yeah I’m in !
2 Likes
Awesome! I also recently came across a pretty cute book. I saw the trailer for it’s movie a while ago and I wanted to see if it came out yet, well then I found out it was a book! I read the synopsis easy enough and also the first few pages of the sample, it seems like comfortable level.
ペンギン・ハイウェイ
Japanese Level: Comfortable (imo, currently level wk: 50, JLPT: N3)
Synopsis: ぼくはまだ小学校の四年生だが、もう大人に負けないほどいろいろなことを知っている。毎日きちんとノートを取るし、たくさん本を読むからだ。ある日、ぼくが住む郊外の街に、突然ペンギンたちが現れた。このおかしな事件に歯科医院のお姉さんの不思議な力が関わっていることを知ったぼくは、その謎を研究することにした──。少年が目にする世界は、毎日無限に広がっていく。第31回日本SF大賞受賞作。
The novel centers around a fourth-grader, Aoyama-kun, investigating the mysterious reason behind the suddenly appearance of penguins in his village, which is somehow related to a power from a lady working at a dental clinic.
First page:
Movie Site Has a list of characters and some details of the plot. Would be useful for reading and we can put some faces to the names.
3 Likes
that sounds cute!
1 Like
I wonder if the last line of the Japanese description (the fact the book won a certain prize) could be considered spoiler, or if it’s a known fact about the setting?
1 Like
I was reading the first page of that the other day too. I could probably read it, though not necessarily comfortably.
@Naphthalene You’re referring to the part about it being sci-fi? I knew about that already from of the anime trailer, but it seems like it would be general knowledge about the setting.
2 Likes
Yes, that’s what I was referring to.
Anyway, it’s probably good to know before picking a book 
I love that genre, but if someone cannot stand it, it’s important information to know beforehand…
1 Like
So I was referred here by someone because I was thinking of making my own reading group for a manga I’m reading. I’d like to recommend Noragami. For those that haven’t seen the anime, here’s a summary:
It’s about this poor god, his partner who can transform into a weapon to aid him in battle, and this girl stuck in between the realm of life and death and the adventures they have together. The god takes on odd jobs all around trying to save up money wherever he can. There are also evil spirits in this world which they work together on defeating.
Sorry if it’s a bit vague, I’m not too great at describing things sometimes 
There’s a much better description here.
Anyways I hope this manga will be considered.
1 Like
I’m watching the anime 
Your description is a bit spoilery but it’s not so bad, I guess.
Just one question, you are actually recommending a manga rather than a novel, right?
Yes, I have 18 volumes of it from when I got a bit too excited when I started learning Japanese haha. I’ll try to reword it to be less spoilery, like I said I’m not the best at explanations 
1 Like
Noragami is in my top 10 favorite anime list. Are we getting a season three? Do you know? I can’t find any information confirming or denying a season three.
1 Like
I’m curious what you liked about Noragami in particular. I watched the first season recently, but it wasn’t for me.
One thing that will always get me is the sound track. Danganronpa, Attack on titan(which was my second anime and I realize it wasn’t that good, but it was indeed the soundtrack that made me think so), Undertale, the Leftovers, Houseki no kuni, ect. Everything I love has a great soundtrack. I imagine it gets like +4 points (out of ten I suppose) Just for having a bomb soundtrack. And Noragmi, to me at least, has like the best of the best of soundtracks.
Next thing I like was the world building. Not to special I suppose, but it’s the first encounter I’ve had with this kind of world building. I like the many different gods and the shrines. And also how they have to find a wandering spirit to use as a weapon. And I also like the side evil spirits that try to trick people and their voices were also pretty cool. Also wanted to add it’s a nice touch that their names gets written on them, you name them all with the same vowels attached, that if they do impure things they can hurt their god, the process for purifying them, unaming them, nora’s ,ect all really cool world building elements. Edit: sorry I keep adding,0.0 but I keep remembering cool world building elements. I also liked how the people from the far shore were hard to see and could get people attention but would soon be forgotten. okay i’m done now lol.
Also it was just my type of humor, and I liked the action scenes It was the perfect mixture between humor and seriousness which I also love. (kind of like beyond the boundary. It has cute characters with colorful personalities, but they have a deeper sadder side to them. And they don’t keep the same surface personality, but have a serious and sad side to them as well). I was also intrigued by the mysteries, what’s yato’s dark past? What happened to yukine when he was alive and how did he die? Will hiryori get fixed and return to normal life? ect. Mix that all around and it holds my interest and keeps me on the edge of my seat.
So that’s all you need to get me I suppose. Good soundtrack, intro and outro, decent world building, charming 3d characters, and an interesting plot. And Really pretty animation! Which is surprisingly hard to find I suppose haha.
1 Like
Nah I have no idea, like you I can’t find anything solid, just rumors and speculations. That’s part of why I wanted to read it, instead of having to wait who knows how long for the anime, I could read the manga and get a lot more out of it.
Everyone can’t be as lucky as us Chihayafuru fans! We’re getting a season three next year. 
As a side note, Chihayafuru seemed like a relatively challenging manga if your group was interested in manga at all. But you might not get much out of just reading one volume since it’s such a long series.
1 Like
I don’t know the actual difficulty of this book, but judging from the first page you might want to recommend it to Beginner Book Club.
Also, I think we should include 君の名は in the next poll, because it was very popular in every voting so far.
2 Likes
I got キノの旅 recently and I am very happy with it. It has Furigana in just the right places and is not too hard so far, except when it goes into great detail on explaining Kino’s “persuaders” (guns, basically).
That said, im rather slow to get through it. I am not as advanced as my WK level might suggest.
The current book seems much more difficult than キノの旅 …
2 Likes
I feel that each book has a “learning curve” which it takes some time for the reader get used to the writing style of the author. I feel with the current book takes a while to break into, not to mention, some of the metaphysical concept descriptions can be a little bit difficult to grasp quickly.
Please let me know what you think of the book when you finish!
By the way, the word list for キノの旅 is available on floflo.moe. You could have a look
(I think I remember you saying you hadn’t been around for a while in another thread, so you may not be aware of that)
2 Likes
So, I was wandering what are we going to do with the next book. Any suggestions?
I mean @LucasDesu is going to skip the next book, @Iwasneverhere seems to be busy at the moment and @Naphthalene is already involved in Beginner Book Club. So, I just don’t see who can be responsible for the next book.
You could go ahead put up a poll with what was brought and try doing the vote again. @Naphthalene is a really fast reader so I’m sure he won’t be too distracted by the other book club. I’m sorry for being out for while…