If you’re like, “huh? Volume 5, when did you start that?” The answer is yes. Part 1 ends around 141 of Volume 5 and I never started reading Part 2 until today.
I don’t want to count it as a half volume unless there’s legit another half volume, like between parts 3 and 4, because I hate how it messes up the numbering in discord lists
Edit: the last ten pages of vol 12 and the first 70ish pages of 47 are for other parts and I’ve read the rest of those, so it will equal out. Good grief and thank goodness.
I’m really lazy and finally imported the photos from my camera today… apparently the last time I did that was in november lmao.
Read:
ホリミヤ ch 63 + おまけ, Volume 9 done!
マジーク・ツリーハウス pg 72 → 80 - got back to this today, taking a little break was nice but I am still enjoying it enough to finish book 2.
Good Words
ホリミヤ
切羽詰まる「ぜっぱつまる」ー to be in a pinch
譲る「ゆずる」ー to hand over
後悔「こうかい」ー regret
マジーク・ツリーハウス
区別「くべつ」ー distinction, difference
確かめる「たしかめる」ー to check, to make sure
へそ曲がり 「へそまがり」ー difficult person, contrarian
ふざける ー to joke, to play a prank
懐中電灯「かいちゅうでんとう」ー electric flashlight
two pages is not nothing! if all you’ve got time for is two pages, then two pages is an achievement! even if it might not feel like it atm more pages than you could do when you started learning! as you read more, your reading speed will increase, and you’ll be able to fit more pages into your schedule.
Oh hey, just discovered those calendar squares are clickable check boxes, you don’t have to edit the post each time!
Slowly continuing with ジャム屋さん on Satori. The compound sentence are kinda hard to keep track of but the individual phases seem easier than in the mouse story. (Or maybe it’s just me? I do like tea and jam.)
chapter four of 蟲師 volume one complete! one more chapter to go and then that’s the whole volume ! another excellent chapter, with some added lore this time (rather than just a vignette) with the knowledge that ginko is missing an eye!!! presumably also the other one, given context clues. flew through this chapter, was the one with the most known words so far, i think.
there was also another short anecdote from the author at the end of this one, again featuring kitsune (i’ll be learning that kanji 狐 in no time at this rate). cos they’re handwritten they take quite a while for me to get through compared to the normal chapters!
some words that stood out: 義眼 (ぎがん, prosthetic eye), 本家 (ほんけ, head house, originator, birth place; had no idea 家 could be read as け), and 皃 (countenance) cos i spent ages trying to find it (jisho has it, but no words attached; kanjipedia doesn’t have it at all; weblio does tho).
January 10th
新書太閣記 progress: 01.20% // Volume I: 13.93%
Finished this chapter and onto the next, start chapter: 大鵬
I was a little confused as to how some characters fit in, but it’s all starting to come together!
Words found under the kotatsu
珍重「ちんちょう」ー Prizing; valuing highly 外道「げどう」ー Tirthika; non-Buddhist teachings; unorthodox; heresy; demon; devil; type of fish that you didn’t intend to catch 丸柱「まるばしら」ー Column; shaft; cylinder; round pillar // (Also: 円柱 which can be read the same, or: えんちゅう) 罵る「ののしる」ー To verbally abuse; to curse at; to shout at 染付「そめつけ」ー Printing; dyeing; blue & white porcelain/ceramics (from China) // (can also be written like: 染め付け) 居心地「いごこち」ー Comfort 僧侶「すうりょ」ー Priest; monk
Forms
愁い ＝ 憂い「うれい」(Sorrow; grief; anguish)
Character Name List
for easy referencing later, because these will take some remembering
Also probably some spoilers, but this is a historic novel, so can spoilers really exist for things that have (for the most part) actually happened
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」
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)
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I don’t make any personal notes, so all the words I learn, and anything else, are all in my daily posts - under the spoiler tag.
Originally, I bought the volume because I think the joke in the preview is OK. Much of the latter chapters here seem to be about school.
うたわれるもの
I just want to pause before a fighting scene.
