📚📚 Read every day challenge - Summer 2022 🏖 ☀

I started reading Silver Spoon late last month thanks to the 3 free volume for free promotion on Line Manga. Tan-chan caught a cold at nursery school and got me sick, so I didn’t get much time to read as leisurely as I wanted.

But I finished reading the first and second volume yesterday and just barely managed to finish volume 3 this morning even though the deadline was technically until midnight (I realized you can keep reading as long as you keep the volume open on the app, but once you close it, they delete it).

I’ve seen the anime before and enjoyed it and been wanting to read the manga since they’ll probably not animate the remaining volumes. I’m surprised how accurate the anime was - in fact, I think they made it better thanks to some of the transitional scenes they added.

But I thoroughly enjoyed the first 3 volumes of the manga as well even though reading the text heavy parts was kind of a struggle sometimes. I started looking up vocab in the beginning and stopped due to time constraints, but since I was already familiar with the story, I understood about 85~90%.

The nice thing is there’s furigana too so at the very least, you can still read if not understand the meaning 100%. The farming and agricultural terms and explanations can be tough and a little dry depending on the reader’s interest, but you can always skip those explanations and still enjoy the story, although learning new stuff can be interesting.

My copy of 十角館の殺人 arrived yesterday, but before starting that, I need to catch up on Tugumi and read the read the rest of chapter 1 of 夜カフェ2. So far the first half is just a recap of what happened in the first book, but I’m excited to have a book I can literally read anywhere without having to constantly look up kanji readings :sweat_smile:

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My mandarake order got here and I’m far too excited to wait until after I’ve read to talk about it, so haul post incoming!

book hoarding intensifies

First off, I got a bunch of novels:

Can you see the book club influence :joy: There’s some other chaos in there as well but definitely a number of book club-adjacent things so that’ll be fun! You can’t really tell from this angle but the variation in thickness is wild, some of them feel like pamphlets and some are bricks :laughing:

I got some more volumes of ヴァニタスの手記(カルテ) and please look at how gorgeous they are:

I absolutely love the art in that manga so very excited to have more :grin:

More ブルーロック!! The first volume was a ridiculous fun time so I had to get more, can’t wait for more soccer death game shenanigans :joy:

And finally some manga chaos:

I got that Finnish hotel manga I keep hearing about! The covers are so pretty :open_mouth: 囚獄(しゅうごく)のヴァニタス I know very little about lmao, I stumbled upon it looking up ヴァニタスの手記(カルテ) and it’s some like wild murder mystery stuff and there are only three volumes out so I decided why not! It seems up my alley so sure, chaos mode :joy:

Then there’s クールドジ男子(だんし) which just looks like so much fun, I checked out a little of it on pixiv and was sold immediately haha. They’re so big! They’re just hefty manga with full color and I can definitely see why they were a little more expensive, very fancy :eyes:

So yeah I’m very excited, and I have zero self control so I’ll almost certainly be reading new stuff today instead of any of my actual projects, rip :joy:

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Yes! I got someone to buy it! Score!

I know, right? And just the tactile feel of them.

I can’t wait to hear your thoughts. :smile:

Thanks :smiley:

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I see 宝石商リチャード! That’s one I definitely am planning on getting, both novels and manga. Augh, I have so many novels I want, I gotta up my reading speed…

And クールドジ男子! It’s so great, you won’t regret it.

I may have to check out 囚獄のヴァニタス myself…

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Home post :bookmark: Aug 4th :sunny:

・ わたしの幸せな結婚 6 (53% → 86%)

Reading on the train :station: Finally got decent enough reception for posting :signal_strength:

As for the book… Nuuu, I don’t want it to end ;-; This volume is the most recent one in the series, who knows when the next one will be published? ( …This can’t be the last one, right?)

