📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2021 🏖🏖

Japanese Language Reading
#1120

Summary post

Day 54: July 24th
What did I read?: ふらいんぐうぃっち Vol. 10, 地縛少年 花子くん Vol. 1, and 君には届かない Vol. 1
How much did I read?: 25 pages (1 chapter), 35 pages (1 chapter), and 25 pages (1 chapter)
How long did it take me?: 25 min, 52 min, and 1 hour 5 min

Kind of interesting, seeing all the times for each manga lined up like that.

I really felt like reading today, so…I did xD Finished the book club readings for Flying Witch and Hanako this week, and started a new series, 君には届かない. Lots of different manga series going on today, but I kind of like having a mix of different things going on. …Reminds me of when I was young and I would read like 7 books all at once, alternating between them every few pages at times (idk why I did that…I also read a book upside down just for funsies/because I could. I was odd. I say as if I’m not still odd)

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#1121

Home post

July 25th
Read chapter 5 of チーズスイートホーム (1)
Read 2 pages of からかい上手の高木さん (2) posted breakdowns

I’m super happy I was able to mostly catch up with the book club starting volume 2, and made way more progress towards that goal than I thought I could =O

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#1122

The last few days were pretty decent.

I’ve finished 帰ってきたよ、ばあちゃん from July 20th to 25th. An easy read with only ~200 pages. This is the 4th of manzai comedian Yōshichi Shimada’s autobiographical books I’ve read and this one focuses on his more recent life as an おじさん after moving back to the countryside in Saga prefecture. As always it was a lot of fun to read and inspiring at times, especially how he puts his energy into lots of different things he wants to do, like building a house in the old style, opening a restaurant and so on.

He’s written a couple of more books that I’ll read sooner or later.

Today I continued with 貝に続く場所にて (15 pages). This time it went much more smoothly. I doubt I’ll finish it in July, but at least I hope I’ll make good progress in the next couple of days.

My next literary book will probably be 推し、燃ゆ and I also have a few options for lighter books, so hopefully I’ll be able to finish four books in August.

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#1123

Main Post

Another week has passed, just finished reading through Polar Bear Café volume 3. This had a variety of chapters. Quite a few on Misaki’s apprenticeship making good coffee. Some with panda mama. But most importantly the continuation of the penguin cards and sentai show. Volume even comes with all the penguin cards in the back of the book. The difficulty and length kinda varies per chapter, but was able to read 3 chapters every day (helps 21 is divisible by 7) without too much trouble. One of things I noticed while reading is that as you go along you pick up on character traits in their speech. For instance all the penguins use different pronouns. Another example is characters using different sentence enders. It’s not only helpful, but also makes it more fun to read their lines.

I got volume 4 waiting for me tomorrow, so I can keep up the pace of one volume per week.

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#1124

I finished the first volume of もっと半熟女子 today. I will once again have to decide what to read tomorrow. The challenge is super awesome I already finished eight manga volumes.

What’s wrong with that dude? He always tells Tanaka how cute she is, but doesn’t ask her for a date. Major disappointment.

Soon I will order some books from amazon. Yeah I plan to read my first book in japanese pretty soon. But I may cheat a little bit and ask my teacher for help if I encounter some complicated sentences I don’t understand.

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#1125

Summary post
July 25

・Read 冷たい密室と博士たち, ch. 8 + 9 (60% → 73%) Couldn’t stop reading :caught_durtling: Another Japanese book where stuff happens at around 33% and 66%. I’ve seen people compare to Western books where stuff usually happens at around 25%, 50% and 75%? But not sure, I don’t really read much literature in general.

・Read Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活１(6% → 11%) Hmm, lots of whitespace, light novel being “light” as in “page not densely packed with text” and all that. Wait, I forgot to check out book club threads… Will do tomorrow !!

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#1126

Main post

Day 55 :ballot_box_with_check:
Satori Reader: Secret, Episode 9.

Vacation starting tomorrow so I’m not sure if i will keep updating or if I’ll do once I’m back :wink: We’ll see (depends if I end up reading or not, too).

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#1127

Ohh? Do you mean physical cards or pictures of them?
I got my copies second hand and quickly skimming I didn’t see any of these cards at the back, but it might differ by version too?

