If people are interested we could do regular read alouds through the WK Japanese Book Club discord server or I can make one specifically for the Absolute Beginners Book Club : ) If I make one, there is more flexibility over how it is run but eitherway should work.
I was thinking anyone who is interested in a read aloud can join the server, and if certain people prefer certain times over others, then it is possible we could do 2 groups to accommodate as many people as possible. Why even restrict ourselves to 1 group you know? since it is possible we will have people with all sorts of timezones and schedules. I feel the weekend might work the best on an average for most people, and the times can be figured out through a poll.
I personally think as long as there is at least 1 person available at a time that works for you then that is enough to do a read aloud, but the more the merrier because it ignites more discussion : )
I wonder if it would make sense to allow people to choose multiple options? I’m not really too bothered whether the Discord is pre-existing or new myself, so I wasn’t sure what to choose. The question for me would be more around, am I joining the book club, then if yes, does the read-aloud happen at a time when I can reliably make it, and if it’s run well.
I tend to forget about Discord, so I’ll apologise now if future me does that!
Overall, I think it’s a great idea. I do an online Japanese course where we’re asked to read out loud, and it is surprisingly more difficult to read something out loud than in my head. So since I already have that going on and I’m a bit overextended at the moment in general, I might not make it, but I’ll keep an eye on it and try to join you if I can. And just wanted to send some encouragement to try for anyone who is curious and hasn’t done that kind of thing yet.
Another thought is, if you don’t get too much traction now on this thread, perhaps once the ABBC has chosen the next read and set up the book thread - at that point people will know if they are joining, and what the schedule is, etc. You might get more responses if you post an interest poll in the thread that will be made for that book.
It’s always nice when people organise this kind of stuff, so thanks for that, and I hope it works out!
What @mitrac said I think the idea is great! I don’t know if I’ll make it, as my time is stretched a bit too, but I would very much like to! I guess I really have to win the jackpot very soon, in order to stop working and start doing more of all of the truly interesting things in life
I can’t edit the poll unfortunately since my post is more than 5 minutes old, but I made a new one. I didn’t realize my post didn’t allow you to choose multiple options haha.
Also, yeah what you said regarding the book thread makes sense. I just assumed everything is consolidated there, so I will make sure to repost the link when the time comes.
Thanks for your kind words, and wish you the best of luck in your online Japanese course : )
I know how you feel lol. I can’t dedicate as much time as I would like to Japanese learning because of work as well but consistency is key I believe whether you spend a lot of time or less : ) so hope you get to be consistent in your learning journey if you aren’t already : )
I agree with the others and also do not really care if it’s a new channel or not. Both have advantages and disadvantages I think. But thanks for organising this!
I’d rather join with the next book as I am not currently reading along. I have confidence in my pronunciation generally, but it will be my first book reading in book club, so I am happy about some further motivation to stick to the schedule ^-^
However, sadly I am not very flexible so I am not sure if I will be able to meet frequently. But I’d at least be happy to join the channel and have the opportunity to join in the reading sessions
I am not reading along with the current book either haha, so I will be sure to repost the link when the time comes like @mitrac suggested : ) I don’t have confidence in my pronunciation but it is fine; I will pull through . As long as you make it whenever you can that’s all that matters : )
Based on how the poll is trending, it looks like we will most likely be using the WK Japanese Book Club Discord Server: Japanese Book Club for live readings. Please join this server if you haven’t already.
I created a when2meet link for people interested in weekly read aloud sessions: 老女的少女ひなたちゃん・Little Granny Girl Hinata-chan Book Club Discord Live Readings - When2meet. Please input your WK username and your availability during those days. Because we potentially have people with drastically different timezones, please provide all your availability. Once I get the times and days for everyone interested, I will look for the greatest overlap, and if it makes sense to create more than 1 group to accommodate people I will do so.
I will request for a channel for [老女的少女ひなたちゃん・Little Granny Girl Hinata-chan in the Discord server later on once it is confirmed that we will be able to organize read aloud sessions (there is enough interest) through the when2meet poll results.
Side note:
In the when2meet, you will see March 9 - March 15, but please ignore those specific days. I had to choose specific days to enable people to choose their availability based on their timezone. The times and days I collect from the when2meet will be used to fix the same time and day for every weekly read aloud session. For the sake of consistency, there won’t be a new when2meet link for every week, though we can consider it later if need be if multiple people’s availabilities evolve.
Also, in the when2meet Sunday 2am - 3am PST is greyed out. I am not sure why that is the case. It seems to be a glitch that I can’t fix from my end at the moment but if you are interested in that time and day specifically, feel free to reply to this message.
Alrighty! I requested a channel in the WK Japanese Book Club Discord Server, and it has been created with a voice chat as well. The channel is called " 老女的少女ひなたちゃん". If you filled out the when2meet already or plan to just join off and on, eitherway feel free to say Hi in the channel : )
All good : ) Basically, you will need to download Discord and create an account on desktop or mobile (or you can use the browser version). You can do that for desktop/browser here: https://discord.com/ or through your phone on the app store/android store. Once that is done, then just click on Japanese Book Club, and it should automatically open up on your Discord account as an option to join. If not, on the left of Discord once you log in, you will see a plus sign like this: . Click on the plus sign, then click on Join Server and then provide the Discord link address which would be this: https://discord.gg/VpP8ERYM, and then click Join Server again.
I’ve been trying to read the manga, but the grammar is really beyond me at this point. Thank you for all your help, but I think I’m going to wait for the next round, when I’m further long with my studies. I hope you all really enjoy the manga
I think the idea is great! I don’t know if I’ll make it, as my time is stretched a bit too, but I would very much like to! I guess I really have to win the jackpot very soon, in order to stop working and start doing more of all of the truly interesting things in life 
. As long as you make it whenever you can that’s all that matters : )
. Click on the plus sign, then click on Join Server and then provide the Discord link address which would be this: