📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2021 🏖🏖

Japanese Language Reading
#1294

Personally, I’m up for a September start - I got kind of excited thinking/talking about the thing I want to read for the next challenge, so all the better to take advantage of that enthusiasm haha. But October would be fine too! ^^

I kinda like them too…to be honest I’ve never in my life thought of September as Summer, but I suppose that’s mainly a function of the school calendar I had growing up xD I have to admit that I also don’t love the idea of numbering them like a series because I just like not having ordinal numbers on things (doing things in a numbered series creates this expectation of “continuing” and “maintaining” and “keeping up with all of it” in my brain, which becomes mentally burdensome for me the longer it continues). But that’s purely a personal mental hang up so I won’t be offended in the slightest if it’s disregarded and we go for numbers xD

Another thought I had would be to do a title along the lines of “Read Every Day Challenge - September to November 2021,” to remove the specific seasonality but still clearly indicate when the challenge was/is running (we could add like “2nd Edition” or something to the title as well, like “Read Every Day Challenge, 2nd Edition - September to November 2021”, if people prefer numbering the challenges).

I sort of like the idea of having December off, even if we start in September, because I’m generally travelling and doing holiday stuff near the end of that month so I’m sure I would miss some days. A new year’s start also has a nice clean ring to it :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes: (I like how we’re already talking about the scheduling of the next next challenge haha)

Let’s poll!
I hope these polls make sense. Also I hope I didn’t miss anyone’s suggestions, feel free to yell at me if I did :sweat_smile:

Assuming the “official” challenge structure will continue to be similar to this one, with a 2-month challenge period and a 1-month break being “standard” (of course, people will still be free to continue longer or start later if they want):

What are your preferred dates for the next challenge thread?
  • September 2021 - December 2021 (official challenge runs in September and October - start new thread/challenge in January 2022)
  • September 2021 - November 2021 (official challenge runs in September and October - start new thread/challenge in December 2021)
  • October 2021 - December 2021 (official challenge runs in October and November - start new thread/challenge in January 2022)
  • Other (please specify!)
  • No preference
  • I’m not planning to participate in the next challenge

0 voters

How should we name/title the challenge threads?
  • With seasons (eg, Spring, Summer, Fall/Autumn, Winter)
  • With dates (eg, September to November 2021)
  • With numbers (“Chapter 2”, etc)
  • With numbers (“2nd edition”, etc)
  • With dates AND numbers (“Chapter 2 - September to November 2021”)
  • With dates AND numbers (“2nd edition - September to November 2021”)
  • Other (please specify!)
  • No preference

0 voters

6 Likes
#1295

I’m actually really curious which book it is, so I’m all ears if you want to share even now :purple_heart:

And thank you for creating polls :blush:

7 Likes
#1296

You actually bring up a good point. I would agree that it somehow creates the illusion of having something continuing and never really ending, whereas if you have “Summer 2021”, it has a definite beginning and end, and that’s it, you’ve completed it, congratulations. But considering this, I feel like having for example “Read Every Day Challenge - September to November” in the title creates much of the same. Even if not numbered, it’s somewhat “numbered” with words if that makes any sense :joy: . If we go with this route, I think either Autumn or Fall 2021 would be a much better choice.

So that leaves me with the final thought: we can bend a bit the seasons, and leave it at that.

As for the polls, I chose September-December just for the sake of making it easier when the new year comes:

Winter: January, February, March
Spring: April, May, June
Summer: July, August, September
Autumn: October, November, December

Personally I don’t consider December being Autumn, or mid September being Summer, but it’s the closest to the actual seasons, it would just start 10 days after, ish.

We would have both November and December as rest months, so we could maybe do a small “spin off” thread in between? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

And lastly, I wonder if we do have indeed southern hemisphere participants. I would bet the vast majority of us are from northern hemisphere countries, and it’s probably the most convenient overall, but I’m not sure how we could name it while avoiding numbering it (Q1, Q2, etc, wouldn’t work either, or would it? :thinking: ).

