📚📚 Read every day challenge - Fall 2022 🍁🍂

Earliest would probably be January sometime - I have several stacked book clubs through the end of the year :sweat_smile: Since it’s informal we definitely have wiggle room

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In the year 20XX, every single Japanese author will have a simultaneously-ongoing WaniKani book club…

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Main Post

Read a lot of One Piece this week, managed to read through the rest of the East Blue Saga pretty fast. Series really came together since arlong park.

It was neat to go experience this part of the series again. Little sad it’s over, but I think after reading it for a while it’s a nice change of pace to read something else. So tomorrow I’ll start reading the girl who leapt through time.

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October 15-16 :heavy_check_mark: :crab: (actually :parrot:)

化身 , 83-100% :tada:

I did it! I finally finished the book! I feel like it’s the book that took me the longest in actual reading days for some reason, although it wasn’t an especially long one.

Verdict: Not horror. A little dark in places, maybe, and a tiny touch of the supernatural here and there, but nothing you won’t find in “regular” fiction.

I enjoyed it. The third story dragged a bit in places, because there was such a lot of talk about finances, the economy, the stock market, loans, etc, etc, all that boring stuff I usually skip over in any language, but here I wasn’t fluent enough to know what exactly to skip, so it I spent much longer on it than I normally would. The payoff was great though. I loved the ending. :smiling_imp:

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I was reading the story vicariously through your updates, you can not not tell us about the parrot and what was up with that?!?!?!?!? :scream:

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Home post :bookmark: Oct 16 :maple_leaf:

・本好きの下剋上 11 (53% → 56%)

Today’s reading was fun. The 灰色神官達 not knowing what to do at the BBQ party, they basically got a culture shock :joy: At new place, everyone eats at the same time, while at the church servants eat after the nobles are done eating.


I made a plan. Seems like the recommended place to stop for a break in the Honzuki series is after finishing book 16, so that’s the plan. I made a table. I’m assuming I’ll read one book per month. Currently, the table does not include future book clubs. That’s not to say I’m quitting book clubs - I just haven’t thought that far yet :joy: #loading :brain:

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Why did I make a plan like this? It’s so I won’t have to wonder what I’m going to read next. I’m patiently waiting for the right time to resume Kusuriya. Also, I like the thought of finishing at least one book per month, but hopefully I can go faster than that. (Currently aiming and stretching for the goal of finishing both Honzuki 11 and Spice & Wolf before Halloween :jack_o_lantern: :ghost: )

As for SAO next summer, I somehow acquired the second book in the Progressive series on bookwalker (probably by coins/sale), so I might as well read it. And summer vacation is kinda like a traditional SAO time for me at this point :joy:

Disclaimer: If at any point a new volume of わたしの幸せな結婚 drops out of nowhere, I might abandon suspend any and all plans :eyes:

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You’re right, I’m sorry! :sweat_smile: Here is a (not very brief) summary of the story:

The father and mother are self-employed designers working from home. They used to do quite well financially, but after the Japanese economy collapsed, they are having a harder time and struggling a little. So when the middle-school-aged daughter asks for a pet parrot, the father is initially very hesitant because of the extra cost. But in the end he gives in, and when they go to the pet shop he personally chooses an albino parrot way over their budget because he feels a connection with him. The family falls in love with the parrot, and are pampering him like a newborn baby. They call him Happy. They say birds bring good fortune, the father thinks, let’s hope he brings us some.

The father seems a little annoyed by how much attention the women are giving the parrot, and it initially looks like he may be jealous. In fact, he apparently needed some quality time with the parrot too. So late at night, when wife and daughter are asleep and he has finished his work for the day, he takes the parrot out of his cage and talks to him. He talks about his financial worries a lot, even about how expensive keeping a parrot is, among other things. The parrot has started chatting away during the day, but he never speaks during these late night sessions. At least not at first. He listens attentively though, and the father feels he understand everything.

