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

I’m joking :wink:
I embrace my enjoyment of trash entertainment

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well I voted for it :unamused:

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Fair enough :wink: Don’t get me wrong, I have quite a history of reading trash, but sometimes I think a change might be nice, so I’m reaching for the stars here.

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Nice selection. I somehow never even read this in English, though I feel like most of the folks around me did when it came out. I have とかげ on the shelf and had been thinking to read that sooner than later.

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I’d been thinking about nominating this one so…nice.

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I think I need to draw a hard line for myself that I can’t buy any more books until I read a few of the ones I already own. I now own 8 books that I haven’t read.

For those curious
  • ペンギン・ハイウェイ (Tsubasa Bunko version, unfortunately)
  • 涼宮ハルヒの憂鬱
  • 魔法少女育成計画
  • 霧の向こうの不思議な町
  • 人類は衰退しました
  • てきのかなた
  • 獣の奏者 (books 1 and 2)
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It’s still a few weeks until we’ll start reading the new pick - you can do it :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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I’m hoping 霧の向こうの不思議な町 will win in beginner book club, and then I’ll be pushing for 魔法少女育成計画 here in intermediate book club. Those are the two I plan to read next regardless of if they win.

I have to admit I’m oddly passionate about a good opening line. When I see something like “The sun peaked over the hills as…” I want to instantly close a book.
So 私がこの世で一番好きな場所は台所だと思う makes me smile. Nice. Gets you right into the book.
I like that about Haruhi too, though it’s not as short and so not as punchy. I still think
サンタクロースをいつまで信じていたなんてことはたわもない世間話にもならないくらいのどうでもいいような話だが、それでも俺がいつまでサンタなどとういう想像上の赤服じーさんを信じていたかと言うとこれは確信を持って言えるが最初から信じてなどいなかった
Is a nice opener.

Incidentally my favorite opening line of a book (though Dickens has an obviously more famous one…) is “Marley was dead, to begin with.”
:kissing_heart: :ok_hand:Perfect.

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When I was shopping for books in Japan, I took it as a good sign when I could fully understand the first sentence - and when it was a catchy one, that was a double bonus indeed :wink:

Another intro sentence I liked from one of my new books is this: 飛行機の音ではなかった。
Sucks me into the story straight away!

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:astonished:

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@Naphthalene You came up today during book club read aloud. :stuck_out_tongue:

We were talking about the current nominations since someone asked when voting would happen. And when I got to 紅霞後宮物語 someone said you’d already read it. How did you like it in the end? Unless you want to join in next weekend and tell us on the call. :wink:

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It was really good! I have written a short review of it in the 多読 thread; I’ll try to find it later.

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Thanks. I tried to look for it earlier, but couldn’t find it for some reason.

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Since there was some talk about opening lines a while ago, it feels appropriate to mention that I like the opening lines for a book I bought recently. Namely,

“一度だけ、本物の流れ星を見たことがある。旅行先ではなく、自分の部屋の窓からだ。” from SAO Progressive. I don’t know if it’s all that amazing, but it’s better than the ones in most other books I have so it kind of stood out to me. It’s also the only part I’ve read of the book so far, so I have no idea about if the rest of it is any good or not. It just made me think of the discussion about opening lines in this topic, that’s all :slight_smile:

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Just in case, here’s the post I had in mind.
As mentioned, I really liked the book and plan to keep reading this series as soon as I am done with my current pile of misc unread stuff (only two book left!)
If by chance the book is picked by the club, I will of course participate in the discussion threads as well.

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(+ the rest of 放浪息子 :wink:)

I have a feeling it won’t win. :sweat_smile:

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Oh well, that’s fine too :man_shrugging:

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Putting in my two bits here for this manga, the first two volumes of which are free on bookwalker till the 8th!

its so interesting!

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ブギーポップは笑わない

Summary

Japanese

君には夢があるかい? 残念ながら、ぼくにはそんなものはない。でもこの物語に出てくる少年少女達は、みんなそれなりに願いを持って、それが叶えられずウジウジしたり、あるいは完全に開き直って目標に突き進んだり、また自分の望みというのがなんなのかわからなかったり、叶うはずのない願いと知っていたり、その姿勢の無意識の前向きさで知らずに他人に勇気を与えたりしている。 これはバラバラな話だ。かなり不気味で、少し悲しい話だ。――え? ぼくかい? ぼくの名は"ブギーポップ"

English(taken from US amazon, not an actual translation of japanese summary)

Who am I? My name is Boogiepop…

There is an urban legend that children tell about a shinigami that can release people from the pain they are suffering. This “Angel of Death” has a name–Boogiepop. And the legends are true. Boogiepop is real. When a rash of disappearances involving female students breaks out at Shinyo Academy, the police and faculty assume they just have a bunch of runaways on their hands. Yet Nagi Kirima knows better. Something mysterious and foul is afoot. Is it Boogiepop or something even more sinister…?

Availability

Amazon
Bookwalker

Personal Opinion

I was interested in the anime adaption but never got around to watching it, so I figured I’d check out the actual book instead. After reading the sample pages, I thought they were at a level that may be appropriate for the book club, and the story seemed somewhat interesting, so that’s why I’m nominating it. It has both an anime adaption and a live-action film based on it, and it was supposedly a fairly big inspiration for at least a few other somewhat successful light novel series(If I recall correctly, Baccano and the Monogatari series would be two examples), so it also seems to be pretty well-liked.

Pros and Cons for the Book Club

Pros

  • Has pages, 296 of them
  • Nearly no furigana, at least judging by the sample pages
  • Seems to be a very influential and well-liked series

Cons

  • May be a bit long at 296 pages(according to amazon)
  • Nearly no furigana

Pictures

First Three Pages of Chapter One


Additional Pages






Difficulty Poll

How much effort would you need to read this book?

  • No effort at all
  • Minimal effort
  • Just right
  • Challenging
  • Impossible, even with everyone’s help
  • I don’t know (please click this if you’re not voting seriously)

0 voters

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