📚📚 Read every day challenge - Spring 2022 🌸 🌱

:tulip: Day 17 :tulip: :house:
Read:マグメル深海水族館 [2]
Finished: Chapter 5, Chapter 6
Time: 20 minutes, 12 minutes
Had a bit more time after finishing some assignments so got to read a bit more today. Today’s chapters focused on a メンダコ (flapjack octupus) and the crazy long named ミツクリエナガチョウチンアンコウ (triplewart seadevil). In this volume Koutarou starts his job as an assistant caretaker at the aquarium. The first creature he’s in charge of is みっちゃん the ミツクリエナガチョウチンアンコウ, who’s been there since the aquarium opened and is currently the only success at keeping that species alive long term at an aquarium. But this doesn’t start out so great as みっちゃん won’t eat at all when Koutarou feeds her. After worrying about it for a long while he comes to the conclusion that it was because she’s lonely alone in the aquarium and promised that he’d find her a husband (lol), and she finally ate (of course the actual reason she ate was different). I love how everyone imagined みっちゃん to be super bossy.

We also learn that his dad is a deep sea photographer which explains why Koutarou’s always been so interested in deep sea creatures.

New Vocab

掛け持ち holding two or more positions concurrently
孵化 (ふか)incubation; hatching
まれ rare; seldom​
すり鉢 (すりばち)(earthenware) mortar (for grinding)
給餌 (きゅうじ)feeding (an animal)
ひたすら intently; single-mindedly; devotedly; solely; earnestly; with all one’s heart
速攻 (そっこう)right away; without delay; immediately
思考回路 (しこうかいろ)patterns of thinking; train of thought
興味津々 (きょうみしんしん)very interesting; of absorbing interest; having a keen interest (in); being immensely curious (about)
浮遊 (ふゆう)floating; drifting; suspension
生みつける to lay; to spawn
尻に敷く (しりにしく)to dominate (usu. one’s husband)

Happy Birthday!! :birthday: :tada:

26 Likes

4月14-18日
Calendar

On Saturday I wasn’t really in the mood for reading and there were many things going on before Easter, so I took a break. And I’m back, however from now on I might read less daily than before, as I have uni’s assigments which I really want to be done this month. :sweat_smile:
In the meanwhile I’ve read about 10% of 博士の愛した数式, and overall I’m still absorbed in the story and like its warmth.

Spoiler-filled thoughts

I love the bond that’s created between the 博士 and ルート. It surprised me at the beginning of the book, even when the 博士 only got to knew the existence of ルート and scolded his mother for leaving him at home alone while she’s at work - but then I began to like the direction of their relationship. In the parts when ルート cut himself and then at the clinic I couldn’t help but feel for 博士.
However, the very recent parts - especially the one with baseball cards found by the housekeeper - were quite slow-paced in comparison to those in my last posts (I suppose more exciting events are yet to come).

博士のvocab

図書館司書 - librarian
長方形 - rectangle
目を付ける - to have an eye on; to zero in on
重ねる - to pile up; to put on top of another
重なり合う - to lie on top of each other; to overlap

For a little change I started 「失はれる物語」 by 乙一 - it contains a few short stories so I thought it would be easy to split over time. I managed to read only about 3 pages so far.

Thoughts

The theme of the first part isn’t really my piece of cake, so story-wise it didn’t grab my attention right away. However, I’m very surprised by the easiness of the language (I wonder if it’s only for the first story though…) - thanks to that, even if there are unknown words, I can follow the narrative without looking them up in the dictionary. :astonished:Because of that I think I will continue the book.

失はれるvocab

腫れ物に触るように - with great caution; gingerly
特異な - unique; peculiar
積み重なる - to pile up; to stack up
社交辞令 - something said for politeness’ sake; empty compliment
咄嗟に(とっさに)- at once; right away; promptly
曖昧な - vague; ambiguous
見透かす(みすかす) - to see through; to see the true nature of something
身構える - to put oneself on guard; to stand ready
着信 - receiving a phone call

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Aww, thanks so much for all of the birthday wishes you guys :smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts::smiling_face_with_three_hearts: I had a really lovely day.