It’s time for the daughter to take exams for her preferred high school, and apparently the choice of school is a source of major anxiety for the family. If she chooses a certain good school to take exams for but fails, they’ll need to send her to a private school instead, and they’re not sure they can afford it. She is sure to enter her second choice of public high school, but shouldn’t she aim for the best? The father worries a lot about that, wanting the best for his daughter’s future but fearing they’ll be broke if they make the wrong choice. One of the nights when he again vents to the parrot, the parrot finally speaks, in a hoarse voice that’s totally different to his cheerful morning voice. And what he says is the name of the school that is the daughter’s first choice. The father, already convinced that the bird understands way more than you’d expect from a bird, rationalizes it as his own decision, and encourages the daughter to take exams for that school. It all goes well, and they’re all happy.

Time passes, and the family’s financial situation gets worse. They get fewer jobs, and these jobs are paid less well than before. They have a loan on the house, another loan for the business, and they are getting very worried. The mother takes a low wage part-time job elsewhere to better help out. The father is in despair. He talks to Happy about it every night, and one night Happy responds again in that strange hoarse voice of his. He says 「オバアチャン」. Happy is a little hard to understand, and his voice is especially hoarse, so the father isn’t sure he heard well. However, the very next day he is notified that his mother had had a stroke, and indeed in a few days she dies. The father may be sad for his mother, but he’s very relieved by the inheritance. It’s a good sum, and their financial worries are postponed.

They use part of the inheritance to pay off one loan, and decide to invest the rest. Leaving it in a bank is not good enough, they reason, so the father decides to invest in stocks. And thus begins his obsession with the stock market (and my despair at all the terms I have no interest in knowing). He wins some, he loses more, and he soon worries that he’s going to lose all their money. Happy the parrot to the rescue, one night he uses his creepy voice to say 「カブ」. The father interprets is as meaning ‘buy stocks’, he does, and is instantly way richer. From then on he only consults Happy, and his net result is always positive. Their nest egg is growing, to the point that he’s now even considering buying a luxury car. Of course he’s so obsessed with the stock market now, he barely eats, he barely leaves his computer screen. His brother comments that he looks sick. His wife wants him to stop, and start designing again. He keeps playing though, wanting to gain at least “a little more” before he quits.

Wanting to prove his wife wrong, the father takes some risky steps in the stock market without Happy’s advice. He fails miserably of course, and is now again very worried about their financial prospects. He’s given up on design for good by now, no more clients and no one is hiring people over 40. He keeps asking Happy for stock market advice, but Happy has something else to say: 「アヤコシヌヨ」. Ayako is the wife’s name. The father immediately runs to check on her, and makes her take medical exams the very next morning. But while he waits outside the hospital, he starts thinking. With the money from the stocks, they had taken a life insurance on them both. The wife dying would see the daughter safe through university, and the loan on the house paid off. Not a bad outcome, financially speaking. The doctors assure the wife she is in perfect health. And the awkward stage starts.

The father keeps asking Happy for financial advice, yet he only repeats the same message. But the wife is in perfect health, and it’s more than a week later. The father, who started all this for the good of his family, and who doesn’t want to lose his wife, still is very much aware of how much her death would help financially. He’s awkward around her, because he’s convinced the parrot is never wrong, so how do you speak to someone who’s about to die? And much as he says he doesn’t want this, he’s growing impatient for the “inevitable”.

When Happy repeats the same thing once again, 「アヤコシヌヨ」, he loses it. "But she’s not dying! You’re lying! ", he accuses the bird. And the bird corrects his diction a little. 「ハヤコシヌヨ」 and then 「ハヤクシヌヨ」。He’d been saying 早く死ぬよ all along. It’s himself who’s dying, the father suddenly realizes as a niggling pain he had in his back starts spreading and he collapses on the floor. This is the best financial outcome for his family, he realizes. If he dies, the family gets the life insurance, and the house loan is written off (don’t ask me why). The father wonders about the bird, whether Happy had been taking decisions all along, or whether another superior being was speaking through him, or what. He comes to terms with his fate, as long as he has this mysterious bird by his side. But the birds just flaps around indifferently.