Ultimately however, I really don’t mind how we name it, the important part is actually doing the reading :slightly_smiling_face: ,

5 Likes
#1297

Haha, oh well. Was planning to have another summer challenge next year, but now schedules aren’t matching. I don’t want to be the one deciding everything by myself though, so I don’t mind :slight_smile: I mean, I don’t even know the schedule of my exams yet, so I have no idea when I’ll have time to read :eyes: :sweat_drops:

6 Likes
#1298

That feeling when one’s children grow up much faster than expected and suddenly start making their own decisions :rofl:

11 Likes
#1299

Last time we brought up doing this challenge every season, Some people mentioned the importance of having a break between the challenges. This could be up to everyone individually to decide, but maybe it’s a good idea to let the challenge run from 1st September to 15th of November (2,5 months) with half a month of recovery time.

I’m looking forward to actively join the challenge again next time! :blush:

3 Likes
#1300

we don’t really have to make future decisions about timing of sessions other than the next one now, but I can see that lining up the summer reading session with university summer holiday period probably does make sense if possible in terms of allowing the greatest participation. Though it’s possible that holidays are not at all consistent in different locations in which case maybe not.

6 Likes
#1301

Yeah, everyone have different schedules so it’s hard to say what time periods allow the greatest participation :caught_durtling: From what I’ve observed during this thread, some were reading even if their daily life were busy, some started a bit later when they were not as busy anymore.

Even if future decisions are made now, those decisions do not have to be carved in stone (if people want a change, that is), so I wouldn’t worry too much about it :slight_smile: As readers build habits and greater stamina, even the time period could be extended if people are up for that. Doesn’t have to be restricted to just two months.

(My summer vacation just happened to be almost all of June and July which is why I wanted to do this for two months. I probably won’t participate in a challenge while I’m busy with irl stuff, that would be too many stuffs for me to juggle at once :sweat_smile: )

9 Likes
#1302

Oh no, I accidentally created hype oops :rofl:

You're going to be disappointed if you're expecting it to be some great work of literature xD

The book I want to read is called ハイ☆スピード!, it’s the light novel that the anime Free! is (kind of) based on xD It’s not the deepest or most literary choice, but it’s kind of special/meaningful for me because Free! pretty much set off/inspired my Japanese learning journey – I was deeply, deeply obsessed with it when the first two seasons aired, and an eventual side effect/outgrowth of that obsession was the rekindling of a long-dormant interest in Japanese language/culture as a whole. This light novel and its sequel were some of the first Japanese-language books I bought. (That was years ago…I clearly overestimated how quickly I would progress, by, like…a lot :sweat_smile:) But anyway, it’s something that’s sat on my shelf for a looong time and I’d like to finally give it a try ^^ I still have a lot of nostalgia and fondness for those characters in my heart, so I’m hoping that will give me extra motivation to carry through the hard parts.

7 Likes
#1303

Ooooh! I’m excited as I have also considered reading that. One of the Free! movies was actually the first film I watched in Japanese with no English subs - can’t go wrong with silly swimming boys. Definitely looking forward to hearing how you find the LN :slight_smile:

3 Likes
#1304

:grin: I didn’t assume that you’re planning to read Genji Monogatari as your first book, you know!

I can relate to that :sweat_smile:

Unfortunately, I never heard about it (or its anime version), but it’s always interesting to hear what works made people obsessed in the past, especially when said people are finally feeling ready to conquer said works :confetti_ball:

I wonder why its only a loose adaptation, as in why and what they decided to change. I educated myself using wikipedia, and now I know that’s a sports (swimming) genre, which seems straightforward enough, so now I’m wondering what didn’t work as anime according to the anime creators. I hope you’ll tell me when you’ll finally read it :upside_down_face:

3 Likes
#1305

Truer words have never been spoken <3
Your post made me think, I should rewatch the anime now that I have some knowledge of Japanese xD I mean, my listening skill is still terrible but…sounds like an excellent candidate for listening practice :eyes:

:o
when you get so deep into something that you forget that there are people who don’t know the thing