Heehee - seems about right! You are also reminding me that I should definitely move up the Free! novel in my ‘to be read’ list, I miss those ridiculous boys.

Aw no! Hope you feel better soon! You’re totally right that taking it easy and being kind to yourself is the way to go. :sunflower::blossom::sunflower:

I didn’t read much yesterday as was fairly busy, but did get a bit further with すべてがfになる and am now right in the middle of the final ‘here’s who done it and how’ section. I don’t see myself switching back to anything else until I finish this part, but I’m also itching to catch up with 三毛猫 so that I can read all of the spoiler chat! Hopefully I can get these deadlines out of the way soon and have more time :crossed_fingers:

I’ve been having the same emotions about this book. It’s nice enough but the ‘see, people would be fine living in poverty if they were more like my fun grandma’ theme is kind of fine for the kids story that this book is/feels like, but a bit weird/grating reading it as an adult/with life experience. Then again, I’m only about 25% through so should probably read more and see where it goes, but just now it’s the bottom of the pile of things I feel like picking up and reading more of.

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Home post

Day 16:

日本語: I read nothing except for the read-aloud.
Read-aloud: We read two chapters of ハイキュー, in person for once!

  • Manga volume to finish next week: DEATH NOTE v1

中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean.

  • Weekly countdown to trying a page of 伯爵与妖精: 1,862 cards
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I would love to participate in this challenge. I’ll add my name to the list and try to keep going until June 18th since I’m starting late!

I have been reading simple things from NHK EASY NEWS and this website here. I am interested in reading more things centering web design and development so I would love any suggestions if anyone has any!

I am by no means an advanced Japanese reader, but reading something simple every day will help me gain more confidence in my Japanese skills.

Apr
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What I've read based on the date

I will update what I’ve read here every day, feel free to take a look.
April 18th: I’ll be skipping this one since I’ve read around a few things today but will link to something tomorrow.
April 19th: 頑張っているみんなへ
April 20th: ベンジャミンバニーの話
April 21st:

April 22nd: Nothing
April 23rd: Nothing
April 24th: Nothing
Quite busy during the weekend so I didn’t read these three days.

April 25th:
NEWS WEB EASY|知床半島を観光する船が事故 26人が乗っていた
April 26th:
NEWS WEB EASY|原因がわからない子どもの肝臓の病気の可能性 1人が入院
April 27th:
NEWS WEB EASY|日本の政府がウクライナに缶詰などを送ることを決める
April 28th: NEWS WEB EASY|物の値段が上がっている 岸田総理大臣「みんなの生活を守る」
April 29th: NEWS WEB EASY|バスが走らなくなったまち 自分たちでバスの運転を始める

May
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June
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April 18, Mon :cherry_blossom: home post

Week 4 of Spring 2022’s planning

I can’t believe I let 3 weeks before get passed.

From now on, I plan to plan every week on Monday :crescent_moon:, and report my glory or shame on Friday :1st_place_medal:. The thought of this came from someone :cherries:'s Accountability Report. I don’t plan to progress everyday (which I don’t think it is easy to maintain); but let me be more accountable.

  • Committed, and paced - for the sake of discussion
  • Self-paced, but setting some minimals.
    • JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure, Part 2 - One Chapter
    • Some easy listening… will report what I choose later.
  • Will try, and possibly will discuss
    • Yuru Camp :tent: - actually, I haven’t really continued since then.
  • Self-paced and free style. Will tell how much I do later.
    • Wanted :pirate_flag: - Eiichiro Oda - I have bought a while ago and read past a few page; but not recently.
    • Find some new series to get committed to.

999th - Not yet 1000th post. (And it appears that 4 posts have been deleted.)

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End of week update!
Short daily updates are in my home post.

I managed one chapter of something per day, alternating between 探偵チームKZ事件ノート, 夜カフェ(1) and ハピネス this week. My progress wasn’t as happening compared to previous weeks but the streak is still going!

The character/world setting in 探偵チームKZ事件ノート is honestly taking quite awhile. I’m expecting some detective work to be done but that part has yet to come and I’m starting to get a bit bored. I should be able to finish this book in the upcoming week; hoping the story matches expectations.