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Summary Post

August 4th
What did I read?: 猫には猫の猫ごはん Vol 1
How much did I read?: 13 pages
How long did it take me?: 14 min

Oof, I am not doing good over here guys :upside_down_face: I feel like this is rapidly becoming a Read Every Week challenge, unfortunately, I just struggle so hard to pick up any book on a weekday because work is killing me. For some reason, throwing on a 15-minute Youtube video for the listening challenge feels easier. I didn’t read too much. But I’m glad that I read something today. Even if it wasn’t the rest of Orange, which is arguably what I should have been reading lol

Taiyou and Yuki continue to be precious :3

I just thought Yuki looked really cute in this panel xD

It sounds like Yuki might be getting a bath in the next chapter, so we’ll see how that goes :eyes:

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What a fun book haul! I’m also a member of book hoarders anonymous :joy: :joy: I hope you like かくりよの宿飯!I’m really impressed that you can read it physically; I have too many lookups for that. Enjoy your new books!

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Home post

REDC
Week 6

8月4日
Chrono Trigger

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I read 24 pages of 硝子の塔の殺人, still 42 left. Since I’m listening along with the audiobook (at 1.15x speed no less!) I can’t go any faster and it’s killing me. I WANT TO KNOW. I unfortunately don’t have an extra 90 minutes to read this evening so it will have to wait :sob:

That said there has been another reveal and the person I suspected is the criminal! :tada: But not through the means I thought, which makes it even better.

I’m enjoying the hell out of this book, and it’s actually referenced 十角館の殺人 a couple of times now so I’m intrigued to see where it’s similar and where’s it’s not when I begin reading in a few days :sparkles:

Hahaha I definitely recognize some of those books. I might read 山猫 at some point as well because 八雲, another series by the same author, I read the first book of and enjoyed.

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August 4 :blossom: Home Post

As promised, I got curious and checked out 囚獄(しゅうごく)のヴァニタス and I have no idea how I managed to nail my brand so well without knowing really anything about it :joy: I’m very intrigued! The base concept so far is that the main guy is a homicide detective and there have been some real weird murders happening lately, and he meets a mysterious boy with cool boots and a cape who apparently no one else can see? And main guy is also able to see the monstrous forces behind the murders for some reason :eyes:. So yeah it’s some more wild murder mystery nonsense, love to see it!

It’s also a shockingly easy read for me, it’s like all the VNs I’ve read have prepped me for this specifically :joy: There’s really no furigana but that’s been a non-issue since I’ve known basically every word in it :man_shrugging: I’m not reading it super fast but that’s more because of enjoying the art and trying to pick apart the mysteries than any language difficulties. I think for me going slow is a sign that I’m really enjoying a manga so yay!

Yesss I love it!! It’s the same kind of matte texture ヴァニタスの手記(カルテ) has, obsessed :heart_eyes:

Yeah everything you posted from it looked so fun! It’s perfect for when I just wanna have a good time :grin: Very relatable on the reading speed front haha, absolutely drowning in content I wanna consume :sweat_smile:

As you can see I’m enjoying 囚獄(しゅうごく)のヴァニタス a lot thus far, though I will warn that there’s some disturbing imagery if that’s not your thing. I’m not super far yet so can’t speak for all of it, but it hasn’t been super bad so far, just the sort of thing you’d expect from like murder cases with :sparkles: monstrous presences :sparkles:, but just a fair warning!

Thank you!! See the trick to that is I’m stubborn :joy: The serotonin I get from having a physical book outweighs the inconvenience I suppose :stuck_out_tongue: (hopefully バディミッションBOND has prepared me at least a little bit for the influx of cooking words haha)

Oooh good to hear! I’m definitely intrigued by it, though as it turns out the one I got is the second book lmao so future adventure! :joy:

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If it’s anything like 八雲 you probably don’t need to read them strictly in order, but I say this as someone who occasionally skips first episodes of TV shows because I find the initial build up and character introductions to be the worst part :sweat_smile:

