Welcome to the community!
For the Absolute Beginner Book Club, we routinely vote on the next item we’ll read.
Once an item has been voted on, it gets its own thread with a reading scheduled included.
Following the schedule, a new thread is posted each week to contain discussion on that week’s material.
For example, the current pick is a manga called Happiness, which has its own home thread. Participants are recommended to set the home thread as “Tracking” or “Watching”, so they will know when there is a new post (such as a weekly thread).
This manga is on its second week, which has its own weekly discussion thread. Here, discussion includes anything about that week’s material, whether it be to ask about grammar, request clarification on what a sentence means, or just talk about what’s going on with the story and characters. It’s likewise recommended to put each weekly thread on “Tracking” or “Watching” so you can follow along with the discussion.
As one book club gets near completion, voting takes place on this thread here for the next item to read, and anyone can nominate a book or manga that looks like it’s Absolute Beginner-friendly to be voted on for reading.
Most anything we read in the Absolute Beginner Book Club will have furigana readings beside the kanji, so your WaniKani level actually won’t impact your ability to read along!
The two determining factors will be:
- How much grammar do you know?
It’s best to have some background in grammar, or you will be completely lost.
For someone in this position, they may want to read through Genki I, or several chapters of Tae Kim’s online guide, or watch the first 20 or 30 Cure Dolly “Japanese From Scratch” videos on YouTube.
You don’t need to understand basic grammar deeply to begin, as that becomes easier once you get into reading.
It’s tough at first if you’ve never read native material beyond example sentences in a textbook.
- How much vocabulary do you know?
This is where being on a higher WaniKani level is helpful because you’ll recognize more words. As a counter to this, the book clubs provide a vocabulary sheet that some participants help fill out as they go. That means you don’t even have to look up as many unknown words, as you’ll have many of them already looked up and listed for you.
The current club is about to reach week three, but it’s not too late to jump in and follow a little behind schedule.
Or if the series doesn’t sound interesting to you, the first post in this thread includes a list of “Previous Books”, one of which may be interesting. These previous reads also have vocabulary lists and discussions, and you can still ask questions in the threads. You do lose the feeling of active participation, but there’s a wealth of knowledge that you can take in at your own pace.