📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

Summary post

Day 5: January 5th
What did I read?: おでかけ子ザメ2
How much did I read?: 11 pages
How long did it take me?: 10 min

I worked late today and I didn’t have a ton of time, so I thought, why not just read a few pages of the smol shark manga? :joy: In one of the chapters, a guy saw smol shark for the first time and his reaction was a whole entire mood:

For added context, the guy was in the middle of trying to design a new character to represent the neighborhood - luckily for him, the best character ever just walked right up to him :joy:

Cute shark enjoys all the food :pleading_face:

Here's a bonus pic of my reading buddies for this manga...participants of previous challenges may remember them lmao

Also I’m a terrible challenge host and did not wish anyone a happy birthday >< Happy belated birthday to @Cathm2 , @Hantsuki , @nyxqueenofshadows and @lucylavelle ! :birthday::tada:

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day 5 :dragon:
home post

Read: Yotsubato! + some song lyrics

Progress: 50/224 → 60/224

Thoughts: Continuing with the trend of not having to look up that many words feels good considering that I consider myself still very beginner at the language. Sure, just reading about Yotsuba and her father waking up and having breakfast is simple, but it’s nice to be able to understand the easy parts~

I also attempted to read some song lyrics today. Sure, I wasn’t able to translate a single line fully, but it felt great being able to understand a piece of it and hear it in the song too.

@MissDagger Thank you for showing me how to do a spoiler! Now I don’t have to talk all vague about what happened.

32 Likes

January 5th
What did I read?: にわにはににん
How much did I read?: 24 pages
(Started & Finished 3rd Story: ワタシのお庭 )
How long did it take me?: 1 hour 50 min

The first time I read a short story in one sitting! :tada: I didn’t really like it. :upside_down_face: It was a mixture of unpleasantness and randomness.

Summary of the story, in case you want to know what kind of unpleasantness and randomness I mean

Basically, it starts off with a couple buying a new house with a garden. Flashforward 5 years, and the wife, Emma, is very into cultivating the garden, while her husband seems pretty aloof to both the garden and his wife. Emma then worsens the shaky relationship she has with her in-laws when she slaps her niece for planting mint in her garden without asking (her issue with it is that mint spreads viciously). Coming to the realization that her husband’s frequent business trips must really be an affair, she falls into depression. She then has a strange dream in which she looks into her garden to see instead a perfectly trimmed lawn with tall walls. In the centre, a giant sphere of leaves and plants hovers, and she happily melts into it, becoming one with the garden. At this point, she wakes up, disappointed that it was just a dream. But she hurries to her garden happily, hoping, I think, to enjoy spending time in it, but instead is greeted with… I don’t really know what, since we don’t get to see, but she says, “Oh my goodness!” and then something smashes?? The glass of the window, I think? I’m guessing the garden became unkempt during her depression, and then she faints, crashing into the window, but who knows. The most interesting part was the little bit of 庭 / には word play there was when she started confusing her identity with the garden.

The next story is the titular にわにはににん, though, and from what little I know of it, I think it will be quite interesting!

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1月5日

。*☆ My Home Page 。*☆

What I read:

  • よつばと! v2 p.140-164
  • A short 中国語話 on maayot
Words
  • 田んぼ 「たんぼ」: paddy field, farm
  • 一旦 「いったん」: once, for a short time, briefly
  • 捕る 「とる」: to catch (a wild animal, fish, insect, baseball, etc.)
  • ザリガニ : crayfish (esp. Japanese crayfish)
  • 宜しい 「よろしい」: good, OK, fine

Thank you very much to @Midnightblue , @Voi , and @MissDagger for your replies to my question about word/vocab mining!

Since asking the question and reading your responses, I decided to try continuously reading without stopping to look up words. I think it has made my reading experience better.

Although, I realized it’s fun to see other people’s newly discovered words in this thread. So I decided that for now, after I’ve finished reading a chapter without stopping, I’ll go back to look up just a few unknown words. That way, I can share them with everyone in the thread, too.

When I’m ready to start another book, I want to experiment with pre-learning words from the resources you all mentioned.

Thanks again for your feedback! (And apologies if I missed anyone else’s reply!)

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:snowman_with_snow: :snowflake: January 5 :snowflake: :snowman_with_snow:
Home Post

Bustafellows :moneybag:
Finished The Hunter by Richard Stark (English) :books:

Made more strides with BU$TAFELLOWS and I have no idea how much is left of chapter one, but a lot still I think. It is very interesting. :slight_smile:

The Hunter was quite compelling, but with a rather unlikeable protagonist. I didn’t think I’d like it, I learnt some stuff about it before I started, but the author is very, very good.

