I was just checking the books on Amazon and there is now a spin-off sequel too, it seems. 僕が君の名前を呼ぶから
1 Like
Yeah, I saw that. I decided to not read it though.
1 Like
Ahh, I so wanted to check out those movies (I think I first heard about them on Crunchyroll news)! Alas, not living in Japan currently.
@seanblue I would be up for reading whichever you would recommend more
5 Likes
西の魔女が死んだ
Author:
Page count: 226 (Bookwalker says 177)
Natively: 西の魔女が死んだ | L27
Summary
Japanese
二度と再び、まいの世界が元に戻ることはなかった。
学校に足が向かなくなった少女が、大好きな祖母から受けた魔女の手ほどき。何事も自分で決めるのが、魔女修行の肝心かなめで……。
English (tl by me)
Mai, a girl who just couldn’t bring herself to go to her new school, spent a month or so under the care of her favourite grandmother—secretly the Witch of the West—as the seasons changed to summer. During her stay Mai undergoes training to be a witch. But her training is not quite what she expected…The Witch has her learn that she must decide things for herself, and take her happiness into her own hands.
Availability
Amazon jp (also has kindle version)
Bookwalker eBook
Personal Opinion
This was my first (non-manga) book that I actually managed to finish. I think the biggest reason for this was that it is really easy to follow what is going on, even if you don’t understand (or want to bother looking up) all the words. It’s a sweet story basically about a girl hanging out with her grandma in the countryside who turns out to be a witch. Somewhat Ghibli vibes. I’m eager to give it another read.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Easy to follow (written for a younger audience?)
- Good amount of furigana; all the difficult words have, but not so much that you don’t get to practice your kanji reading knowledge
- Has at least one recommendation to the book club from another WK member! [2022] 多読/extensive reading challenge - #975 by NathaLire
- 新潮文庫 best 文庫
Cons
- Not very eventful story (but not uninteresting! idk, some may find it boring)
Pictures
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
7 Likes
The beginner book club is currently voting on what to read next. If you want to read something a bit easier head over there to participate!
5 Likes
小説 はたらく細胞
Author: 時海 結以 (著), 清水 茜 (原著)
Page count: 176
Natively: Manga version is rated L29
Summary
Japanese
体内をめぐって酸素お届けしている赤血球(主人公)は、方向音痴。侵入した細菌を駆除するのは、クールで強い白血球(好中球)。大ベストセラーの体内細胞擬人化漫画『はたらく細胞』が小説で楽しめる!
累計150万部を超えるベストセラーとなった体内細胞擬人化漫画、『はたらく細胞』。その数一人あたり、およそ37兆個。細胞の数だけ仕事（ドラマ）がある！そのおもしろさをぎゅーっと詰め込んだ小説ができました！
English
Auto-translated: The red blood cell (protagonist) that delivers oxygen around the body has no sense of direction. It is cool and strong white blood cells (neutrophils) to get rid of invading bacteria. You can enjoy the best-selling in-body cell anthropomorphic manga “Cells at Work” in a novel!
It became a bestseller with a total of more than 1.5 million copies. Internal cell anthropomorphic manga, “Cells at Work”. There are about 37 trillion per person. There is as much work (drama) as the number of cells! I made a novel packed with that fun!
Availability
Amazon JP including Kindle edition
Publisher Kodansha has links to many online bookstores and e-book options
Personal Opinion
ABBC is reading manga version. It is a very fun read! ABBC nomination post for reference.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- It is quite scientifically accurate! With proper vocabulary!
Cons
- Some biology and immunology words if you are not into them
Pictures
Both Amazon and Kodansha links above have preview.