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Oh god, why did I ask? :exploding_head: :sweat: :joy:

Now more than ever I’m glad I didn’t actually read it myself. :joy:

Thanks for the summery. :smiley:

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:books: :video_game: :maple_leaf: :fallen_leaf: October 15

Played ルーパーズ for 1h and read more 狼と香辛料 than usual but not enough to compensate for yesterday (43% → 47%).

:books: :video_game: :maple_leaf: :fallen_leaf: October 16

Played ルーパーズ for half and hour, completing a chapter. Read some more 狼と香辛料 and I think with this I’m back on track hopefully (47% → 52%).

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:maple_leaf: :jack_o_lantern: :snowflake: :christmas_tree: October 16 :christmas_tree: :snowflake: :jack_o_lantern: :maple_leaf:
Home Post

Orange :tangerine:

I was about to not read tonight then I reminded myself that I don’t have to read a whole chapter of Orange every day, a few pages is fine. Sometimes it is far too easy to fall in the trap of needing to read the same amount as I did the day before (or in this case not yesterday but most days this week).

But I remembered in time that there was no such rule, so I read maybe half a chapter of Orange. I almost read past a good stopping point but recognized it in time.

It feels good to start getting back into routine after a couple of days of chaos.

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Home post

Day 15:

Priority: :rocket: ミニスカ宇宙海賊 1. Getting into the suits, which are apparently fancy.

Free choice: :test_tube: 聖女の魔力は万能です 1. I like other books I’m reading better but this one is just so easy that I end up reaching for it.

O C T w e e k 3
:books:
:rocket::mag: :rocket::wolf: :rocket::mag: :rocket::test_tube: :rocket::mag: :rocket::test_tube: :rocket::test_tube: :comet::boom:

Also, I’m starting to feel motivated to read in Mandarin again. Let’s say I’ll see how I feel about that after week 4.

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October 16th!

Today I read Chapter 24 of Shadow’s House, and finished Volume 2.
I’m really looking forward to finding out what happens next :slight_smile:

(Home Post)

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:lady_beetle: Home :lady_beetle:

October 16

ニャンキーズ
10 - 28

There was some typical anime pervertedness, but at least it makes more sense for cats than it does in anime logic?

13p plus a handful of random others from various doujin.

The more I’m able to read them the more I wonder, wtf did I buy?

I hate discourse

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:fallen_leaf::maple_leaf: October 16 :maple_leaf::fallen_leaf: home post link🏡

I read another page of ごんぎつね. This page was basically just describing how 兵十
fished in the river.

In other news, I’m sad that I broke my streak and didn’t read yesterday :frowning: I meant to read a little before I went to bed but I just fell asleep sigh.

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Summary Post

Day 16: October 16th
What did I read?: 夜の名前を呼んで Vol 2
How much did I read?: 26 pages
How long did it take me?: 43 min

Oh noooo please this chapter was so cute :sob: Rei showed Mira how to make a magic potion :pleading_face: And also turned his own hair temporarily black because he messed up a new potion he was trying to make :joy:

From star-colored hair to 失敗の色 hair :joy:

Can I just appreciate how adorable Rei is, explaining all the things to Mira (hidden because big pictures)

Look at the happiness in his eyes :pleading_face:

And she’s so genuinely interested and taking it so seriously, and he LOVES that, like you can tell how happy he is seeing her “get it” :smiling_face_with_three_hearts: Ahhhhh I love them so much

Look at how excited she is to show him what she did with the leftovers from their potion-making (as they were making the potion, Rei talked about honoring the ingredients by basically not letting anything useful go to waste, so she managed to find a use even for the leftovers that supposedly had no magical properties :smiling_face:)
Look at how adorable his reaction is
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They are actually the cutest :sob:
Also it turns out that the leftover bits she added fixed Rei’s hair, restoring it to its former star-colored glory :joy:

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I finally finished 天使の傷跡 and loved it. I can totally see why it won an award, and yet it still pleased my pulp drama loving heart. Good stuff. I wrote a fuller review on Natively.