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January 5 :snowflake: Home Post

I read some more 山猫 today, are you noticing a trend :stuck_out_tongue: I didn’t read as much today, just 34 pages which is still a sizeable amount for sure. I’m officially halfway! :tada: It continues to be very interesting; today’s reading had more sneaking around and such which was fun, 山猫 is certainly good at what he does. He and 勝村 continue to get along interestingly lmao, it’s one of those where they’re clashing and don’t see eye to eye and such but have to work together anyway, and of course they’ll come to understand each other etc. etc. It’s a good trope, can’t be mad :man_shrugging: I am also very curious about the whole さくら and 関本 situation, 関本’s so specifically weird and suspicious in ways I don’t know what to do with :joy: Like it almost feels like they’re implying that he’s working with 山猫 somehow, but that doesn’t make sense with 山猫’s reactions to him I don’t think? Idk, I have more questions by the day, it’s a mystery novel!

(But yeah I just didn’t read as much today; I got distracted by the steam sale, snagged a couple things for future projects, but most importantly I got Slime Rancher 2 and it’s the most delightful game in the world, feels apt for all the cute manga getting thrown around :'))

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Home Post

Day 4 Progress:
お隣の天使様 五冊 - 66.97% → 72.28%

Barely made my quota today (I started reading at about 3 AM, lol) and yet somehow I think I might’ve had my fastest paced reading session ever, over 5% in roughly 70 minutes. My pace obviously depends on many factors including the grammar/vocab being used and my own interest in what’s happening, but today was just one of those days where everything clicked and I knew almost all the words and it felt like I was actually reading kinda naturally. Turns out in my case that grinding flashcards mercilessly is actually pretty effective…

Word of the Day: 大味おおあじ - flat-tasting, bland, dull, flat. What the heck happened to this word???

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Home post

1 月 6 日
コナの大冒険 第20話 from Satorireader

Accusations have been thrown and リリー shares her thougts. In this episode, I learned two new speaking styles(?) apparently used to make sentences feel feminine. I’m not entirely sure what feminine covers though. Is that strictly only women? Or can it also be used by men more in touch with their feminine side? I suppose in the olden times it would only be women but I wonder in modern times if men can use it now too.

  • わ used at the end of sentences as a feminine ending particle e.g. コナはいいわよ
  • omission of だ at the end of sentences to be more feminine sounding e.g. 幸せ者( だ )ね
Other phrases/words of interest:
  • 人聞き (ひとぎき) if someone were to hear that in satori reader but in my dictionary app it’s reputation - I guess it’s related but not exactly the same…
  • 自然界 (しぜんかい) natural world
  • 紹介 (しょうかい) introduction, presentation, referral
  • 首を縦に振る (くびをたてにふる) to shake your head up and down as a gesture of saying yes
  • 首を横に振る (くびによこにふる) to shake your left and right or side to side as a gesture of saying no - if direction of shaking is omitted apparently it’s more likely no
Reply to @windupbird

Your shark manga and shark buddies are adorable! Maybe your buddies can get along with mine?


Although it’s just pretending… Hahaha

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January 6th

:snowman: Home post :snowflake:

Card Captor Sakura volume 5 – progress report
Yesterday: Continued up to page 141, finished chapter 21.
Today: Continued up to page 189, finished chapter 22 and volume 5. :tada:

This chapter was full of foreshadowing. So much so that I can’t shake the feeling that Yue’s reveal and the trial may even begin next volume which is surprising to me that it would happen half way in already but my memory is fuzzy, soo :person_shrugging:. And speaking of my recollection of things happening in the series: I will just mention that I may have another rant coming up after the next few volumes. For now, I’ll just leave it…to simmer. :unamused:

––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––
Word or expression of the day:
関係者 - (かんけいしゃ) - person concerned, people involved (in an event)

Honourable mention(s):
只者 - (ただもの) - ordinary person (usually used in neg. sentences)
おごる - ((奢る)) - to give (someone) a treat / to live luxuriously; to be proud; to be haughty

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:spiral_calendar: Day 5: January 5th :snowflake:

spacer:girl: からかい上手の(元)高木さん Volume 10 (17% ➨ 24%)
spacer:sun_with_face: 夢みる太陽 Volume 2 (41% ➨ 59%)

