Intermediate Japanese Book Club // Now Reading: セーラー服と機関銃

Give the there has been some talk of delaying the start of コンビニ人間. Would it be a good idea to delay it until the weekend of the JLPT? So start on July 7th?

1 Like

Well, for me that would be perfect and something to look forward to in my „life after the JLPT“. But I really don’t want to influence that decision since I’m not sure how actively I could contribute.

2 Likes

I’m also taking the JLPT in July so am happy with starting it that weekend. It would still have us finishing earlier than Haruhi so won’t delay the next book.

2 Likes

I’m not taking the JLPT, but I would also be in favor of staggering them.

5 Likes

Seems like everyone likes the schedule. Maybe you should make a poll in the home thread about when to start. Haruhi is starting on June 22nd, so probably want to include options to start June 22nd, June 29th, and July 6th (because of the JLPT date). Maybe also ask if people want to start on a Saturday or another day? I don’t know if that really matters though.

3 Likes

The Home Thread for コンビニ人間 is finally here!

Please check out the poll on the third post to finally decide on the starting date

And if you see any mistakes do point them out so I can fix them as soon as possible.

Whew this was my first time making a thread, making a poll and making a Book Club thread, so intense.

7 Likes

It seems like my copy of コンビニ人間 and some other stuff arrived today. Since some other people occasionally have posted pictures of their new books, I shall do the same.

I have a bad habit of buying other random books I’ve seen people mention on the forums whenever I order a book for the book club, even if I already have some unread stuff

13 Likes

Re: Zero seems like a hassle to read. I just get the feeling that the author would use complex language for some reason (could be completely wrong obviously).

4 Likes

I am also planning to read Re zero but only when my japanese will get better. Like Seanblue said looks complicated

5 Likes

Judging from a quick glance at the first few pages and a few random ones, it seems a bit harder than most of the book club nominations, but not much harder.(keep in mind that it’s possible I happened to look at particularly easy or hard pages though, so my assessment may not be 100% accurate).

1 Like

Isn’t that just an artifact from the fact it’s isekai? That kind of books use a completely different range of words than say slice of life.
I guess that doesn’t make it any easier at first, but you get used to those quite quickly I think.
Now, you have books that are both isekai and use hard vocab, like 図書館の魔女.

2 Likes

I haven’t really read any isekai books, so I have absolutely no idea if it’s hard because it uses vocab I’m not used to or for other reasons or how hard it is compared to other isekai stuff, to be honest. All I can say is that it seems harder to me.

(If I do end up getting used to it quickly though, then that seems like it would be a good thing)

1 Like

Excited to see someone mention 図書館の魔女! How much have you read?

It is such a slog for me. Not only does the author use a bunch of unusual vocab, but his writing style is really hard for me to understand at times. I enjoy it a lot once I do decipher the text, though. :blush:

I’ve attempted reading it twice now, but haven’t gotten further than about 40 pages yet.

P.S. I think it’s more fantasy than isekai, unless there’s a bus accident that happens after page 40 that I don’t know about. :stuck_out_tongue:

1 Like

Ah, maybe I just don’t understand what isekai is. I thought it was basically the same as fantasy :thinking:
Yes, there’s a ton of made up words and a larger ton of real, but weird words. Fun for the whole family.
I read the first volume and it was indeed a slog. The story kinda picks up in the middle when you can feel there’s some politics drama going on, but then it stops. I haven’t any plan to read the rest 爾後イアムインデ.

1 Like

Generally it means the main character is transported from the real world (i.e. Japan) into a fantasy world, most commonly through reincarnation. This mainly started since light novel authors needed a way to have a boring relatable main character.

I think isekai would classify as a subgenre of fantasy.

6 Likes

No, isekai requires that the protagonist be a person from (usually) modern-day Japan who has been somehow transported to a fantasy world.

Always a fantasy world though, for some reason. Never a sci-fi world. Or… a Spider-verse?

I’m a little bit over the whole genre, personally.

5 Likes

Just gonna say After the Quake is great. Love Haruki Murakami. :heart:

4 Likes

And another post!

I think I said in the poll I’ll lean towards Haruhi, but now I’m waffling pretty hard between the two. I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with both. orz

2 Likes

I can relate. I really want to read Haruhi and probably will still prioritize it at first. But if it ends up being really hard or time consuming that could change.

3 Likes

I am still waiting for my 神の子どもたちはみな踊る to arrive. I am really looking forward to it! :no_mouth::turtle:

5 Likes