Interesting words
はなから = from the beginning. Kanji form is 端から.
もがき苦しむ = to writhe in agony. The first part is 藻掻く, literally scratching on seaweed.
どん底 = nadir; rock bottom. Not the vocabulary, but Rendaku tripped me.
続柄 = family relationship. It is really specific for relations / connections. Even in this form (other than 続き柄), the former reading is preferred over 続柄 (which sounds like from 家族).
間柄 = relationship
勝組 = winning group (e.g. those who succeed socially). Also, 勝ち組.
都度 = every time; whenever = 毎回
走馬灯 = a revolving lantern; ever-changing scene. Perhaps a lantern has a few pics of running horses?
奔走 = running about; making every effort to
渾身 = with one’s whole body; with all one’s might
肝煎り = promoting; help of. Like with boldness, and pouring some tea.
陳腐 = cliched. Like showing of old rotten jokes. First Kanji from 陳列 / 陳述.
硫化 = sulfide
負債 = debt
返済 = reimbursement; repayment
服役 = serving labor in prison. Also, 懲役 = penal servitude. I should have known the latter, but failed partially due to not recognizing エキ.
抄本 = excerpt; abridgement. In context as 戸籍抄本.
水商売 = nightlife business. 水 probably refers to お酒.
running while opening a book (本); so page leaves flew
奔走, 奔放
硫 (Level 58)
sulphur; sulfur
リュウ
硫化, 硫酸
硫黄
You have found a nice one hiding under 貌. Jisho wouldn’t catch different unicode point, and sometimes alternate Kanji form must not be able to completely replace the original Kanji (?)
I think I found the perfect pace of reading that just feels comfy at my current level and it’s not frying my brain Read through the whole 3rd chapter so I’m currently at page 114 (which I consider pretty nice in just 4 days). Usual cute lil’ story in the life of Yotsuba, raising the issue of global warming (地球温暖化) in a funny way.
Also I wonder what you all think, I noticed at the end of the chapter when yotsuba said “あっちーなー” in my head I thought is she in Niigata prefecture? This sounds like super 新潟弁 to me, I spent a summer at a host family in Niigata and they said 暑い the exact same way. Are there other dialects where they say it this way, or perhaps this is just a coincidence in the manga and some childish whiny way of saying it?
Few words and expressions from today
冷え性 = sensitivity to cold
見損なう = to misjudge (someone in the case of the manga)
Day 8
I finished Your Lie in April manga vol. 3. The manga was slowly improving but they started again with all this concert stuff which is pretty boring to me. I only got the first three volumes free from bookwalker and don’t want to continue reading more of it, even though I enjoyed reading the first three volumes.
Next I started Bakemonogatari manga vol. 2 and it’s pretty challenging which I like.
My approach changed this year. Now I try to understand every little thing when reading. Unlike in the past, I reread a sentence multiple times when needed, until I feel like I understand everything.
I know that technically English reading isn’t quite in the spirit of this challenge since I’ve been fluent for over a decade, but that is all I got for the 8th and today, I read nothing on the 9th. I was too busy and then too tired. And honestly will be tons of busy tomorrow too, but will probably do more English reading (required reading).
I did want to check in though.
Oh I love/hate that feeling. It means I really loved it but also want more. xD I look forward to having that experience or the lost in book feeling with a Japanese book.
Day 10: January 10th
What did I read?: おでかけ子ザメ2
How much did I read?: 8 pages
How long did it take me?: 2 min
Honestly this barely even counts, there were like three whole words, but I’m counting it No pictures today either, sorry I’m so stressed out, I have a very busy and stressful period coming up (starting in earnest with tomorrow) - last Friday, my stress over this coming up kind of ran rampant until it burned itself out, so I was ok for a few days, but now it is back and I’m just
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Oh, I have more opens trenchcoat filled with cute manga
Lmao but in all seriousness, I love sharing my cute manga so I’m glad you enjoy them Though I can’t take full credit for the aquarium manga, I know I got that one from someone else in a previous challenge I didn’t realize it was a book club nomination too lol
Whoa, that’s a lot! Yay indeed, congrats on finishing your technical first novel
Ok but actually though, English is my first language and I still find myself wanting to somehow incorporate this into the challenge sometimes I don’t read in English at all anymore even though I used to be such a bookworm when I was younger, I don’t like it I stg my brain is just broken, I hate adulthood so much
Anyway - what I think I’m trying to say is, it’s ok, I’ll allow it
One of my goals for this year is to be more consistent with my English reading, so I hear you like a lot!