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home post

jan 6th

finished chapter two of 蟲師 vol 1! in total about 17 pages, so a lot less than yesterday. some of it went quicker, but really struggled with the last resolution-y bit at the end. i think i got it, but i also think the story has a deeper meaning that i’m missing rn thanks to some uh less than complete understanding. ah well, back to it again next week!

it’s here on wk (i’ve not learned it yet) but 溶岩 turned up a few times, which is a fun word

edit: i checked he last couple of panels in an english version online and i was right! i just needed a little space to let it settle in my head

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from personal experience and going purely of off how it appears in media (so take with a grain of salt), this is still used by some women characters, but also by men too. that used to be only ‘effeminate’ or queer-coded men (often with a negative connotation or in some humorous way at the man’s expense), but more recently i’ve heard it from more ‘masculine’ men too so maybe things are changing?

(someone else with more detailed knowledge please correct me)

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I wonder if it’s somehow related to 大人の味 which is more ‘adult’ flavors. Think coffee, less sweet sweets, slightly bitter things, etc.

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:house:
Jan 6

かがみの孤城 13% → 17%

I didn’t post yesterday because I only managed to read one or two pages. Today I procrastinated the entire day and read from 12:30am to 1am :sweat_smile: time to sleep now, let’s see if I can read until 30% through tomorrow.

25 Likes

Jisho says the opposite is 小味 - Jisho.org which somewhat defeats your speculation, I guess? While I can understand that “fine nuances in taste” would be 小味, I don’t get why “big nuances in taste” should mean “bland” or “dull” :thinking: :woman_shrugging:

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Daijisen defines 大味 as 物事が大まかできめの細かさが見られず、趣の乏しいこと – so I guess the idea is that it’s only got the big rough outlines of what it ought to be, with none of the detail and nuance of flavour.

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:snowflake: :red_gift_envelope: 1月6日 :red_gift_envelope: :snowflake: (Home Post Link)

Read:

  • ホリミヤ ch 57 - aaaaaaaaaa こたつ time
  • マジーク・ツリーハウス rest of ch5

Will do some more ホリミヤ later, splitting jp reading into ~30 minutes in the morning and then ~30 minutes later in the day has been working well for me the last few days

Good Words

ホリミヤ
日に日に「ひにひに」ー day by day
捩れる「ねじれる」ー to become twisted, to become tangled
任せる「まかせる」ー to leave (a matter/decision to someone else)
諦め「あきらめ」ー resignation
余裕「よゆう」ー surplus, margin
餌付け「えづけ」ー artificial feeding (of wild animals)

マジーク・ツリーハウス
茂み「しげみ」ー thicket, bush
やがて ー before long
割と「わりと」ー relatively
きらり ー with a momentary flash of light
握り締める「にぎりしめる」ー to grasp tightly

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:bow_and_arrow: Home :frog:

January 2nd-5th

1/2 prefecture stories 4 more pages
1/3-1/4 no reading
1/5 ジョジョの奇妙な冒険 63 start - 49

I thought I had read more often but I guess not. Maybe in Spring I’ll be able to get every day :confused:

23 Likes

:raccoon: :books: The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den :snowflake: :raccoon:

January 6th
新書太閣記 progress: 00.41% // Volume I: 04.78% :honeybee:

Chapter start: ども

There’s some really nice descriptions so far, but it jumps around quite a bit, I have to keep pausing to make sense of it in my head.

Words found under the kotatsu

悪童「あくどう」ー Naughty child; brat
胎内「たいない」ー Inside the womb; in the womb; inside a Buddhist statue
撥ねる「はねる」ー To hit; to run into
敏捷「びんしょう」ー Nimble; agile; quick
潜行「せんこう」ー Underwater navigation; going underground; going into hiding; travelling incognito
殲滅「せんめつ」ー Extermination; annihilation
敵愾心「てきがいしん」ー Hostility

Forms
貌 = 顔「かお」(face) // can also be: 形「かたち」(shape; form)
口惜しい = 悔しい「くやしい」(Frustrated; annoyed; vexed)


Character Kanji-Name List
for easy referencing later, because these will take some remembering

Main
Hideyoshi: 豊臣秀吉「とよとみ ひでよし」// 豊太閤「ほうたいこう」
------ Father: 弥右衛門「やえもん」

Volume I Characters
五郎大夫 「ごろ だゆう」// 祥瑞「しょうずい」(Goro’s Chinese name)
– Servant of Goro: 捨次郎「すてじろう」
– Mother of Goro’s child: 梨琴「りきん」
– Rikin’s & Goro’s child: 楊景福「ようけいふく」