#1128

Summary post

Day 55: July 25th
What did I read?: 君には届かない Vol. 1
How much did I read?: 117 pages (finished the volume)
How long did it take me?: 3 hours 27 min

This manga is pretty cute. (Should I spoiler this? Should I not? Idk) Kakeru constantly trying to “market” his introverted bff to everyone else is kind of adorable. As is his bff. But my goodness, these two. You guys are so close but so far omg. Why do I feel like this series is just going to be one long string of brushed-off “misunderstandings” and not-quite confessions xD (I mean, I don’t know what else I expected, with that title lmao) I’m sure that’s how the next volume’s going to start - if it doesn’t and they actually manage to get on the same page, I might die of shock. Is this going to get old if it goes on for 4 volumes, possibly, but hopefully something will progress :crossed_fingers: I don’t actually have the rest of the volumes right now, but they are coming in the gigantic Amazon order I just placed this afternoon :eyes:

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#1129

Pages with the cards and their descriptions. They’re drawn just like in the story.

IMG_20210726_141121
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The author changed publishers and made a new series called Polar Bear Café today’s special. And they published the older series in a revised edition, which is the version I’m reading. It is called Polar Bear Café bis.

Edit: added in a picture.

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#1130

Yeah, you got it!

Detailed response to Aislin (spoilers)

If he were to try for the public school, he’d have to actually try and pass the next exam. But choosing private school would mean he doesn’t have to care. Just apply as is, and have his parents pay from there.

There was a point where his guidance counselor mentioned something about the school ゆとり教育 curriculum style playing a role in students like our main character choosing the “easy way”. The topic is covered in Tobira chapter 9 and at the time I learned that, this part of カラフル came up. I’ve been geeking about it since and it’s fun to finally talk with you about it. Haha

3 Likes
#1131

:ballot_box_with_check: Days 52, 53, 54, 55

It feels like forever since I updated here! I came down with a mean stomach bug.

I read half of Chapter 10 on my own on day 52. Then, when I was bed ridden, my husband read to me for two days the rest of Chapter 10 and the start of Chapter 11. I read the smaaaaallest amount of Chapter 11 on my own today.

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#1132

Home post

July 26th chapter 6 of チーズスイートホーム (1), and 1 page of からかい上手の高木さん (2).

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#1133

23.7.
I finished volumes 1 and 2 of One Piece and started volume 3.

24.7.
I finished volumes 3 and 4, started volume 5.

25.7.
I didn’t have anything much going on on Sunday, so I read a bunch of One Piece, finishing volumes 5 to 10. The I remembered that I wanted to read a chapter of 1Q84 over the weekend. :woman_facepalming: I read half a chapter before bed and left the rest for today.

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#1134

The next manga I started is 虫籠のカガステル. I don’t like bugs therefore it’s not that fun reading a manga about giant bugs. But I will endure somehow.

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#1135

In last two days I’ve finished about 12-14 pages of Forbidden Scrollery(2). Can’t say for certain, as Bookwalker is being nasty with bookmarks. I’m pretty sure it silently deleted my fresh bookmarks at some point as the most recent lead to page which I definitely read. Chapter of abstract dancing is complete and so is 68% of the volume.

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#1136

Summary post
July 26

・Read Re:ゼロから始める異世界生活１(11% → 15%)

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#1137

Last week was rough. Mental health not so great - having lots of feelings. Not particularly motivated during the week, so I picked up volume 8 of Chi’s Sweet Home to put in at least a chapter or two before bed each night. It wasn’t much reading, but at least I kept going (and Chi is always adorable). I’m so glad that I have some ‘light’ reading available to keep things moving forward.

Yesterday I was curious enough to pick up a light novel (パパのいうことを聞きなさい) that I bought a few years ago after enjoying the anime and see where I was at as far as being able to read it. It was still a slog, but my grammar and kanji have clearly improved, since I could get the gist of most sentences. and looking up the kanji was definitely less painful than in the past (I know more of them - although I still have mixed feelings about the very limited furigana - it’s nice for practicing my recall and a bit of a confidence boost when I see and know characters, but pain in the butt for unknown kanji). Reading is very slow, 2-3 pages yesterday and another 2-3 today.

I know I’m missing things, and having moments where I recognize all the grammar but can’t seem to make it into a coherent whole, but it was very satisfying. Not sure if I’m in the right place yet to really take on reading the whole thing, but it did help get me out of my slump and into some focused studying/learning, so I’ll take it.

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#1138

Summary post

Day 56: July 26th
What did I read?: シメジ シミュレーション Vol. 2
How much did I read?: 20 pages (2 chapters)
How long did it take me?: 1 hour

Sooo this manga was definitely on my to-do list at the beginning of this challenge but I 100% forgot that I had planned to read it until just now. This is another one that I fully intended to read with the book club but then I just…didn’t xD Hoping I can mayyyybe squeeze in the rest of this volume before the official end of the challenge? I love these first 2 chapters, especially chapter 12. I want the murder cactus to be my new best friend lol

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#1139

Home post. July 27th Chapter 7 of チーズスイートホーム (1). Too exhausted to do anything else.

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