And week 11 is here:
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And week 12:
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Thank you!! I’m having such a blast with this book club! <3
My first real deal book! <3
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Hi everyone, how is the reading going? We are 12 weeks in, 7 weeks to go and over 50% of the book remaining! The pace picked up in the last few weeks, and goes up again from here onwards. How are people feeling about the upcoming weeks?
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The reading is going better than I initially anticipated. I’m currently reading ahead and plan to finish the book in the next 1-2 weeks. I can’t wait to see/read what happens next in the story. 
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I’m really enjoying the book, but honestly I don’t expect I’m going to be able to keep up with the club now that the pace is picking up.
I’m going to do my best though 
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I love the book.
The pace was fine for me at first, but then some life stuff happened and I fell behind.
Because of the gentle pace of this club, I decided to use this book in combination with its vocabulary deck in jpdb.io for intensive reading (as in, learning every single new word). Rather than rush through it now to catch up, I am just going to continue at my own pace.
I am totally hooked on seeing those progress bars slowly marching to the right:
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I haven’t been reading much lately so I’m very behind, but from now on I’m going to focus on finishing this book! I’m thinking of following the club’s pacing starting from today (e.g., read Week 4’s reading this week even though it’s Week 12), which means I’ll eternally be behind 
but it’s better than rushing
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I’m still keeping up. Trying to read each week’s bit twice - once slowly (2-3 kindle pages a day now), and then once faster (over a weekend). I’ve found the second read really helpful to consolidate and also to increase my reading speed.
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Here is week 13:
@Micki Thanks for the initiative in asking!
From the replies it seems people are fine with the club continuing to go as scheduled, but let’s poll it to be sure:
Should the schedule change?
- No, it is fine as is. The gradual speed up is working well.
- No, but I would like a one week break next week.
- Yes, it is speeding up too quickly. I can barely (or not at all) keep up anymore.
- Yes, it is speeding up too slowly.
0
voters
I think single choice is fine for this. I suppose if “yes” is picked and it isn’t clear which option people would prefer, we can have another poll. Both “no” options will be counted together, as will “yes” choices, to determine if the schedule will change at all. After that the two options inside will be looked at.
If “yes” wins, but the split between speed up and slow down are fairly close, then another poll will be made. If “no” wins, if there are more votes for a break, a break will definitely happen, otherwise I will make a judgement call depending on how the split looks and include any people who also voted for the schedule to slow down for the break group. Perhaps also include any speed up votes for no break, but I personally think it is better to lean a bit on a break/slow down side for a club. Even one aiming to prime people for IBC.
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I’m not going to vote because I don’t want to be the cause of slowing down a schedule that seems to be working for the vast majority.
I’m very likely to fall behind, partly because I’m a slow reader, partly because (as usual 
) I’m in too many bookclubs, and partly because work has been mega busy for me lately and I’m worn out, but I’m okay with dropping back and reading on my own if/when I can’t keep up any more.
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Same. I’ve fallen behind due to not prioritising this club while being in too many.
The other thing for me is that I tried to read it previously, and fell behind, but am currently re-reading the book. However, the club has now passed the point I reached before, so I really need to get a move on!
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New week is here:
The poll was clear, people are so far happy with the schedule so we will continue as planned. Please speak up if that changes.
And to all of you who didn’t vote out of consideration for others, that is very nice of you, but the point of a vote is to learn where everyone actively reading/trying to keep up are at. One different vote wouldn’t change the result anyway, so please in the future do vote. 
If you want your vote to count less, you can still vote and then leave a message. I’d much rather you showed in the stats. If you don’t feel an option fits for you, that is different. That probably means I didn’t design the poll well enough and I’m sorry. Poll making has turned out to be both a skill and an art.
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Thank you for keeping the club going!
I probably won’t vote, because I don’t want to influence the pace of the group. I’m going to continue reading the book at my own pace, with occasional breaks for life stuff.
Suggestions for the next poll:
Make the poll anonymous to encourage more of the slower readers to vote.
Add the choice: “I have fallen behind, but I don’t want you to change the schedule.”
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Thanks for keeping us organised you are doing a great job! Did you manage to get back to reading it yourself yet?
I found the ramp up in the pace quite good these last two weeks. I think the slower pace left me tempted to read too slowly, looking up every word I don’t know, and overanalysing the grammar. I’ve flicked back to a faster style of reading, accepting some ambiguity and not grasping every nuance. I suspect that has to be the way forward for keeping up IBC pace on a regular basis.
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@nemurineko Thanks for the suggestions!
I’d like to point out that anonymity for polls is a double edged sword. I don’t know how many people avoid voting because they feel like they would stick out (and they’re unlikely to post to tell us!). But I know from experience that anonymous polls actually make organizing harder. However, I just realized maybe that is mostly with multiple choice polls. I’ll think about doing single choice polls anonymous in the future unless I have a very good reason for needing to know who voted what.
But I hope that people feel safe to vote in polls here in the book clubs. We’re all at different places in our Japanese journeys and there is no shame about any place on that path. 
I haven’t been reading anything for a couple of months at this point—in any language. So unfortunately not. I think I let reading become too much of a chore, a box to tick, and that always makes me run away even from things I enjoy. And I also made the mistake of trying to read multiple hard things at once (right before I stopped) and that is always a bad idea for me, and sometimes I convince myself this time will be different—well, clearly not this time. 
Thanks for asking, and the kind words. 
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Week 15 is here:
This is the last time a week ends in the middle of a section!
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Thank you! I’m loving this book and book club!
It’s a major milestone for me and my Japanese-learning journey! 
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Week 16 here!
After this week (so for the last three), this IBC Primer will be going at the same pace as the original IBC, so if you’re keeping up, then you’re ready for the real thing. 
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Week 17 is here.
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