the series? I’m preparing an order from Amazon.co.jp and will buy the next book (out of 6). I’m thinking we might want to increase the pace to a chapter a week, in which case I’d get the 3rd book as well. What do you think?

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I just checked my copies, and it turns out I have second half of book one, and the first half of book 2. So I could definitely run the book club for another 24 chapters.

I wouldn’t mind speeding up to a chapter a week, I have several other books I want to read after I finish these copies (these were the first real Japanese books I had gifted to me).

I could even post the last chapters of this book on a accelerated schedule, so I can start fresh with the second half of book 1 in the new year. Then in spring I will look into getting the rest of the series.

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I think you mentioned that it’s easier for you to prioritize reading if it’s a bit faster than our current schedule, if I remember correctly.

I don’t mind speeding up to a chapter a week. In fact I’d appreciate getting to finish the book this year… And updating bookmeter. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:
Personally I’d like to have a bit of a break week or 2 before we start the next book. How would you feel about that?

Also anyone else reading along or planning to, of course. ^^

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Yes, I wouldn’t mind speeding up… I don’t think it’s necessary to always be on track with the current thread either, I’ll read and respond to any questions that pop up in any of the threads anyway…

If we speed up right away, the last chapter thread will be up on Dec. 19. Then I’ll post chapter 13 on Jan. 9, I think.

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I’m not sure whether you know that, but this is not a series… it’s more like one long book. (Even though he broke it up into 3 books, probably to make it look less scary.)
The 上 and 下 parts are just technical splits anyways, as always (maybe they are broken up for bookbinding reasons? You should know more about that than me :laughing:), and there is no break in the story or anything.
If you’re invested into the story at all, I seriously doubt you’d manage to stop after book 1 anyways :sweat_smile: You might be able to stop after book 2, though, iirc… (But maybe not.)

I thought I’d let you know so you can maybe factor this into your shopping list :upside_down_face:

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I was aware of that, I think, but hadn’t considered what that meant - So there’s no mental break between books that would make stopping for a bit and picking the next one up at a later point easier?

Thinking out loud

In which case, I may or may not want that break, and may or may not want to just get all the books. Or maybe I’ll just get the next 3 so I have books 1 and 2 available…

At 12 chapters per book, 1 chapter a week, 2 would take not quite half a year, 3 about 8,5 months… That seems like plenty. I think I’ll be good to order some more towards the end of next year.

In any case, this sounds good to me right now! Future me will deal.

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You mean in a way that a story arc somehow comes to an end, and the next arc starts? No, it’s not like that, I’d say… (just double-checked the endings of books 1 and 2 in my German version to make sure). Some bits feel a bit like a wrap-up of sorts, but other bits feel like cliffhangers :woman_shrugging:

Curious to hear what you think about it once you get there :blush:

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Book One Chapter 10: 天吾:本物の血が流れる実物の革命 Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 is up!

And I’ve updated the schedule to reflect the change to one chapter per week.

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I just learned that there is a special Murakami sale currently going on at Bookwalker (which is 30% cashback), and I also learned that there finally seems to be an 1Q84 ebook (available from Dec 18th):

:tada:

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I want this! Probably need to (pretend to) be in Japan to buy it though, right? I’ve never used Bookwalker before.

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No, it’s totally fine wherever you are. Just enter your credit card details (paypal also seems to work, although I don’t think I ever used it) and you’re good to go. No need to enter a fake address or anything.

If you pre-order before the book (or bundle) is being released on Dec 18th, you will also get a 30% cashback (i.e. “coins” you can use on your next purchase).

If you have any questions, please feel free to ask!

Edit: Oh, just to make sure you know this: You will NOT be able to download PDFs or anything! You are required to read the books through Bookwalker’s app (which is not mind-blowing but decent imho) or through their webpage.

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Ah okay, so I can’t add it to my ebook reader, huh?

If it runs android apps you probably can?

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To make absolutely sure you can buy a free book beforehand (there’s always tons of free manga and book previews and stuff, just search for it on the home page) and then you can try it out without any cost.
(And see if you like it at all, and then decide.)

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