I’m interested but have more books on the go than I usually would, so I’ll have to see if I can catch up/finish those first.
3 Likes
I’m interested in the book, but since I already bought the next IBC pick, I wouldn’t be able to start until that’s over.
2 Likes
Same as @eaburns, I‘m interested in the book but will be busy with the next IBC next week…and the rest of the current one I haven’t finished yet. I don’t suppose you‘d be ok with starting at any other time? Like in February or something? I might try reading two novels at once, but not if the awkward warm-up period for both starts in the same week while I‘m still struggling through the backlog of another club.
4 Likes
I’ve set up the club here as an informal one, so feel free to join whenever you like.
7 Likes
The Silent Witch club has now officially started. All welcome! 
12 Likes
Nomination post 
怪人二十面相
Author: 江戸川 乱歩
Page count: 245
Natively link: 怪人二十面相 | L29
Summary
Japanese
著者：江戸川 乱歩（1894-1965） 底本：怪人二十面相／少年探偵団 江戸川乱歩推理文庫、講談社 このコンテンツは日本国内ではパブリックドメインの作品です。印刷版からデジタル版へ変換はボランティアによって行われたものです。 おことわり: この青空文庫作品に収録されているコンテンツには、誤字脱字等の問題が含まれる場合があります。「青空文庫作業マニュアル」の指針に基づき、Amazon においてその内容を修正および改変することなく、作品のコンテンツは一字一句そのまま収録しています。報告された誤字脱字等の問題については、青空文庫に連絡させていただいておりますが、修正の是非および時期については青空文庫の意向によるため、改善しかねることがございます。あらかじめご了承ください。
English
Author: Edogawa Rampo (1894-1965) Bottom line: The Phantom with Twenty Faces / Detective Boys Edogawa Rampo mystery collection, Kodansha This content is a public domain work in Japan. Conversion from print to digital edition was done by volunteers. Notice: The contents contained in this Aozora Bunko work may contain typographical errors or other problems. In accordance with the guidelines in the Aozora Bunko Operations Manual, the content of this work has been included verbatim without modification or alteration by Amazon. We will contact Aozora Bunko regarding any reported typographical errors or omissions, but we may not be able to remedy the problem, as the decision as to whether and when to make corrections depends on Aozora Bunko’s wishes. Please understand in advance.
(Translator: DeepL)
Availability
Rakuten
CD Japan
Aozora (Free - this book is outside copyright)
Bookwalker (Free)
Downloadable epub (Free)
Amazon US
Honto
Amazon JP
Kinokuniya JP
audiobook.jp
Amazon Kindle JP
Audiobook (free):
youtube - male narrator, one long video
youtube - female narrator, playlist
Personal Opinion
This is the quote that made me really want to read the book:
I’ve read it last month and really enjoyed it! I think it’s a good pick for the Book Club, see why in the Pros.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- It’s available for free on Azora (and even an audiobook version on youtube). I didn’t find the formatting on Azora to be amazing, but I’m sure we can save the text as a text file and upload it to a better reader like https://reader.ttsu.app
- The chapters are quite short and full of action, perfect for scheduling
- Even though the book is old, it wasn’t too bad with old words or kanji forms or expressions, and unknown words were easy to lookup thanks to Yomichan (or you can also copy paste sentences directly to a machine translation)
Cons
- ? maybe something with the page counts that will need to be calculated
Pictures / Example sentences
Not pasting pictures, you can skim the whole book directly by yourself:
https://www.aozora.gr.jp/cards/001779/files/57228_58735.html
19 Likes
I found an epub on Zlibrary with proper formatting. Interestingly, the text is the same but the choice of what’s written in kanji and kana is different, as well as what gets furigana and what doesn’t:
Aozora
そのころ、東京中の町という町、家という家では、ふたり以上の人が顔をあわせさえすれば、まるでお天気のあいさつでもするように、怪人「二十面相」のうわさをしていました。
「二十面相」というのは、毎日毎日、新聞記事をにぎわしている、ふしぎな盗賊のあだ名です。その賊は二十のまったくちがった顔を持っているといわれていました。つまり、変装がとびきりじょうずなのです。
My totally legit epub
その頃、東京中の町という町、家という家では、二人以上の人が顔を合わせさえすれば、まるでお天気の
挨 拶 でもするように、怪人「二十面相」の噂をしていました。
「二十面相」というのは、毎日毎日新聞記事を賑 わしている、不思議な盗賊の渾 名 です。その賊は二十の全く違った顔を持っているといわれていました。つまり変装が飛び切り上手なのです。
I find the epub version more pleasant to read.