Uh oh you got me started on Free! lol

I know one thing that’s majorly different between the light novel(s) and the anime is the age of the characters - the anime starts with everyone in high school (and follows them into university), but the light novel is them in elementary school (and then middle school, in the second volume). So it works as sort of a prequel to the anime - events from their elementary school days are brought up in the anime, and I think one of the Free! movies is based on the events of the second light novel I actually haven’t seen the movies yet though…they came out after I finished school, during the period when work stress killed everything I ever loved :x I should watch them when I finish the books :thinking:. The anime starting in high school versus elementary school sort of makes sense to me for…marketing reasons, if nothing else? :eyes: I personally adore the series for the character relationships/growth, but also cute swimming boys are cute :woman_shrugging: The stakes and issues they deal with in high school vs. elementary school would also be on a different/higher level, I would assume, so maybe they felt like the high school age would make for more interesting watching for the target audience? Not sure, it will be interesting what other differences there are, and whether the light novel “feels” different to the anime :thinking:

5 Likes
#1306

But for me personally everything mainstream being in highschool is boring, so I think starting from elementary school sounds more fun :two_hearts: And like you said, being able to see character’s growth also sounds more exciting :eyes:

Progress August 23-27

I honestly promised myself I’m not starting any new things for now, but this manga series looked so nice (it’s about old lady, 75 years old, getting into yaoi) and it’s only 5 volumes :pleading_face:

Summary post

Day 59
August 23

  • 生命式 (27% → 32%)

Day 60
August 24

  • 生命式 (32% → 35%)
  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側1 (0% → 58%)

Day 61
August 25

  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側1 (58% → 100%)
  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側2 (0% → 38%)

Day 62
August 26

  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側2 (38% → 74%)
  • 生命式 (35% → 36%)

Day 63
August 27

  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側2 (74% → 100%)
  • 生命式 (36% → 38%) (story 4/12)
10 Likes
#1307

I saw your entry for this on bookmeter and ended up trying the web manga. It’s really sweet so far! <3

1 Like
#1308

Main Post

Just finished reading volume 14 of Yotsuba. Nice variety of chapters, the Tokyo trip is also the last thing I had a good memory of reading before. Introduction of Koharuko and she’s also really nice to Yotsuba, going out her way to show her how big the world is (through a fancy lunch buffet).

Got one more volume left to read and then there’s nothing left anymore. :cry:

10 Likes
#1309

Oh, so glad you liked it :sparkles:
Actually when I was adding it I was thinking - “I wonder what are the chances that someone would ever be inspired by anything I’m adding to my bookmeter. Probably very low, everyone has their own backlog and it’s not even like I’m providing any reviews or anything!”
So it makes me extra happy, thanks for letting me know :sparkles:

Progress August 28-29

Day 64
August 28

  • 生命式 (38% → 42%)

Day 65
August 29

  • 生命式 (42% → 45%)
  • メタモルフォーゼの縁側3 (0% → 49%)
9 Likes
#1310

Finished ふらいんぐうぃっち manga volume 2 today. It’s my 10th manga volume I finished since this thread started. I still don’t understand everything when reading manga but I understand more and more every day.

12 Likes
#1311

September 1st is hours away :notes: I’m going to count it as an official start to the challenge for myself, and start reading everyday again!

Anyone else doing the September 1st start comfortable with setting up the next thread? (I love the way @Redglare set it up, and have no confidence in my ability recreate it even similarly)

15 Likes
#1312

Main Post

Thought I would give a final update. I’ve been reading for three months without skipping a day since the challenge.

For my goal I wanted to read a chapter every day, which I managed to do. Some days were definitely easier than other days, so I think there’s still room for improvement there. I made a lot of headway into my backlog of manga. Finished reading through Polar Bear Café and I’m currently reading volume 15 of Yotsuba. This amounts to 13 volumes of manga I read. Outside of that I also started playing Skyward Sword in Japanese, but on a more leisure pace.

For the next challenge I’ll try to see if I can read more per day and probably gonna use what I have been hoarding on kindle as well. First I’ll catch up on Yotsuba and Polar Bear Café todays special.

11 Likes
#1313

I’m at work currently, but I would be happy to give it a go tonight (meaning in like…7 or 8 hours-ish), if no one else wants to do it before then! ^^
I’m in kind of a late time zone so I feel bad delaying it if there’s someone else who would want to do it haha

11 Likes