I do think it’s easier compared to Yuru Camp, simply because it has furigana. We would also be reading it 3-4 times as slowly.
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@seanblue Thank you for fixing the book club! I’m sure I would have forgotten again 
No worries. I wanted to move 本好き to the offshoot list anyway.
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I added the GJ部 informal bookclub to the list. It hasn’t really started yet, and there is no schedule anyway, but I hope to find some more people who want to read the series. In my opinion it’s a great series for those who want to start reading books. Short chapters, easy language, and easy to look up words if you use a Kindle.
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Just added an entry for 狐笛のかなた (Koteki no Kanata) Home Thread. We’re targeting intermediate level pace and difficulty, if anyone is interested.
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I’ve moved レンタルおにいちゃん from the ABBC finished to ABBC offshoots. Volume 2 begins today =D
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Adding Sayonara Football to the list!
You really should make a poll to track participants. A “book club” doesn’t belong on this list if you’re the only one reading it. That’s if it’s a scheduled book club at least. You put it in the unscheduled section though, which would make it fine, except that it appears to be scheduled based on your thread. So now I’m confused.
I’m wondering if we could make a standard info chart for currently running and proposed books that includes the following information:
*Is this a manga or novel?
*Is this a stand-alone book, or part of a series?
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And now it’s been deleted 
It’s still there, but in the non-scheduled section for some reason.
Why currently running and proposed books? This thread deals with past books, current books, and upcoming books. It also doesn’t deal with proposed books.
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I always come here first for book club information, and don’t take notice of the changes in thread leadership as I click on links. I suppose this would be up to the individuals who run each book club?
I’m not sure I understand your question. Were you suggesting changes to the format in the individual Absolute Beginner / Beginner / Intermediate / Advanced threads? If that’s the case, then yes, it’s up to the individuals who run each book club.
This would be difficult to put into a tabular format, as Discourse tightly limits horizontal space. And if you go with a non-tabular format, then it’s taking up a lot of vertical.
Using Google Sheets would be one option (as that’s already used for vocabulary sheets), but you’d need to get support from whoever runs each of the clubs, and you would need people to maintain it. Anything that’s a link click outside of the main thread’s top post can easily be forgotten and stop getting updated. You could require the people who propose a book/manga update it, but that’s just adding friction to the process that already asks a lot.
I think it’d be great to have that information, but the maintenance would probably render it unfeasible.
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Yes, sorry about that! I set up the thread etc etc and then discovered that there is an English translation available, so decided that (rather than running a bookclub) I’d just do some parallel reading with the translation. All deleted now.
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Weird request, I’m kind of looking for a kind of book that may or may not exist… My grammar level isn’t great (Genki I basically) but I know a lot of Kanji, is there a book or manga or anything that’s like that? Probably not, right? I have a hard time understanding the books with simple grammar since they usually use mostly Hiragana and I have a tough time distinguishing all the homonyms or understanding the long strings of seemingly random characters… Kanji helps my reading tons, I’m better at understanding sentences with grammar I don’t really get that have a lot of kanji than sentences with no kanji to clarify.
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Something like that probably doesn’t exist since manga is (obviously) aimed at native speakers who know grammar innately. You can start reading manga with only Genki I grammar knowledge, but it will be hard. There are a handful of really important N4 grammar points that show up all the time when reading, so it could be painful if you don’t know those. Unless you can pick them up really quickly from the reading process that is.
Regardless of whether you choose to try reading now, I’d highly recommend continuing your grammar studies through Genki II (or whatever else) to get to around N4 level. It will become much easier to read just by getting to that point.
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I’d say you’re exactly the target of the Absolute Beginner Book Club (ABBC):
If you’re willing to learn grammar as you go, you can join in the current ABBC book, or pick up a prior ABBC book or manga. All the old threads are there, with a lot of grammar discussion, and you can still ask questions if they’re not already covered.
I’ve read almost 80 manga volumes across 24 different series, and the easiest manga thus far has been レンタルおにいちゃん. (Even after accounting for my improved reading ability, grammar knowledge, and vocabulary over time.) We previously read the first volume in the ABBC, and I’m running an offshoot club for the last three volumes.
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Bilingual books for kids are great. Look in the miscellaneous book club list for the Treasury of Japanese folktales. I have that book, and there’s a decent amount of Kanji (with furigana that you can ignore), but relatively simple grammar, and if it doesn’t make sense, you can use the English translation that’s right there to help you.
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