7 Likes
Not an expert on out of copyright stuff, but I don’t think you can get a non legit copy, by definition they are now all legit?
6 Likes
I’m not an expert either which is why I’m careful. Also in this case the edition I’ve found contains two stories: this 怪人二十面相 and also another one titled 黒蜥蜴. But I just checked and it’s also on aozora: 江戸川乱歩 黒蜥蜴
So I guess I can freely share the epub with y’all if we pick it.
5 Likes
The book description sounds interesting and I enjoy mysteries. By the way, I heard 江戸川乱歩 (Edogawa Ranpo) is a pen name he came up with, which is a play on the Japanese pronunciation of Edgar Allan Poe. I’m not sure how well-known this is, but I love this factoid…
13 Likes
This happens a lot with Aozora works. Reprints get edits and changes pretty often. You’ll even see two versions of the same work on Aozora sometimes because two different volunteers copied two different published editions of the same work. Sometimes it’s minor and sometimes it’s quite extreme (all the kanji and grammar has been modernized for example)
5 Likes
Amazon Kindle JP says Buy for Free, but it isn’t marked as Free on Natively. Another book also, 風立ちぬ.
Anyway, I got both books on Kindle and the in-built dictionaries are quite good, whether JE or JJ, though it doesn’t conjugate. I think ttsu / Yomitan deconjugates well, but it involves deDRM and good dictionary acquisition…
I have always read on Bookwalker, because of ranks and coins; but also fear of Amazon JP account will be taken down or blocked, and I don’t want to take troubles of de’d and Yomitan set up on Android tablet. That being said, DoIJG and Quartet were cleanly de’d.
I don’t find the Aozora website fit for long reading. Web app readers don’t allow selecting text. Maybe converting to epub could work, but I have never tried that…
Looking forward to testing out Kindle app’s capability.
5 Likes
If the book gets picked, I will definitely help with finding / making an epub version 
7 Likes
You can install JMdict on Kindle (no DRM/jailbreak shenanigans required) and then you have the equivalent of jisho.org accessible straight from the reader. Highly recommended. You also have jmnedict for proper names.
4 Likes
NOTE: Unfortunately the Kindle Android App does not support dictionary inflections, yielding verbs lookup practically impossible. No known workaround.
Unfortunately the Kindle iOS App seems to suffer from the same limitations regarding inflections.
5 Likes
Oh. Annoying.
2 Likes
The dictionary on a proper kindle mostly does identify verbs correctly from their conjugated form. I don’t know why the app version doesn’t, but using the app on Mac or IOS, it won’t find verbs in the dictionary most of the time. (On the other hand, if you have another dictionary app on your phone, you can copy the conjugated verb and paste into your dictionary or just a website. So doable, but an extra step)
6 Likes
If you feel like dipping your toes into somewhat longer and/or harder books, just FYI the Advanced Japanese Book Club // Now voting! // Now Reading: 風立ちぬ - #1099 by NicoleIsEnough is currently voting on their next pick! 
8 Likes
Just a quick heads up that our next poll will start on the 10th so if you want to nominate something, now is the time 
We have 10 open slots for nominations so no need to hold back 
5 Likes
ミーナの行進
Author: 小川洋子
Page count: 348 pages (but probably less than this - see below)
Natively link (level 30/31??)
