Interesting! That was the one I assumed was a fictional book!
This was an interesting week. I like this character and I hope things are going the way I think they are going.
天 地 小口 - interesting that these can all be used to describe parts of a book.
憚られた - liked this kanji
懇意 - liked the first kanji in this word and then realised this is a word I once learned and have long since forgotten on WaniKani!
The meeting with 木澤さん was tough. This is the person that waltzed into your company and took your job, and now calls you to the door and gives you menial jobs to do. However, she has given the chance to meet みづえ先生 so things are looking up…
BTW: Natsumi has been given the felt globe, which leaves two objects from the book cover for the last chapter. Will the narrator in chapter 4 be given the plane or the crab - or both?
EDIT: Oops, there are 2 chapters/stories left, so we will probably continue to have one object per story.
I like the flip from the first story. That story’s character asked for adult books, and got a children’s book as a bonus recommendation - this story’s character asked for children’s books, and got an adult book as a bonus.
This story’s character is the first one to receive what seems to be a more straightforward self help book. The other two had bonus book recommendations that changed their thinking in quite unpredictable ways.
Looking forward to finding out the role of the globe, it seems almost impossible to try and predict!
They are obviously quite flexible words! The context was she was looking at a book in the library and examining the outside. They commented on the 天 (the top of the book), the 地 (bottom - of a package, book, etc.), and the 小口 (the cut ends of the pages).
This week’s comments are all very interesting and I am glad they were shared.
Especially @Micki pointing out that 天 and 地 were book parts! I caught the 小口, but after staring long and hard at the book cover @2000kanji linked in the comment, I concluded the descriptions were of the deep blue heavens/space (天) and the earth (地) image. Very poetic way to describe book parts. And as this book is about books, I am happy to learn this kind of detail !
Also really neat to read from @pm215 that the 解説 (dust cover “blurb” Edit: not a blurb. see below) is by the author of the book Natsumi received. With the wool felt figures on the front, and the blurb, there are little clues to the story sprinkled all over the cover of the book. It is the same in translated books? It seems so thoughtfully put together.
Story-wise
when I read Komachi-san’s description to Natsumi that the biggest struggle you make in your life is when you are born, I wasn’t as moved by this encouragement? Partly because I remember nothing prior to the age of three…
Nice chapter! Looking forward to how it all settles down.
reply
That was how Natsumi saw it, but I wonder if it is even true. It might be so that Kizawa really wants to switch places and live by the schedule. Sometimes envy goes both ways
The 解説 is the short essay in the back of the book (this one’s six pages). I don’t actually know what the Japanese word for the back cover blurb would be…
なるほど。。。thanks for clarifying that! I now see the 解説 at the end of the book. I don’t recall encountering this kind of thing at the end of English books (maybe this is an afterword… I’ve never paid attention to this detail apparently…), but I remember there was one for 変な家, i think. The dust cover on my book has a short paragraph from 石井ゆかり that I assumed was the 解説, but this must be an excerpt…?
It does seem to be a Japanese publishing thing but not an English one: I think most Japanese novels (but not light novels) have some kind of 解説, and I’ve seen several which make reference to the fact that some potential readers in bookshops will turn to the 解説 first, to see if it convinces them that the book is worth reading. The 解説 tends to focus on why the author is so great or what the 解説 writer liked about the book, and may include a short mostly-spoiler-free summary of what the book is about.
An afterword, I think, is usually written by the author rather than a third party; in Japanese this is the あとがき. This one does turn up in light novels: usually the author talks a bit about why they wrote the book or some minor stuff about their personal life, thanks various publishing and editorial staff, thanks the reader for reading and hopes to see them in the next volume.
This clarification is so helpful, thank you! I just checked and 変な家 had an あとがき not 解説。hmmm. I am looking forward to checking the 解説 of books the next time I have the chance.
home thread