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
3 Likes
パレード
Author: 吉田 修一
Page count: 282
Natively:パレード | L30?? (not graded yet)
Summary
Japanese
都内の2LDKマンションに暮らす男女4人の若者達。「上辺だけの付き合い？ 私にはそれくらいが丁度いい」。それぞれが不安や焦燥感を抱えながらも、“本当の自分”を装うことで優しく怠惰に続く共同生活。そこに男娼をするサトルが加わり、徐々に小さな波紋が広がり始め…。発売直後から各紙誌の絶賛を浴びた、第15回山本周五郎賞受賞作。
English
In a crowded two-bedroom apartment in Tokyo, four Japanese twenty-somethings are waiting for their lives to begin. They have come from all over Japan, bringing with them dreams of success and romance, but life isn’t exactly going as planned. Kotomi waits by the phone for a boyfriend who never calls, Ryosuke is sleeping with his best friend’s girlfriend, and Mirai’s drinking has become a serious problem. Only Naoki, an aspiring filmmaker and the glue that keeps them all together, seems to be on the right track. Meanwhile, their next door neighbors are up to something suspicious, and a mysterious attacker is terrorizing the neighborhood.
When a homeless teenager suddenly appears, his arrival sets off a chain of events that will bring to light dark secrets the tenants of Apt. 401 have kept from one another—and from themselves. Parade—from Shuichi Yoshida (“Japan’s Stieg Larsson” —The Wall Street Journal), the wildly popular author of Villain—is a shocking story of life in the big city.
Availability
Amazon paperback
Amazon Ebook
Bookwalker
Personal Opinion
I was idly browsing for Japanese crime fiction recommendations and I happened upon this in translation. It looked interesting, so I got it when it was on offer on Bookwalker, but haven’t read it yet. Apparently it’s not really a crime novel, although there is some tension, but rather a portrayal of the lives of a group of youths sharing an apartment in Tokyo. We get to see the points of view of all the roommates, which is always an interesting approach for me.
The author has won the 山本周五郎 award, a literary award given to novels and literary works with excellent storytelling, for this book, and the Akutagawa prize for another book of his, パーク・ライフ.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Award winning book and author
- Multiple points of view
- Good character portrayals and tension (reportedly)
- It’s been translated into English (and Italian, possibly other languages too?)
Cons
- Although it is framed as a crime novel, some reviews complained that it was more slice-of-life and led nowhere. (this may also be a pro of course)
- The situations described may be a little outdated, according to reviews. For what it’s worth, the book was written in 2002. (which still feels like last year to me, but that’s neither here nor there)
- I’m not sure about any content warnings. I haven’t seen any mentioned in reviews but I haven’t searched too deeply.
Pictures
You can read the first 26 pages on Bookwalker.
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
6 Likes
掏摸
Author:中村文則
Page count:192
Natively:掏摸(スリ) | L30??
Summary
Japanese
お前は、運命を信じるか?東京を仕事場にする天才スリ師。彼のターゲットはわかりやすい裕福者たち。ある日、彼は「最悪」の男と再会する。男の名は木崎―かつて一度だけ、仕事を共にしたことのある、闇社会に生きる男。木崎はある仕事を依頼してきた。「これから三つの仕事をこなせ。失敗すれば、お前を殺す。もし逃げれば…最近、お前が親しくしている子供を殺す」その瞬間、木崎は彼にとって、絶対的な運命の支配者となった。悪の快感に溺れた芥川賞作家が、圧倒的な緊迫感とディティールで描く、著者最高傑作にして驚愕の話題作。
English
The Thief is a seasoned pickpocket. Anonymous in his tailored suit, he weaves in and out of Tokyo crowds, stealing wallets from strangers so smoothly sometimes he doesn’t even remember the snatch. Most people are just a blur to him, nameless faces from whom he chooses his victims. He has no family, no friends, no connections… But he does have a past, which finally catches up with him when Ishikawa, his first partner, reappears in his life, and offers him a job he can’t refuse. It’s an easy job: tie up an old rich man, steal the contents of the safe. No one gets hurt. Only the day after the job does he learn that the old man was a prominent politician, and that he was brutally killed after the robbery. And now the Thief is caught in a tangle even he might not be able to escape.
Availability
Amazon paperback
Amazon ebook
Bookwalker
Personal Opinion
Another book that I grabbed because it was on offer and looked interesting. It has won the Kenzaburo Oe award, and the author has also won the Akutagawa Prize for his book 土の中の子供. It’s been translated into English and seems to have been well received.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- On the short side.
- Translated into English.
- Suspense and good characterization (reportedly)
Cons
- None that I’m aware of
Pictures
Sample on Amazon
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
8 Likes
Fascinating. I read the Japanese summary first and there was like nearly nothing to go on what this book will be about. Then I opened the English summary and it on the other hand seems to spill nearly all plot points right then and there.