Summary
Japanese
【本書の英訳『Mina’s Matchbox』が、
米『TIME』誌発表の「2024年の必読書100冊」
（THE 100 MUST-READ BOOKS OF 2024）に選出】
美しくて、かよわくて、本を愛したミーナ。
あなたとの思い出は、損なわれることがない――
ミュンヘンオリンピックの年に芦屋の洋館で育まれた、
ふたりの少女と、家族の物語。
あたたかなイラストとともに小川洋子が贈る傑作長編小説。
第42回谷崎潤一郎賞受賞作。
English
On sleepless nights, I open the matchbox and reread the story of the girl who gathered shooting stars.
After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Tomoko is sent to live for a year with her uncle in the coastal town of Ashiya. It is a year which will change her life.
The 1970s are bringing changes to Japan and her uncle’s magnificent colonial mansion opens up a new and unfamiliar world for Tomoko; its sprawling gardens are even home to a pygmy hippo the family keeps as a pet. Tomoko finds her relatives equally exotic and beguiling and her growing friendship with her cousin Mina draws her into an intoxicating world full of secret crushes and elaborate storytelling.
Rich with the magic and mystery of youth, Mina’s Matchbox is an evocative snapshot of a moment frozen in time, and a striking depiction of a family on the edge of collapse.
Praise for Mina’s Matchbox
‘I read Mina’s Matchbox like a besotted child, enraptured, never wanting it to end.’ RUTH OZEKI, author of The Book of Form and Emptiness
‘Dreamy and whimsical, Mina’s Matchbox traffics in the themes at which Ogawa always excels: memory, identity, and nostalgia’ Esquire, Best Books of the Summer
‘A conspicuously gifted writer. . . To read Ogawa is to enter a dreamlike state. . . She possesses an effortless, glassy, eerie brilliance’ Guardian
‘Evokes the secret crushes and crushing secrets of girlhood with charm and elegance’ People
‘Immersive and poignant. . . filled with wonder’ Bookpage
‘Beguiling’ New Yorker, Best Books of 2024
‘ The world Yoko Ogawa builds is quiet, warm and it should feel comforting. But there are peculiarities about the whole thing that keep you on the tips of your toes’ NPR, Best Books of 2024
Availability
Paperback: Amazon.jp | cdjapan | Amazon uk
Ebook: Kindle |
Personal Opinion
I have read (and really enjoyed) two of Ogawa’s books in English translation: the Memory Police, and the Professor and the housekeeper. The latter was read previously in the IBC and we recently read 妊娠カレンダー
妊娠カレンダー is my favourite book that I have read in Japanese, with her unique thought-provoking, humorous and poetic writing. I continued to think about the three stories in that book for several weeks after finishing it.
ミーナの行進 （みーなのこうしん） doesn’t have any Natively reviews, and looks like the Japanese version may be hard to find in print (ebooks are available) . There is a “French edition” on Amazon UK, (which appears to actually be in Japanese. Others have observed similar listings in the past and reliably inform me that they are in 日本語). [Edit: the Amazon JP store seems to have the Japanese paperback in stock now]
But the English translation was published last year and has had a lot of fantastic reviews (see the English summary above).
I’ve read the first short sample chapter on the kindle and it is both engaging and readable.
There are a few pictures (not sure how many as I haven’t bought the full book yet), so the actual total number of pages is probably 330 or fewer.
There is no Natively rating, so it is hard to gauge difficulty and reading speed. My sense from the first chapter is that this is around level 30.
Pros and Cons for the Book Club
Pros
- Written for adults
- Natively reviews of Ogawa’s style from 妊娠カレンダー “the style is very clean and not too complicated or abstract, making it rather easy to follow along…” “I’d recommend it to people just starting out reading novels in Japanese. The sentences are generally short and straightforward, most of the vocabulary common.” From the kindle sample, this seems a similar level to that book (level 31)
- There is a widely available English translation and English-language audio-book with Steven Snyder’s translation
- There is an online book club by the UK Japan Society in November this year - including Yoko Ogawa. I’m hoping that we will have maybe read the book by then!
The Japan Society - ONLINE EVENT - The Japan Society Book Club: Mina’s…
Cons
- Not that much furigana apparently (that might also be a positive)
- From the sample chapters, that includes names and place names. But if the book ends up being chosen I will make sure to create an up to date list of these (with readings) as we come across them
20 Likes