📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

Lost three days to a migraine and lingering headache, so I’m behind on my manga of the week. I don’t want to push another week out so I’ll plan to finish both volumes next week.

I am so glad I swapped books for Jan and Feb. I’m reading a book I got probably a decade or more ago “Breaking into Japanese literature” which has several short stories from Natume Souseki and Akutagawa Ryuunosuke. I can’t say I care for them much, but what’s been really interesting is how language has changed since the early 1900s. Words like ここ、もちろん, etc used the kanji, and 入る was 這入る – I’d guess that the first characters pronunciation (は) eventually got absorbed into 入 over time, thus 入る vs 入れる pronunciation differences.

The story choices are, uh, interesting for a book geared at introducing people to literature. Several trigger warning apply.

Other than that, Persona 3 released on PC and I’ve been playing the female route in Japanese. sadly the quick save feature doesn’t work in the middle of dialogue, only in the overworld.

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Curious what those are - feel free to put behind a spoiler or toggle of course! I don’t know Souseki to be very problematic (by reputation, only read one thing by him) but Akutagawa is…interesting. I can’t say I enjoy his writing at all, but I don’t avoid it entirely like Yumeno (another classic author).

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Yeah it’s mainly Akutagawa. I’m finishing up “in a grove” and it’s got rape, murder, and attempted suicide.

Souseki read more like Edgar Allan Poe, which does still have sensitive content ( depression, suicide) but somehow feels less…direct I guess?

Edit: should add at least in “in a grove” the rape is not explicitly described, just stated to have occurred. I just find the choice of content to be an odd choice to introduce people to Japanese literature.

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I think Re:Zero has made me give up reading Light Novels lol
I just really like the anime and reading it makes me just want the anime version. I want to read the novels I have, but I bought this volume to prove I could in fact read a volume of Re:Zero. I just like the idea of finishing a book with an ending that doesn’t require that any and all reading time going forward will be just this series.

I am enjoying Re:Zero, don’t get me wrong, its just White Rabbit has does such a good job adapting the books that I don’t feel like I am missing out by waiting. Thats just me though. Maybe I will go back to read volume 17 when I have time but I would like to read more self contained stories.

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:cup_with_straw: Home :it:

January 29th

ジョジョの奇妙な冒険8
44 - 53

Busy day yesterday. Some interesting panels in this section though. Idk if I’ll remember to post them later.

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Summary post

Day 29: January 29th
What did I read?: ペンギン・ハイウェイ
How much did I read?: 3 pages
How long did it take me?: 26 minutes

Well that didn’t take long, the penguins are here :joy:
Here’s our protagonist, studying the penguins very intently

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Unfortunately suicide is a super common theme in classic Japanese writing. I actually accidentally read Akutagawa’s own, real, suicide note thinking it was just a short story titled ‘suicide note’ (遺書).

I’ve read a lot of classic literature by this point (it’s free on the internet, so why not) and dark themes abound, although there’s also heart warming stuff and thoughtful things without darkness. I wonder if the editors were trying for a holistic view of Japanese literature when picking the stories? ie, a bit of everything? Or they just went by popularity / things that are required reading in 国語 classes.

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That sub chapter of Re:Zero 16 was just them EATING x______x for 11 pages. For which I spent 3 minutes on each page just begging for something, ANYTHING interesting to happen. It was just “You look cute in this Yukata!” “Let’s eat!”

So we went from getting closer as a group. Barging in on a meeting, and eating. GAAAAAH!

flipping table noises

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:snowflake: :red_gift_envelope: 1月29日 :red_gift_envelope: :snowflake: (Home Post Link)

I sorta ended up going down a rabbit hole reading about 万葉仮名 and the 万葉集 more generally today. Very cool stuff, and adjacent to japanese reading, but I did not actually read any of it in japanese (even a modern jp translation). Eventually, that’s something that would be cool to try reading, but beyond me for the time being :sweat_smile:

Read:

  • ホリミヤ ch 101 - all the chapters recently and after this are short, but this one is normal length for some reason

Word of the Day:
唇「くちびる」ー lips (also related: 唇音「しんおん」ー labial sound, and 唇歯音「しんしおん」ー labiodental sound)

I support this motion 100%

Hey everyone has to start somewhere! I bet you make it to fun stuff sooner than you think, you got this! :grin:

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January 29 :snowflake: Home Post

Ended up even busier today unfortunately, so today’s “reading” is gonna just be my Japanese homework :joy: it’s all something!

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Yas!!! I want to wait until after I take the JLPT N4 then reward myself with one. Maybe Cherry Magic. Let’s do it.