Fascinating to see how the summaries differ with the languages so much, trying to draw the respective readers in…
The other book has this in a lesser form as well. The first part is pretty similar, but the details they choose to describe are soo different.
5 Likes
I actually hesitated posting the English summary in case it was too spoilery. But surely, they can’t be revealing everything? The Japanese summaries on the other hand are way too vague (and some versions were even vaguer). I’ve seen it in other books as well, it’s like the Japanese either get their information from elsewhere, or just pick books semi-blindly, wanting to be surprised as much as possible.
4 Likes
Or, if y’all are looking for something a bit harder, you can have a look at the Advanced Book Club!
6 Likes
What’s the cutoff for making nominations? I can write one up for the book I previously mentioned, but won’t have time until Monday.
2 Likes
Monday is totally fine. I am thinking of starting the poll on Jan 2nd, so even if you get delayed for some reason, you should still be able to get your book in.
Curious to see what you are planning to nominate!
5 Likes
MrGeneric already mentioned the title of the book(s) behind spoiler tags above if you want to know sooner. 
3 Likes
少年と犬
Author: 馳 星周
Page count: 308
Natively: L30??
Summary
Japanese
傷つき、悩み、惑う人びとに寄り添っていたのは、一匹の犬だった――。2011年秋、仙台。震災で職を失った和正は、認知症の母とその母を介護する姉の生活を支えようと、犯罪まがいの仕事をしていた。ある日和正は、コンビニで、ガリガリに痩せた野良犬を拾う。多聞という名らしいその犬は賢く、和正はすぐに魅了された。その直後、和正はさらにギャラのいい窃盗団の運転手役の仕事を依頼され、金のために引き受けることに。そして多聞を同行させると仕事はうまくいき、多聞は和正の「守り神」になった。だが、多聞はいつもなぜか南の方角に顔を向けていた。多聞は何を求め、どこに行こうとしているのか……犬を愛するすべての人に捧げる感涙作!
English
Auto-translated: It was a dog that was close to people who were hurt, troubled, and confused. In the fall of 2011, Sendai. Kazumasa, who lost his job in the earthquake, was working like a crime to support the life of his mother with dementia and his sister who cared for her mother. One day, Kazumasa picks up a skinny stray dog at a convenience store. The dog, which seems to be famous, was smart, and Kazumasa was immediately fascinated. Immediately after that, Kazumasa was asked to work as a driver of a more good-paid thieves and took on it for the sake of money. And when Tamon was accompanied, the work went well, and Tamon became Kazumasa’s “protective god.” However, Tamon always turned his face in the south direction for some reason. What are you looking for and where are you going… A tearful work dedicated to everyone who loves dogs!
Availability
Amazon JP including Kindle version and Audible version
Manga version just for reference
Personal Opinion
Looks interesting! And I like dogs!
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Won the Naoki Prize in 2020
Cons
- Might be cutting it close to the 350-page limit.
Pictures
Amazon link above has 40+ pages of sample.
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
4 Likes
Oh, now 
I followed that discussion but didn’t make the connection yesterday. 
4 Likes
僕が愛したすべての君へ
Author: 乙野 四方字
Page count: 253 (bunko) / 209 (kindle)
Natively: 僕が愛したすべての君へ | L30
Summary
Japanese
(From Amazon)
人々が少しだけ違う並行世界間で日常的に揺れ動いていることが実証された時代――両親の離婚を経て母親と暮らす高崎暦(たかさき・こよみ)は、地元の進学校に入学した。勉強一色の雰囲気と元からの不器用さで友人をつくれない暦だが、突然クラスメイトの瀧川和音(たきがわ・かずね)に声をかけられる。彼女は85番目の世界から移動してきており、そこでの暦と和音は恋人同士だというのだが……並行世界の自分は自分なのか?
English
(From AniList. Seems mostly accurately translated, except the last line for some reason is completely different. 
)
In a world where people regularly travel between slightly different parallel universes, Koyomi Takasaki lives with his mother after his parents’ recent divorce. Awkward and studious, he has trouble making friends at his new school, until his classmate Kazune Takigawa seeks him out. She claims that she’s moved here from another world where she and Takasaki are lovers… But could he be the one who’s actually from a parallel world?