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Starting a bit late, but will continue until June 17th to make up for it!

Currently reading ホリミヤ (half way through volume 8 right now), and then planning on giving 四月は君の嘘 a go! I’ve seen the anime for both, which makes the reading a bit easier :smiley:

Apr
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May
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June
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Remember how I said I would finish 遅刻してきた幽霊 before my trip? Clearly I didn’t. I started reading 戦前昭和の猟奇事件 (~Bizarre Crimes in the Prewar Showa Era) yesterday. It’s my first time reading nonfiction in Japanese in a long time.

I thought the note before the first case was interesting as it talked about language changed and not changed for ease of reading and for impact. Specifically they called out that they left in 差別語 (discriminatory language) and 使用禁止語 (forbidden words). I’m curious what those will be and whether or not I’ve run into them before.

So far it’s a rough read. Between old language (those newspaper quotes, oof) and just general writing style I’m definitely reading this more as a study exercise than for pleasure. Hopefully it will smooth out as I go on. Currently reading case 0 (鬼熊) which actually happened on the cusp of 昭和, at the very end of the 大正 era. 1926 for those (including myself) who don’t have those memorized.

Words!

Interesting word: 消息(しょうそく)- my dictionary gives this as being a synonym for 知らせ、様子、状態、and 便り. I would never have guessed that and frankly if presented it in isolation would have assumed it a synonym for 窒息.

Other random new words: 蔵匿 (context: 犯人蔵匿罪 (harboring a fugitive)), 幇助 (context: 自殺幇助 (criminally aiding suicide))

Also good lord, every man is <>次郎. Got 熊次郎、清次郎、and 長次郎 just in this one chapter.

31 Likes

:house:
18th of April
Day 18

Just reread page 19, and also read page 20 of かがみの孤城 today. What I’ve learned: I should read in the morning or the afternoon, because if I leave it until late night I end up procrastinating and only giving myself ten minutes to actually read. :sweat_smile: But despite not making good progress at all today, I’m glad to be back to reading narrative prose!

Tomorrow is my last day of holidays, so I’ll try to read as much as I can then.


Bit late, but happy birthday @sycamore!! :partying_face:

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It’s been a fairly solid week. I read about 2/3 of a volume of イクメン - which I randomly picked up when it was free on Kindle a long time ago, and has been fairly entertaining manga.

Yesterday I picked up a light novel again - パパのいうことを聞きなさい. I felt like I was reading faster than usual - managed 13 pages spread throughout the day - ended on page 100. That puts me about 1/3 of the way through this novel - it’s taken me 4 months (although really, I took February/March off, so maybe only 2 months). I need to read more if I want to actually finish this book this year. I picked up about 5 pages of the same book in last summer’s read every day challenge, and dropped it as too difficult. This time, I’d say challenging but within range for me to read without frustration. I definitely find myself looking more grammar than I do when I read manga (I think my tolerance for ambiguity is lower without pictures).

Onwards to a new week!

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:tiger2: :books: Tanuki Den (aka Homepost): Date 20220418 :cherry_blossom: :raccoon:

Tanuki Scroll XVIII: 幽霊の足跡 :foot:

Read today’s Hyakumonogatari, from Osaka prefecture!

About the ghost of a woman who has been left to wander and cannot pass over, until a priest hears her story and helps her.


:seedling: Japanese found in the tall grass :seedling:

New Things

お勤め「おつとめ」ー One’s business; reading of scriptures before Buddha, can also be: 御勤め
本堂「ほんどう」ー Main temple building; nave
彷徨う「さまよう」ー To loiter; to wander about (I think I vaguely recognise this)
本尊「ほんぞん」ー Principal object of worship at a temple; principal image/idol

Forgotten Things

とく」ー Virtue; benevolence

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Yeah totally, that’s basically where I am. On one hand I get it, there’s nothing to be gained from getting miserable about the situation so good for her. But while I might agree with some of his premise about not needing the fanciest things to be happy… we jumped to pulling discarded food out of the river and chewing on bones. At this point all I can think is yeah grandma sounds like she’s clever, resourceful, and has a strong spirit, so imagine what she could have been capable of if she didn’t have to devote every bit of her energy to scavenging basic necessities. You would expect the takeaway to be people can do incredible things to survive hardships, yet we should do everything in our power to stop them from having to go through those. That’s sure not how he framed it though.

