📚📚 Read every day challenge - Winter 2023 ☃❄

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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.

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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:

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: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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:snowflake: :snowman: Home Post :snowman: :snowflake:

January 6th.

What: ハイキュー!! volume 1
Pages: 8
Time: 10 minutes

Another short read day… Not much time this evening since I had dinner with a friend after work. It’s weekend now so I’m all fired up about reading more tomorrow, hehe. Have a nice weekend, everyone! I’m very much looking forward to sleeping in :relieved:

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I know in some dialects there’s a gender-neutral わ which is spoken with a falling intonation, which is different from the feminine わ which is spoken with a rising intonation (not that you get that in text though lmao), so when you see men who aren’t effeminate or otherwise queer-coded, then that’s probably it

Off the top of my head there’s Fukuiben, though I can’t remember if Kansaiben also has it? There’s quite a bit of overlap between them, so it might. I just know I’ve seen male characters in multiple manga use this gender-neutral わ whom I know weren’t speaking Fukuiben (lol and I was just reading a series where some of the characters speak Kansaiben, I feel like I should remember if any of them used わ)

Update: It does, multiple male Kansaiben-speakers have used it.

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January 5th & 6th (Days 5 & 6) :snowflake: :cat2:

Home post :books:

Yesterday, my friends unexpectedly showed up at my door and whisked me away before I could write my post - so this will be my update for both yesterday and today.

I finished reading the second half of chapter 10, and read most of chapter 11 of 海辺のカフカ. Today, I finished the last three pages of chapter 11, but felt too tired to continue any further. I can’t believe I am almost halfway through the first part of the book! Currently at 20%.

Interesting words

蜘蛛の子 [くものこ] - baby spider
携帯魔法瓶 [けいたいまほうびん] - thermos
枕もとの明かり [まくらもとのあかり] - bedside lamp
ぶちの猫 [ぶちのねこ] - tabby cat

I didn’t read any Russian yesterday, but today I finished the last short story in the collection - Конец бульки и Мильтона (The end of Bulka and Milton). To be honest, I am excited to be moving onto reading something else (and hopefully more interesting)! I think I may start with Bulgakov’s Morphine. Until very recently I wasn’t aware that Bulgakov also wrote more realistic fiction - so I am curious to see how it will compare to his other works.


Happy belated birthday @lucylavelle! :tada: :birthday:

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:bookmark: Home post // Jan 6 :snowman_with_snow: :snowflake:

・ 本好きの下克上 16 (35% → 37%)

Today was an oddly satisfying day. Woke up way too early, but then fell back to sleep after eating breakfast, so in the end I got enough sleep. Was very productive doing chores/errands and a bit of studying. Ended up not having much time for reading, but I enjoyed the tiny read nonetheless :3

I’ll try reading Saikawa and Moe tomorrow, haven’t done so this whole week.

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January 6 :heavy_check_mark: :clinking_glasses:

チュベローズで待ってる AGE22, start-17%

Today I started チュベローズで待ってる AGE22 with the informal club, and read the first three chapters. The books is off to a great start, curious to see where it goes.

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Finished ユージニア just barely in time for the next assignment and started チュベローズ which is just…a hilarious name to me. I wonder if it sounds cute or sexy or nice to Japanese people? Because while the English name is ‘tuberose’ too, the feeling I have is neutral at best.
That said I’ve only read the first chapter and I’m already excited about it, hoping I can read more tonight.

I hear men say わ all the time when watching youtube or listening to podcasts and stuff, but I feel like I rarely see it in writing unless it’s women speaking.

edit: omg how many typos can I make in one post? :person_facepalming:

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:books: :snowflake: softlyraining’s snowy book stack :snowboarder: :open_book:

January 6th

:orange_square: ラストで君は「まさか!」と言う 冬の物語 (40% → 48%)

Okay, so, I glanced at the timer while I read the first story, and I was on the second page when it said roughly 1 minute and 45 seconds had passed…I honestly don’t think I could read 8 pages in 3 minutes in English, let alone Japanese! I also felt myself rushing, though after maybe 5 pages in just decided to read normally. My total reading time for this story (花を抱いた人) was 14 minutes and 48 seconds. The story itself was fine; I don’t really have anything positive or negative to say about it.

The second story (抜け道), which was also 8 pages long, took me 20 minutes and 57 seconds to read. :tired_face: This one had a lot of vocabulary that I didn’t understand, and I’m not even entirely sure I’m clear on what the premise was. Granted, I generally don’t look up words when reading from this book. I guess it’s nice that my method’s worked out pretty well up until this story, at least.

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January 6th!

Today I read a chapter of Happiness.
I also did some reading practise with my tutor today, we were practising writing polite emails so we read an example.

(Home Post)

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2023-01-07T01:30:00Z

Well, that’s quite a polite way of saying tasteless. Unless in Japanese, a bland and dull taste is a more positive thing than in English?

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Summary post

Day 6: January 6th
What did I read?: 夜の名前を呼んで Vol 3
How much did I read?: 24 pages
How long did it take me?: 19 min

Pretty easy breezy chapter today, but we got to see how far Mira has come since she first came to live with Rei :smiling_face: She had a nice day home alone, getting all the chores done with her little shadow buddies.

Rei came back a little bit late and he was clearly running the whole way there :joy: My cute little disheveled bean :heart:

Replies!

omg that’s so cute :pleading_face: I think they would definitely get along :joy:

ALWAYS CUTE SHARKS :shark: :shark: :shark:

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