Today, I finished the book シュモーハウス (Level 1 graded reader) for free on Natively (recommended here by sosanlx).
It was just above my reading level (some vocab I had to look up), and I feel pretty accomplished. 
It was so interesting and heartwarming, and I highly recommend it!
@sosanlx Thank you for recommending it on one of your posts!
I read through a lot of the Tadoku graded readers some months ago in a big combined format someone had put together. And I absolutely agree, I had never heard of this guy, but he sounds like a wonderful man and it was a great story in the end!
…but let me tell you, I got SMACKED in the face by the tonal whiplash of having read some fluffy tourist stories and the like, then turning the page past “This is Floyd Schmoe and his house etc” to a summary of the atomic bombings when I had no idea what I was getting into.
Books that you can read for a limited time have this on their home page. See example below.
I’ve highlighted the relevant sections. This is just in case you wanted to know. @liveunderwater
Day 12: January 12th
365日にっぽんのいろ図鑑
Time spent: 10 min
Today’s color: 濡羽色 (ぬればいろ) - glossy jet black
I’m honestly obsessed with how this color is described by this book, and where the name comes from - it’s literally the color of a wet crow’s feather. And that led to this 濡れ色 concept/word that is just like…so much logic? Like yes, I totally understand exactly what you mean when you say that. Why is Japanese so satisfying this way sometimes, like it just…makes sense 
Also look at how pretty crows are, isn’t he handsome
まいにち暦生活 日本の暮らしを楽しむ365のコツ
Time spent: 23 min
Today’s reading was about one of the 七十二候 (しちじゅうにこう) - the 72(!) microseasons based on the solar calendar. The season is 水泉動 (しみずあたたかをふくむ), so named because even though everything still seems frozen on the surface, the waters deep in the Earth have already begun to move - a sign that spring is coming. oooo~
I learned an expression from this today, 身にしむ - it’s kind of like “feeling something in your bones,” from what I understood, like feeling it way deep down in your core. For example, feeling the cold really strongly (which was the context here).
What else did I read?
囀る鳥は羽ばたかない Vol 1
Amount read: 15 pages
Time spent: 16 min
Wow I’m almost caught up :o Amazing what happens when you actually read the book
Interesting, with the title I mentioned, having ‘temporarily purchased’ it removed the expiration date from its home screen.
January 12th:
Read chapter 2 of それでも歩は寄せてくる
Noticed these kanji appear a lot in the chapter. Apparently, their definitions are:
守 = Defense
攻 = Attack
I feel like I’m close to learning these on WK since I can recognize all the radicals that make these kanji.
Last two days I’ve been wiped out, so I stuck to just the lower level tadoku readers. Level 0 is essentially “see spot run” type grammar but it’s been neat from a vocab perspective.
I learned しまうし (zebra) 、かまきり (praying mantis) 、and various cooking vocab including the lovely めだまやき (sunny side up fried eyes eggs) 
Day 12: Today I was very sleep deprived so I just read three pages of The Way of the Househusband
Day 11:
日本語: I read a lot of 伯爵と妖精 30.
中国語: I read an intermediate entry on Mandarin Bean and one page of 擅长捉弄的高木同学.
January 12 
Home Post
Well I read seven pages of 錆喰いビスコ today 
wild how far I can get before getting mentally exhausted when I’m invested in what’s happening! I think my like reading stamina is also getting better which is also wild considering it hasn’t even been two weeks?? Progress
So today I started chapter two and finally met ミロ and he’s already just the sweetest boy in the world, I’m adopting him immediately. Very excited for the inevitable chaos when he and ビスコ eventually meet lmao, I love them both 
Also very concerned for ミロ’s safety omg, what in the world is he involved in?? it’s gonna hurt me I know it
I’ve already made it way farther in 錆喰いビスコ than I really ever expected to, so I’m excited to see how much more progress I can make!
控えめ - reserved, mild-mannered, humble
引ったくる - to snatch from
面食らう - to be bewildered, taken aback
あどけない - innocent, cherubic
臆病 - cowardice, timidity
円ら - round and cute (especially eyes)
威圧感 - intimidating air, overwhelming aura
他人行儀 - treating a friend as a stranger, unduly distant
剥ぎ取る - to tear off
You’d think, but they don’t come until 16 and 28! If you’re ever curious, you can search directly through wanikani’s dashboard with the magnifying glass at the top right – maybe you already know cause it’s right there, but it took me a strangely long time to realize it, personally. I use that sometimes now when I come across new kanji if I suspect it might not be on WK and I want to learn it.