Availability
Amazon Paperbook
Kindle
Bookwalker
Personal Opinion
I read this a few months ago and really enjoyed it. The premise is really cool and I liked the blend of sci-fi and romance. It was also a really easy read (7 days for me), so I think it should be a good difficulty for intermediate book club.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Interesting sci-fi premise
- Not too difficult
- On the shorter side
Cons
- Occasional sci-fi mumbo jumbo
- There’s a related book set in an alternate universe, but both books were released on the same day and there’s no official order to them, which is confusing. (I’m simply nominating the one I enjoyed more, but for those who decide to ultimately read both books this order may be awkward.)
Pictures
Additional Pages
Bookwalker preview or Amazon preview
I recommend reading at least the preview for the first chapter (not just the prologue) since they are a bit different.
Sorry, but I don’t feel like finding some pages with some more of the sci-fi stuff to preview.
Difficulty Poll
How much effort would you need to read this book?
- No effort at all
- Minimal effort
- Moderate effort
- Significant effort
- So much effort my head might explode
- I don’t know
0 voters
8 Likes
Some notes about this nomination:
- It’s currently half off on Amazon Kindle, and there’s some coin back on Bookwalker.
- If it wins I will not be running the book club / posting the weekly discussion threads.
- However, I will gladly help devise a schedule and find break points since I don’t need to worry about spoilers.
- If there’s interest, I’d be happy to join and run a read aloud on the Discord server.
7 Likes
Thanks all for your massive list of new proposals! I think I’ve added them all to the list in the OP (but if your nomination is not in that list, please ping me!). Also, we have three more empty slots so if anybody is still sitting on a last-minute nomination, now is the time!
Also, everybody please have a look at the new nominations and see what catches your interest. And please don’t forget to vote for the difficulty!
I will start the next poll on Monday, I think. See you then!
4 Likes
Alright, I promised you a poll since last year, so here it is!
Happy New Poll!!! 
Have a look at the List of Proposed Books section in the first post for details on each book. Every book has a difficulty associated with it (based on book club members voting, thus subjective) out of 5, where 1 means “no effort at all” and 5 means “so much effort my head might explode”. The difficulty is annotated in the poll in square brackets after the book’s name, together with the book’s level on Natively (you can find the links to Natively for all books in the first post if you want to have a look at the gradings in detail).
Do not rely solely on difficulty or Natively level when making a choice. Please have a look at nomination posts if you haven’t already.
Expected reading pace: We aim to read books at ~15 pages per week (that number might vary a bit throughout, depending on the book’s breaks and chapters). For manga, depending on difficulty and chapter length, we will probably read one to several chapters per week. The pick’s exact reading schedule will be negotiated before the book club kicks off.
Short book rule: If the first place ist taken by a pick that will take us 6 weeks or less to read, we will read the one in second place directly after it, without running a poll in between. I haven’t checked in detail, but I’d assume that this basically applies in case one of the manga wins the poll.
Start of Book Club: We will start the next book on Feb 18th (after a one-week break).
Poll duration: I will close the poll within a week (and most likely before that), whenever it looks like voting has dried up. You can choose up to 5 options.
- きらきらひかる [2.67 / L32??]
- 日本人の知らない日本語 (Manga) [2.44 / L28]
- 天気の子 [2.67 / L31]
- ガイコツ書店員本田さん (Manga) [2.45 / L32??]
- リング [2.67 / L34]
- 穴 [2 / L37]
- 人質の朗読会 [2.43 / L30??]
- 死にたいけどトッポッキは食べたい [2.8 / L30??]
- 嵐のピクニック [3 / L30??]
- 推しの子 (Manga) [2.86 / L31]
- 禎子の千羽鶴 [2.29 / L29]
- 西の魔女が死んだ [2.29 / L27]
- はたらく細胞 (Novel) [2 / L??]
- パレード [2.67 / L30??]
- 掏摸 [2 / L30??]
- 少年と犬 [2 / L30??]
- 僕が愛したすべての君へ [2.25 / L30]
0 voters
9 Likes