So I definitely plan to keep tracking it here, I just don’t generally do updates if all I read was in English. But right now I’m super busy and there is no room to add in reading in language I’m not fully comfortable with…
Continuation of 1月9日
I actually started and finished chapter 1 of チュベローズで待ってる. No joke, it reads fast even with all the kanji and vocab that stumped me. I wasn’t even going to check it out at first. An idol writing a book just sounded like a good way to collect more money from fans
And then the sudden popularity continued to nag me until I looked up the synopsis and more about the author. (Apparently he cranks out a novel about every year) I honestly thought it would be a dramatic romance but the idea behind exploring the depressing reality of the job hunting experience in Japan and the even less acknowledged hosting life intrigued me. And with the special Bookwalker sale at the time I was bought.
1月10日
I finished chapter 1 of 世界から猫が消えたなら, and the dark humor makes it fun to read. My expectations of the book changed while reading, but I think it was for the better. I was kind of expecting a more depressing tone with philosophical musings. While there are things the author muses about that make you feel sorry for him, his exchanges with the devil can be downright silly, so it feels light-hearted.
There’s a lot of dialogue exchange so it reads fast. There’s not too many lookups either, so it’s manageable to read as a paperback.
I’ve been so busy today. Just errands and to-do tasks and N1 prep and ugh. I dragged myself through the ユージニア reading and now it’s past time to get into bed. I have a social engagement tomorrow so I don’t know if I’ll even have time for チュベローズ, but if nothing else Friday should be clear for reading! Maybe. A friend might be coming into town…
I had that thought to until the first line That is not a pretty boy trying to be pretty at all. It was clear from his interview too on the book channel that he really, really enjoys reading and he likes reading dark things. I wanna say he said something like “I hate happy endings” when talking about Catcher in the Rye.
Belated update for the last couple of days. Although it looks like one day was much better than the other they sort of morph into one as I was on a plane.
So I did get quite a bit done, only book club reading left for this week is おばちゃんたちのいるところ story 11 which I’m planning to read on the Shinkansen. So,if I do any reading tonight it’ll probably be チュベローズ。
The day kind of got away from me (translation: distractions EVERYWHERE), so I read a story on Satori Reader to keep the streak going. Hopefully I’ll focus more tomorrow so I can chip away at one of my books (maybe 冬物語, maybe 授乳).
Home 
１月１０日 
more pages than you could do when you started learning! as you read more, your reading speed will increase, and you’ll be able to fit more pages into your schedule.
Slowly continuing with ジャム屋さん on Satori. The compound sentence are kinda hard to keep track of but the individual phases seem easier than in the mouse story. (Or maybe it’s just me? I do like tea and jam.)
! another excellent chapter, with some added lore this time (rather than just a vignette) with the knowledge that 
The Tanuki Kotatsu Reading Den 
Read through the whole 3rd chapter so I’m currently at page 114 (which I consider pretty nice in just 4 days). Usual cute lil’ story in the life of Yotsuba, raising the issue of 
No pictures today either, sorry 
opens trenchcoat filled with cute manga
Though I can’t take full credit for the aquarium manga, I know I got that one from someone else in a previous challenge I didn’t realize it was a book club nomination too lol
Yay indeed, congrats on finishing your technical first novel 
I stg my brain is just broken, I hate adulthood so much
I have a social engagement tomorrow so I don’t know if I’ll even have time for チュベローズ, but if nothing else Friday should be clear for reading! Maybe. A friend might be coming into town…