I still have a couple books in loose rotation (異世界の名探偵, 自殺行の往復切符, 三体) and then the first book club (of many) starts in a week. My partner hasn’t started 三体 yet, for better or for worse, so my lack of progress there hasn’t been too bad :sweat_smile:

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:house_with_garden: Home post

10月14日

  • 原神

10月15日

  • 原神

10月16日

  • 原神
  • ルーパーズ (~1300c)

Updating the last few days. I’m having a lot of fun with 原神, it’s such a gorgeous game both visually and musically, despite the absolute trash gacha system. I’m lucky I don’t get hooked on gachas so I don’t feel at risk of spending money, I’m going free2play completely. Even then, it’s still so nice that I can experience the whole game and story for free. Of course it’s nice when you get a character you like every now and then but I’m honestly just playing this for the story and exploration so I don’t mind it much. The voice acting is also really nice, it has a great cast, and it’s fun to recognise VAs that have also worked on FFXIV.

Hey thanks! I think the issue I was having is that Textractor wasn’t recognising any useful hooks that showed the actual text, all the hooks were completely useless. It’s been a while since I tried it so I’m not sure I remember exactly, but I think that was about it. It does recognise the game, it’s just the hooks that were terrible. Were you able to get any that showed the text?

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October 16 :maple_leaf: Home Post

Stayed up probably later than I should have reading some more ブルーロック but I’m just really enjoying it, there are a lot of fun character things happening which is my bread and butter so it’s been a great time! Feels good to be reading a bit more consistently again :grin:

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:jack_o_lantern: October 16th :jack_o_lantern: (Home Post Link)

I didn’t even realize until today that we’re more than a quarter of the way through the challenge already!

Read よつばと!Chs 50, 51, and 52. There was an exchange in one of the chapters that I felt lost enough on that I opened up an english version of the manga to check what was happening and wow the english translation treats these characters so differently. I’m sure it’s consistent within its own narrative, but it was jarring to switch from one to the other. Really reminds you that translation is never a neutral thing, and I wonder how many other things I’ve read that would be written differently (for better or worse, it can absolutely go both ways) in japanese versus in english.

Good Words

招待「しょうたい」ー invitation
邪魔「じゃま」ー hindrance, nuisance
珍しい「めずらしい」ー rare, unusual
ブス ー ugly
要らん「いらん」ー I don’t need/want it (kansai, exp)
屋敷「やしき」ー residence, grounds
食券「しょうけん」ー meal ticket
不評「ふひょう」ー bad reputation
包み「つつみ」ー bundle, package (wrapped)
尤も「もっとも」ー reasonable, natural
長靴「ながぐつ」ー rain boots
着替え「きがえ」ー changing clothes
柿「かき」ー japanese persimmon (kaki)
広げる「ひろげる」ー to open up (here, 傘)

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:books: :maple_leaf: softlyraining’s spooky book stack :jack_o_lantern: :open_book:

October 16th:
:red_square: 名探偵コナン (5% → 17%)

Read some more Conan this evening. I finally got to meet Ran and witness Shinichi solve a case from start to finish (rather than the glimpse of a case’s end that happens at the start of the volume). Ran getting annoyed with how much he talks about Arthur Conan Doyle is pretty amusing. :grin: Still waiting for him to become the character design he’s most famous for. While I run into words I don’t immediately know the meaning of, it’s a pretty good read overall: comprehensible with a bit of a challenge. I don’t think I’ll be able to read 6 volumes of it before the month’s over, but I could see myself reading some more beyond this one. (That being said, I’d only read this digitally; I’m not gonna figure out shelf space for 100+ volumes of this manga.)

How positively Howl of him. :laughing: (I know that was more because of Sophie, but whatever, I’m making the joke.) This manga looks like a ton of fun! Glad you’re enjoying it. :smile:

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