Welcome to the first Children’s Novel Club pick: Ghost Story in the Library / 図書室の怪談!
Start date: October 11th
Join the Children’s Novel Club here! 
Summary - Japanese
「本の怪談」の緑川聖司がおくる、図書室で出会う"呪われた本"を巡るホラー新シリーズ！ 大樹は、いじめられていたクラスメイトをかばったことで、自分がいじめの対象に。ある日、図書室で見つけた「悪魔の本」を読み始めると、周囲でおかしなことが起こり始めるーー。大樹の周辺に現れる女の子、幼馴染、謎の青年、神主さんはそれぞれ秘密がありそうで、真実を言っているのは誰なのか、大樹は呪われた本から逃れられるのか!
Summary - English
Seiji Midorikawa, author of “Book Ghost Stories,” presents a new horror series revolving around a “cursed book” encountered in the library! Taiki becomes the target of bullying after defending a classmate who was being bullied. One day, he starts reading the “Devil’s Book” he found in the library, and strange things begin happening around him… The girl appearing around Taiki, his childhood friend, the mysterious young man, and the shrine priest all seem to have secrets. Who is telling the truth? Can Taiki escape the cursed book?!
(Translator: DeepL)
How it works
We create a reading schedule with a set number of pages to work through each week. Each week, we create a new discussion thread for that week’s reading. In those threads, we discuss everything from vocabulary and grammar to the characters and story.
How do I join in?
- Get yourself a copy of the book (see “Where to purchase” below)
- Click on the participation poll below to let us know you’re planning to join in
- Set this thread to “watching” so you get updates on the group (go just past the last post in this thread, click on the grey box that says “normal” or “tracking” and change this to “watching”)
Where to purchase
Physical: Amazon JP | CDJapan
Digital: Bookwalker (affiliate link)
Reading Schedule
| Week | Start Date | Ending Point | Pages w/text | Chapters |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Oct 11 | End of chapter | ~12 | 悪魔の本 |
| Week 2 | Oct 18 | End of story | ~11 | 四時四十分の怪談 |
| Week 3 | Oct 25 | End of chapter | ~10 | 四時四十分の怪談 part 2 |
| Week 4 | Nov 1 | End of story | ~9 | テケテケさま |
| Week 5 | Nov 8 | End of chapter | ~9 | テケテケさま part 2 |
| Week 6 | Nov 15 | End of story (黒い人) | ~12 | 白い人 and 黒い人 |
| Week 7 | Nov 22 | End of chapter | ~9 | 黒い人 |
| Week 8 | Nov 29 | End of chapter | ~15 | 怪談系 |
| Week 9 | Dec 6 | End of chapter | ~11 | ヤツルギさま |
| Week 10 | Dec 13 | End of story | ~12 | 丑の刻参り |
| Week 11 | Dec 20 | End of chapter | ~9 | 丑の刻参り |
| Week 12 | Dec 27 | End of story (呪いのDVD) | ~13 | 肝試し and 呪いのDVD |
| Week 13 | Jan 3 | Middle of chapter | ~12 | 呪いのDVD |
| Week 14 | Jan 10 | End of chapter | ~13 | 呪いのDVD |
| Week 15 | Jan 17 | End of chapter (路上ライブ) | ~17 | 赤い靴 and 路上ライブ |
| Week 16 | Jan 24 | End of chapter (山道) | ~16 | 長い廊下 and 山道 |
| Week 17 | Jan 31 | End of chapter (首無し) | ~20 | おばあさん and 首無しライダー |
| Week 18 | Feb 7 | End of book | ~26 | 悪魔の契約 |
Resources and Links
- Jisho is a popular online Japanese-English dictionary.
- ichi.moe is a tool for parsing out sentences. You can type/paste in a whole sentence, and it will try to break it down into individual parts.
Discussion Rules
- Please use spoiler tags for events in the current chapter(s) and refrain from discussing content in future chapters.
- When asking for help, please mention the chapter and page number.
- Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even if they initially seem embarrassing. All of us are here to learn.
- To you lurkers out there: Join the conversation; it’s fun!
Membership
Will you be reading with us?
- Yes
- I’m reading at my own pace
- Maybe
- Not this time
- What is “book”?
Which version will you be reading?
- Digital
- Physical