EDIT: I actually once started a TV show on the second season by accident (streaming service) and was so thrilled by how fast everything was moving and how you just had to suss out character relations based on how they talked to each other with no fluff whatsoever. :joy:

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Home

For my birthday (either the weekend before or the weekend after, we’ll see), I should be getting to go to the big 紀伊國屋 in Carrolton! Dunno how much money I’ll be getting to spend there, but. Also right now the first 宝石商リチャード氏の謎鑑定 drama CD is only ¥313 on Amazon JP and I dunno how long that’s gonna last… I gotta read some of these hundred-plus books I’ve got lying around so I can buy more…

I had wanted to read more today, but I spent most of my free time writing and editing, so I only read ch 5 of キミに言えないことがある. Hopefully now that this fic’s finished (3400 words, holy smokes), I’ll be able to start reading more again! In any case, I’ve just got one more chapter plus the 描き下ろし left of this one, so I should finish it tomorrow.

Some vocab of note:

ブレスト [noun] brainstorming. An abbreviation of ブレーンストーミング.
適切 (てきせつ) [noun, な-adj.] appropriate; suitable; fitting; apt; proper; right; pertinent; relevant
出来レース (できレース) [noun] fixed game; rigged bid. An abbreviation of 出来合いのレース.

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:spiral_calendar: Day 35: August 4th :parasol_on_ground: :shell:

spacer:ribbon: ふだつきのキョーコちゃん Volume 5 (41% ➨ 50%)

spacer:mag: 名探偵コナン Volume 11 (16% ➨ 22%)

After a week of minimal reading, here’s looking to a weekend filled with book club chapters to read.

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Started この素晴 and it’s hilarious so far. After this I’ll go back to 青ブタ. READING IS FUN! WOOOOO!

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Aug 5, Fri of Week 6 of Summer :beach_umbrella: 2022

So, I continued reading JoJo Part 2 Vol 4/4 of monochrome version.

First of all is from その3 to the end of ワムウ , which takes 8 chapters. This part is OK, I guess; about some people with special abilities, in an interesting set-up. (And Hamon counts as a special ability.)

Then, the last antagonist…

I don't really like this one when.
  • A seemingly important protag’s comrade falls so quickly.
  • Too many other die-hard comrades. くだらん!

Anyway, regarding reading, I feel that I am quite used to manga, so I can look up vocabularies less to read faster, but then, I would need to know more vocabularies in advance, or infer from context (or sometimes from Kanji / sounds). There are mangas that I found difficult to read as well.

I am not used to novel or non-fiction of a book length type. Reading an article is fine, as long as it’s not too long, and I know enough vocabularies and structures. But not too long.

I can fix somehow with highlighting in Bookwalker (for non-mangas only), so that I can still notice the position when I switch between a tablet and a smartphone.

I might try to read quicker for manga (as long it’s still possible and fun), to clear the 積読 pile; but of course, remembering well, for recurring vocabularies, would be helpful.

I know I skipped 2 weeks of progressing here, but now I should rejoin. (I don’t read as fast as volume levels, so perhaps not Extensive Reading yet.)

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Yep, noticed that too :joy_cat: Looking forward to welcoming you in the F&B and S&M clubs :hugs:

I‘m just a bit surprised about the cover of すべてがFになる, is this a special edition?

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On one hand, I absolutely agree with you – a lot of things don’t know how to start well; I feel like saying something gets good by a certain episode or even season is just the standard refrain with most TV. Though I don’t watch much TV anymore, I’m not sure I’d be aiming for episode 1 personally, hmm… Often I feel like shows want to hook you so they pull out all of the stops to make attempts at being thrilling right at the beginning, but it’s the following few episodes that slam on the brakes.

Still, on the other hand, I’ve got a particular neuroticism about starting things from the beginning that makes it almost impossible to jump in late, sometimes even in series where things are 100% unrelated. I don’t think I’d even dream of intentionally doing something like that. I self inflict so many likely less enjoyable times!