日吉「ひよし」(Hideyoshi as a child)
– 仁王「におう」(Big kid friend)
– 於福「おふく」(Timid kid friend)

織田信秀「おだ のぶひで」(Daimyo) (Foreshadowing drum noises)
今川義元「いまがわ よしもと」(Daimyo)

Historical People

阿倍仲麻呂「あべ の なかまろ」ー Japanese scholar & poet (around 700AD)
白楽天「はく きょい」ー Late 700s Chinese poet (Bai Juyi / Bo Juyi) also known as: 白楽天「はく らくてん」in Japan.
道元「どうげん」(or 道元禅師「どうげん ぜんじ」ー Japanese Buddhist Priest, writer & poet (Early to mid 1200s) (also known as 栄西禅師「えいさい ぜんじ」)
空海「くうかい」ー The one and only Kukai or Kobo Daishi - a Buddhist monk. Posthumously given the title of: 弘法大師「こうぼう だいし」born as: 佐伯 眞魚「さえき の まお」(late 700s to early 800s)


Reply

Return of the cute sharks!! :shark:

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Jan 6, Fri of Week 2 of Winter Q1 2023 :snowman::snowflake:

  • Death Note Vol.6 Ch.46

  • うたわれるもの

Interesting words
  • ゴキブリ = cockroach. I even have seen it referred to as G-san. Kanji form is 蜚蠊(ごきぶり).
  • ミミズ(.) = earthworm. Just remind myself of some animal vocabularies.
  • へそくり = secret savings. Kanji is 臍繰(へそく)り, sounding like going back to navel ((へそ)).
  • ひしめく = to be packed in crowd. I also have seen Kanji form before ((ひし)めく).
  • 見出(みいだ)す = to discover; to find. The verb parts are from ()る + ()だす.
  • 蔓延(はびこ)る = to become rampant
  • 恥部(ちぶ) = disgraceful things
  • 杜撰(ずさん) = sloppy
  • 健全(けんぜん) = healthy
  • 適任(てきにん) = competent
  • 人望(じんぼう) = popularity
  • 物色(ぶっしょく) = selective choosing, like buying a book
  • 逸材(いつざい) = outstanding talent. I couldn’t remember an On reading for this one, but it is in Wanikani Level 54.
  • 釈然(しゃくぜん)と = fully satisfied
  • 憮然(ぶぜん) = disappointed
  • 楼閣(ろうかく) = multistorey building
  • 説話(せつわ) = tale
  • 寓話(ぐうわ) = fable; comparative tale
  • 終始(しゅうし) = from beginning to the end. Similar to 始終(しじゅう), but the latter has Rendaku.
    • 終始(しゅうし) => 終始一貫(しゅうしいっかん)
    • 始終(しじゅう) => 一部始終(いちぶしじゅう) (I have found this one a few days ago.)
  • 必然的(ひつぜんてき) = inevitable
  • 四苦八苦(しくはっく) = being in dire distress
  • 前途多難(ぜんとたなん) = having many difficulties in prospect
  • 魑魅魍魎(ちみもうりょう) = evil spirits of rivers and mountains. Also, somehow no Furigana here (but has audio).
  • 途方(とほう)()れる = to be at a loss
  • 死体遺棄(したいいき) = abandoning a dead body. 死体遺棄事件 is a crime of putting a corpse somewhere, rather than cremating or burying properly.

SFX

  • ちょいちょい = repeated slight movement

Kanji

  • (モン) (Level 16)
    • (かど)
      • 門出(かどで)

大人の味

Honestly, I think it sounds rated.

Anyway, my lookup of 大味(おおあじ).

Short summary
  • 「大」は「おおきい」「おもんじる」「ものごとの初め」「おごる、ほこる」などの意味の他に「おおまか、粗(あら)い」という意味があります。
  • 「味」は文字通り、舌で感じる「あじ」です。他に「うまみ」「気持ち」などの意味もあり、日本では「気が利いている、乙(おつ)」という意味も生まれました。

この二つの字からなる「大味」は、

  • 「味がおおまかで、微妙な味わい、旨味(うまみ)に欠けるおおざっぱな味」
    という意味です。

味自体が「おおまか」とする辞書と、「食物が、見てくればかり大きくて、本来期待される旨味に欠ける」と説明する辞書があります。

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