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! 
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.
Yeah, everyone have different schedules so it’s hard to say what time periods allow the greatest participation 
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 
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 
)
Oh no, I accidentally created hype oops 
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 ) 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.
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
I didn’t assume that you’re planning to read Genji Monogatari as your first book, you know!
I can relate to that
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 
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 
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 
:o
when you get so deep into something that you forget that there are people who don’t know the thing
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 
. The anime starting in high school versus elementary school sort of makes sense to me for…marketing reasons, if nothing else? I personally adore the series for the character relationships/growth, but also cute swimming boys are cute 
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
But for me personally everything mainstream being in highschool is boring, so I think starting from elementary school sounds more fun 
And like you said, being able to see character’s growth also sounds more exciting
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 
Day 59
August 23
Day 60
August 24
Day 61
August 25
Day 62
August 26
Day 63
August 27
I saw your entry for this on bookmeter and ended up trying the web manga. It’s really sweet so far! <3
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. 
Oh, so glad you liked it 
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
Day 64
August 28
Day 65
August 29
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.
September 1st is hours away 
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)
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.
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
You’re the best!! But also 無理しないで！ 7-8 hours or so from now is plenty early for my time zone (that’d be around 9am–by which time I will have certainly not read yet ). Thank you for even offering to do it
New thread is up! ^^
I can’t express how happy I am 
Quick last progress update before moving to the 
Thread:
Day 66
August 30
Day 67
August 31
Yayy I’ve been reading most day. I think at the very least forcing myself to read won’t do me any good. But I at least should read a page if I’m not really not feeling it.