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:books: :video_game: :thong_sandal: :sunny: August 4

Hopefully the last busy day in a while. Read ビブリア (13% → 16%). I really like being able to track percentages since it really shows how doing a little bit everyday quickly adds up. Too bad I usually can’t do the same with games/VNs.

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Day 35 :heavy_check_mark: :crab: :

化身 ~ 23-25%

Day 36 :heavy_check_mark: :crab: :

化身 ~ 25-28%

Finished the titular story, just in time so that I can take a break and do my book club reading before proceeding to the next one. There are two more stories in the book, of which I know nothing at all. Strange that the titular story, and the one that won the Horror Award (I think it’s the story and not the whole book, but I’m not sure), was less than a third of the book. It certainly felt much longer.

My thoughts: I really liked it. And I insist this was no horror story at all. In fact it was surprisingly life-affirming, an ode to life, nature, and adaptability. It was basically a survival story with a twist. I’m pretty sure the author must have been a great nature enthusiast, give the subject matter and the way he writes about it.

Fairly full story summary for those who have no plan to read it but are still curious. Full spoilers of course, but I've spoilered everything but the beginning, so it's safe to open

The main character, tired from his job and daily routine, boards a plane to a tropical island country on a whim, and enters the rainforest. He soon falls into a lake in the rocks. The vertical rocks surrounding it are too high and smooth for him to climb, and there’s only a tiny rock in the middle of the lake for him to stay dry on. He first struggles with hunger, but soon he starts to explore his environment and adapt. The lake is a surprisingly idyllic place and a well-balanced eco-system. The clear water is constantly renewed by both underwater springs and a fissure in the rocks, and water flows out from another fissure. There are crabs, shrimp, fish, and birds also visit to drink. Soon he finds ways to survive and make use of his surroundings.

His attempt at making alcohol out of fermented fruit ends in tragedy when one of the monkeys that are drawn to the smell of alcohol and start frequenting the top of the hole he’s in, accidentally falls to his death. Those monkeys were the only living creatures he had some connection with, and he’s shocked by that development. From then on he abandons his efforts at replicating human activities.

Years pass, and the main character gradually adjusts so well to his environment that he even undergoes bodily changes to accommodate his new circumstances. Moss grows on his skin and insulates it, his arms atrophy while his legs stick together to form a sort of fish tail. He can now close his nostrils at will, and lower his heart rate enough that he can dive to the 10 meter bottom and stay there for very long without drowning. All of this is presented in such a calm, relaxed manner, and the environment is so bright and friendly, that I found no horror in his transformation at all. He finetunes his hunting techniques to mimic other animals: the anglerfish of the deep or the orca for example.

Having defeated a giant snake that accidentally fell in the hole, he makes a clever but unsuccessful escape attempt. But it’s only much later, when life in the lake presents no more challenges for him any more and boredom starts draining his will to live (symbolized by a black vulture that starts watching him menacingly), that he miraculously manages to escape the lake. By now he is a water creature, though, and it seems like it was an ill-advised move: His moss-covered skin dries out and hardens, paralyzing him. He can hardly move when he is attacked by ants, of all creatures. All things seem to point to an agonizing death, but then a miraculous thing happens: Water retained in his body oozes out of his sweat glands, separating the moss layer from his own new skin underneath. He breaks out of his shell much like an insect or a snake changing skin, and is back to his human form. From human to something like an otter (a fish or a kappa), and back to human. A triumph of survival and adaptability.

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Well I didn’t catch up completely with Tugumi, but I figure reading 5 pages today is also not bad - just leaves 3 to finish the chapter. I’m certainly not needing to look up as many words, and I do get what’s happening with regards to the plot, which is a big jump forward from a few days ago.

The challenge tomorrow - finish this chapter, if possible start the next. Also start the second book of 夜カフェ with the offshoot club. And pack for the next 3 weeks for a work trip (to be fair, that won’t be difficult, I hardly unpacked from the last one).

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