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Home post

1 月 30 日
コナの大冒険 第34話 :black_cat:

Kona considers what he could eat to survive in the wild. Poor guy. I totally feel for him with my ‘wild’ being Japan. :sweat_smile:

Vocab
  • ウロウロ [うろうろ] loiteringly, aimless wandering, restlessly
  • 根比べ [こんくらべ] endurance contest, test of endurance
  • 枝 [えだ] branch, twig
  • 苔 [こけ] moss
  • 一口 [ひとくち] mouthful, bite
  • カリカリ [かりかり] crunchy
  • とうてい [到底] (cannot) possibly, no matter how, absolutely (usually with a negative ending verb)
  • 涙 [なみだ] tears, lachrymal secretion

On that note, today i also learned a new english word thanks to Satorireader which is lachrymal, “of or relating to tears”

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:spiral_calendar: Day 29: January 29th :closed_umbrella:

spacer:older_woman:t2: ××でも魔法少女になれますか? Volume 1 (44% ➨ 52%)
spacer:mag: 名探偵コナン Volume 13 (81% ➨ 91%)
spacer:baby_chick: ひよ恋 Volume 1 (0% ➨ 17%)

With two new manga on my “start reading sometime” list, I randomly picked a different one and started reading it today. I was looking for something to generate frequency lists from and landed on a series called 「ひよ恋」, then decided I’d read that.

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18 pages of manga today :muscle: :muscle: turns out all I need to read more than a couple of pages in a day is be absolutely desperate to know what happens next.

Now to catch up on my wanikani reviews.

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:open_book: :desktop_computer: :snowman_with_snow: :snowflake: January 27

Some ユージニア (82% → 86%).

:open_book: :desktop_computer: :snowman_with_snow: :snowflake: January 28

Some ユージニア (86% → 89%) and played BU$TAFELLOWS for over 1.5h.

:open_book: :desktop_computer: :snowman_with_snow: :snowflake: January 29

Finished ユージニア!! First book of the year finished. And played BU$TAFELLOWS for over an hour.

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home post

30th jan we’re almost in february, when did that happen???

weekend exhaustion shaken off, back to 蟲師! chapter 1 of vol 4 is an odd story but the art is as always lovely. not sure i liked the ending, but i see what it was going for. plus, we finally get an explanation of how ginko has been getting his letters!

words that stuck out: 拒絶反応 (きょぜつはんのう, (organ) transplant rejection, strong reaction against), 密室 (みっしつ, locked room), 手立て (てだて, method, means). also shoutout to 数多 for the reading only (あまた

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Home Post

image

This week was a bit of an up and down, but in the end it turned out quite okay.
Finished Tuberose Age32 (welp, NOT my favourite book, sadly), continued a bit with 1Q84 (until Ch. 15) and started Flesh&Blood Vol. 11.

And! I reached the break-even with my yearly reading goal, i.e. if I read in each subsequent month as much as I have read in this month, then I will make it. (And in case you didn’t notice, there are still two days left in this month! :muscle:)
In other words, 834 pages down, 9,166 pages to go!

Plans for this week:

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29/1 2 pages おばちゃんたちのいるところ

30/1 2.5 pages おばちゃんたちのいるところ (finished story 15)

Going slow still. Just finished last week’s reading. And it’s Monday evening. And I’ve read nothing for the 5 book clubs this week :anguished:

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Read the rest of その着替え人形は恋をする 10. Tomorrow I’ll finish Blue Period 1 and start cramming the rest of Re:Zero 16.

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Jan 30, Mon of Week 6 of Winter Q1 2023 :snowman::snowflake:

  • はたらく細胞 Black Vol.6 Ch.33-34

Stress and concert, first half.

Words of the day
  • そしり = criticism; disparagement. A Kanji form is (そし)り.
  • かけがえのない = irreplaceable. A Kanji form is ()()えのない.
  • フヌケ = coward. Kanji form is 腑抜(ふぬ)け, so it’s the guts that broke.
  • 怖気(おじけ)づく = to become nervous; to have cold feet = ()気付(けづ)く. Has Furigana in context.
  • ()()つ = to overcome difficulties
  • (よく)うつ = depression; dejection. Full Kanji is 抑鬱(よくうつ).
  • 萎縮(いしゅく) = atrophy; shriveling. Has Furigana.
  • 断裂(だんれつ) = snapping apart
  • 減退(げんたい) = declination. 性欲減退(せいよくげんたい) in context.
  • 渾身(こんしん) = using all one’s body. First Kanji seems to mean whole (body).
  • 微弱(びじゃく) = feeble; weak. First Kanji in 微妙(びみょう) or 微塵(みじん).
  • 副腎(ふくじん) = adrenal gland

From here I’ve found 読唇術(どくしんじゅつ) = lip-reading. Quite amazing how it sounds similar to 読心術(どくしんじゅつ) = mind-reading. Level 47, btw, but On reading not introduced.

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