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

Sorry, I wasn’t clear, by choices I meant the number of books to choose from.

I think we could always include 10 books each time, taking new pitches and fill the rest from older based on votes from last time.
And as for the multiple votes, the pitch from the basic group is to have no limit. If one person is interested in all of them they can go crazy and vote for all of them. That will not help pick a book, but show that they actually liked all the choices. That way, if a book has hardly any or no votes it can be discontinued. Though most people will probably only pick a few, how many shoudln’t be limited. There was a very good video that explained why this method gives more satisfied voters, and other pitches that made sense in the context of the group itself =)
Should there be no clear winner we can always make a second poll from the top choices, but there probably will be one even with free choice, and more clearly find one that many wants rather than what some had as their favorite (see the video if that didn’t make sense)

As for this vote, I’m fine with the current choices. If someone protests hard enough and really wish a new vote then we’ll re vote.

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Just pipe in, first thank you for putting together this poll once again and taking the time to get us set up to find our books well in advance so that there’s no delay.

As for the poll choices, I thought you gave plenty of notice for people to add what they wanted. It just sounds like there was a misunderstanding about what books were going to be included. Due to the amount of time that passed when you wrote about suggestions for new books and when you published the poll, people may have forgotten about the original list. That’s no fault of yours because we’re ultimately responsible to communicate what we like to read.

I personally have no complaints with how this situation has gone about. You summed my point of view up perfectly, so please don’t think that you have misunderstood my intentions.

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赤い悪夢 (5分後に意外な結末) has been the top vote now for a week, so I went ahead and bought it. I know it hasn’t been announced yet, but worst case scenario I have a great book to read outside the club =P

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Yup! In fact I just closed it. Do you guys want a second round this time? Results

  • Yes
  • No
0 voters

Sorry for all the annoying polls I just want to be clear. Because people got multiple votes and it was such a short list I don’t think we need a second poll, but it’s what ever you guys want.

It’s not that I want to limit the vote, I just don’t think including all those books are necessary, especially since no one will speak for them. The people who suggested them aren’t even around anymore I think.

And thank you for the appreciation, it makes pretty happy actually. :grin:

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I also just bought the kindle one, I will start reading it when I get a chance :slight_smile:
but how long until the official start time?

A long while. The current book we’re reading is split over 16 weeks and we’re only on week 3. So a good three months out. I recommend joining the current book we’re reading (it’s actually three separate stories) or find some other book to read in the meantime. We get these polls out of the way to give people plenty of time to find their books so that new book’s start date isn’t unnecessarily delayed.

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oh ok, thanks!
I may have been a bit premature then, and if it’s three stories, i guess i can start at the beginning of one of the stories :ok_hand:

Yeah, so that is a good thing about the current book AND the winner! =D
Both have multiple stories so people can come in late! How convenient! =D

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And after 2h trying i managed to buy my copy of 赤い悪夢 (5分後に意外な結末) the Kindle version. :sweat_smile::rofl::rofl:

I bought other books to read while i wait the next round to start =).

Yep, it’s pretty clear that 赤い悪夢 is the winner and that not many wants a second pool. So I’ll close that poll and update the description.
And @saiakuma and @Ell were almost done the current story, I believe there’s this week and next week, and we should be starting the next story in the current book on the 26th. Just a heads up in case you want to join in.

So everyone please go ahead and purchase your copies of 赤い悪夢, as it’s now officially the third book.

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It’s a shame I’m 85 months late here, I had a good suggestion

A sidenote for those who voted for 魔女の宅急便: The book is also currently up for voting in the beginner’s book club. So if you want to read it, head on over here and vote. :wink:

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You may leave your suggestion now if you want, and I will be sure to include it on the 4th poll once we start the 3rd book.

can someone add me to the people reading (got the book currently reading)

thanks for that! I tried to start reading from the beginning, but maybe i’d be better off just trying to read ahead because i may struggle with it

please do, as the next volume of yotsuba is winning slightly hehehe (i’d rather read things i can get digital copies of)

re: 悪夢(あくむ)i thought it was pronounced わるゆめ hehe

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Gotcha fam

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This! <3
Every vote will be loved! <3

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I’m a little confused. Wasn’t the point of separating the beginner and intermediate clubs was so that beginner book club members could choose books that were appropriate for them? I’m not saying the books in the current poll aren’t appropriate for the beginner book club, but if you have intermediate book club members voting for beginner book club books whenever they see fit doesn’t that defeat the purpose? It’s one thing to join along for a book the beginner book club members chose. It’s quite another to change the tide of a poll for the sake to read a book that some of the beginner book club members may not be able to participate in.

You do have a point. :thinking: But aren’t some people in both? And isn’t more of a level problem rather content? (I.e they’re not trying to force battle royal on them or something.)

But I totally get your point, this is important to consider. If people were to influence the vote and then not participate that would be unfair.

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I can’t speak for the ones who’ve joined both, but I don’t think it would be fair to the beginner book club members if several other intermediate book club members and I decided to vote for book we like because it wasn’t voted for in our poll. It influences the selection to be skewed toward something that may be a higher level than what was initially intended.

This was an issue that kind of bothered me in the past with some of the books we’ve read. People who weren’t entirely committed or able to read the books up for a vote influenced the choices and consequently didn’t participate in the discussions. I understand that it’s a side effect of a kanji learner’s forum’s book club, but to actively encourage people to influence a poll because it would be something they might be interested in is not something I’d appreciate if the shoe were on the other foot.

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