Hope you’re enjoying the manga, too! Joining the book club for that here was one of the first native things I ever read (concurrent with reading Yotsubato on my own), so I have a real personal fondness for it.
I just finished 怪盗探偵山猫, reading the last 30 pages in a burst to get through the dramatic conclusion. Really tired now. I guess that took nearly an hour and a half. The writing style is really readable but this book had a ton of completely new words, plus there were a lot of words that were still in that “half-known” stage where I’ve studied it and can recall it but it’s not automatic, I have to make a bit of effort.
Oh absolutely! I wasn’t expecting such a heavy topic to be the foundation for the story, either. I can’t imagine coming across it amidst all the other graded readers I’ve seen. It does sound shocking!
I’m pretty fascinated by Mr. Schmoe and the impact he had on the community (and the way he just kept helping people throughout the years). There’s a documentary about it titled “Houses for Peace.” I’d like to watch it, but I can’t find it online, though I did find this trailer. If I find the full video, I’ll post a link for anyone who’s interested. 
Tonight I read seven pages from the magazine チーズ!, and sixteen pages from the magazine ちゃお. There were a few fun words.
スマホ------smart phone
キラキラ------glittering; sparkling; glistening; twinkling (onomatopoeic or mimetic word)
ぐすぐす------snuffling; sniffling (onomatopoeic or mimetic word)
Actually it’s しまうま - striped horse, not striped cow…
But the general intention was spot-on I‘d say 
The book looks interesting and it even has a tsubasa bunko version!
How is the story overall? Are the new words mainly based around mystery or is there another reason for the many new words?
Day 13: January 13
)I feel like reading a novel is becoming a little easier now, even though some sections are still a bit tough for me to understand. I really want to read more right now but I have to work… Maybe later today 
Update: I’ve read more than 10 pages of a novel in Japanese today and it feels so good! I’m now at the point that a big part of the vocab I’ve come across before, comes back. I only have to search for a few words per page now and that helps a lot as well 
Update 2: Oops, read 10 more pages in around 1-2 hours xD It’s so fun to be able to read sort of comfortably in Japanese that I couldn’t put down the book for the last hour at all (my tea is probably just plain cold water right now, didn’t even put the tea bag in…)
There’s an app for these! And you can flick between the Japanese and English versions. If you search for Japanese seasons on your app store you should find it. I used to have it installed on English but reading this passage yesterday reminded me to re-download it and try it in Japanese again (last time I tried it in Japanese it did not go well…)
Day 13! Read pages 161-168 of Kiki today. I had some trouble with piecing together the meaning of two sentences in a certain section but other than that, reading has been getting easier and speedier!
I’m almost tempted to move my goal of finishing Kiki before the end of February to the end of January as a challenge for myself but with my inconsistent weekly schedule, I probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with reading 6 pages every single day 
Today’s article was タバコの吸殻に名前をつけて“いいね”がもらえる？ 「ポイ捨て図鑑プロジェクト」の真相とは
The tl;dr is it’s a social ad campaign (people submit photos and location and name the found cigarette butts) to encourage smokers not to litter. They said 80% of those participating were not smokers. Mildly interesting but oddly difficult to read.
ポイ捨て - littering
図鑑 - identification manual. I suspect if I watched pokemon in Japanese I’d already know this one
受動喫煙 - second hand smoke
豊島 - Toshima (ward)
文京 - Bunkyou (ward)
千代田 - Chiyoda (ward) …I’ve mentioned before I’m not great with names
経緯 - details (about a story)
改正健康増進法 - a revision to a law promoting health. I’d have to google more to understand
需給 - supply and demand
可視化 - to make something visible and/or to create a visualization
道徳的 - ethical, moral
秀逸 - excellent
兆し - signs/omens
実証実験 - proof of concept experiment
Prior to this project I never realized how popular the word ハードル (hurdle) was in discussing things. I feel like I almost never hear/read it in books/tv shows/etc but I’ve seen it multiple times in my article readings already. Guess I should try to work it into my active vocabulary.