I feel like I sound harsh but it’s fine enough when I’m reading it and I kind of want to wait to see how it all develops before fully responding to the premise he set out, but that conflicts with weekly topics, heh. Perhaps I’m too spoiled by my life of relative luxury but even ignoring the overarching ideas it’s hard for me to not just lean to “wow that’s sad!” when he’s talking about some of this but it feels like he wants me to take it more lightly. :person_shrugging:t3:

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If we ignore the prologue of the book (and I really want to ignore it), he’s basically just describing his life experiences as far as I can see, and that’s interesting in its own right, without having to look for morals. I’ll have to admit that so far the book hasn’t captivated me as much as I’d hoped either, but that probably has to do more with the lack of plot (I prefer fiction for that reason) than the circumstances it describes. I wonder if it would be better to talk about all that in the relevant book thread though. Other people reading it may be interested in these comments but miss them here.

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april 18 :cherry_blossom: home post

Hey so you know how yesterday I was talking about how hard it was for me to get into 夜カフェ? Well today something just clicked and I finally got through the rest of chapter 1 and started on chapter 2 (I’m at the part now on page 22 or so where Hanabi’s parents are fighting and she quietly goes to her room and covers her ears). Reading vertically is getting easier, I haven’t been losing my place as much

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April 18th!

I read Chapters 51 and 52 of Yotsuba today. Yotsuba being carried away on the wind on the final page of Chapter 52 really tickled me :joy:

(Home Post)

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Day 16 :broken_heart:
I’m so sorry this post came out as just me nagging, disregard please.

Remember when I promised to read a lot this weekend, yeah no lmao. Spend my weekend dissociating my butt off into the couch. Good thing I had bite-sized chapters from all the abbc I follow so the input is not completely nil but just shy of.
As for today while reading fukaboku I’ve encountered the first furigana in this book that is not just for a name. And honestly I find this specimen borderline insulting. You haven’t furigana’ed the 拍子抜け or anything similarly obscure previously yet a trivial sleeve now is something special, I mean it is General use, come on suffer with me, you silly natives.
image

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Wohoo. The first big hurdle in this reading sprint is down: 18/61 down Homepost

I was really weary if I could keep the streak going over easter but this time around I managed just fine. The whole seeing family and having responsibilities shtick can be so detremental to private reading time :smiley: .

I did read less then the last week but overall I’m happy:

  • read the last weeks assignment on 佐賀 (IBC)
  • read this weeks assignment on 夜カフェー (BC)
  • read a few chapters of Slam Dunk
  • A few articles on Web easy (6?7?)
  • and some miniscule forward momentum in Tobira

The writing in 佐賀 is my favorite so far but neither it’s story nor the story in 夜 are especially gripping for me at the moment. When it comes to story Slam Dunk is still the most hype and hard to put down when I’m in the grove.
But the books are just better for learning new vocabulary and putting them into sentence cards in Anki. So I’ll stick them out for now. In the future I’ll probably continue reading only with the IBC and start reading more along my own interest for the other free time I’ll have.

Since I’ve “ended” this week on monday because of the holiday, I’ll have to go a bit faster with 佐賀 for the next week to not fall behind. Lets hope everything works out as I imagine and I’ll find enough time for it.

The next hurdle is a big wedding of a good friend at the end of the month. Not sure I’ll be in any shape to read anything on the day or after the day -.-.
Until then it should be smooth saling.

I’ll update my progress in one week again. See you there.

27 Likes

I’ve started Level 0, Vol.2, Book 9. It’s about New Year’s customs.

New Vocabulary:

じょやかね
除夜の鐘 Temple bell rung 108 times on New Year’s Eve

かざ
飾り decoration, ornament, trimming

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An unexpectedly busy day, so not much time for reading, but I did read another 14 pages of デスノート ・ Death Note 📓 Vol. 2.

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