2024 Bingo Reading Challenge ☑️

omk3 · May 28, 2024, 7:48pm

Freezer Husband for free to read! It could also count as a bad cover (notice a pattern in the kind of covers I dislike?), but anything else free to read would need to be Aozora, and therefore an even worse cover (as in non-existent).

Jintor · May 29, 2024, 6:49am

Checking in on my card

For the ‘read something for free’ I read this short 10page manga: 【今日の10ページ】夕焼けは晴れ - 夕海 / 今日の10ページ『夕焼けは晴れ』夕海 | MAGCOMI
Frieren got a Shogakukan Manga award so that marks that square off, as does Look Back
I’m in like a half dozen bookclubs
テレワァク与太話 is about telework, so by default it was about a workplace, so that counts
I finished ヒナのままじゃだめですか? : 3 | L20 at 3 volumes, so that completes a series.

First bingo!

nikoru · May 29, 2024, 9:31am

Congrats!

You should next read a debut, just for the sake of the pattern’s beauty

Jintor · May 29, 2024, 9:32am

I wish that info was a bit easier to find on Natively!

eefara · May 29, 2024, 11:03am

Could pick an author you enjoy reading and look up what they debuted with.

mic · May 29, 2024, 11:27am

Frieren is also a non-human protagonist.

Naphthalene · May 30, 2024, 3:14am

Two additions: 献灯使 | L39 (elderly main character) and スレイヤーズ 1 | L36 (has a media adaptation). There are a bunch of other things I could have put them down as, but what ever. Again, I’ll start thinking about that when it starts getting hard.

Previous stuff

“hardest ever” 春琴抄 | L52??
“what should I read next” どうも、噂の悪女でございます聖女の力は差し上げるので、私はお暇頂戴しますベリーズファンタジー | L30??
“ultimate random” このたび不本意ながら、神様の花嫁になりました1巻 | L24??
“finish a series” (technically just the latest published volume): TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 9 下 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を~ | L40
Fiction of non-fic: ドッグスレッド 2 | L26 (partial, but I’ll take it)
Untranslated: TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 4 上 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を~ | L40 | Natively (kinda feels like cheating, but it’s true).
Vol2: 葬送のフリーレン 2 | L25 | Natively
Book club: 今日からマのつく自由業! | L33 | Natively
New to me author: 東京ヒゴロ 1 | L28 | Natively
In a single day: 蟲師 1 | L29 | Natively
Contains a character that speaks a dialect: 神様はじめました | L28 | Natively(putting the series because I don’t remember in which volume she appears first)
Bad cover: TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 2 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を | L40 | Natively
Chosen for me: BANANA FISH 1 | L33 | Natively
Webstore suggestion: TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 3 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を~ | L40 | Natively
Added by you: ドッグスレッド 1 | L28?? | Natively
Published 2020~ TRPGプレイヤーが異世界で最強ビルドを目指す 1 ~ヘンダーソン氏の福音を~ | L40 | Natively (that means I am using different volumes from the same series twice, but I guess that’s legit?)
神社⛩️ 神様はじめました第1巻 | L28 | Natively
0~1 kanji in the title BANANA FISH 2 | L33 | Natively (already used volume 1)

Looking through some of my “TBR next in series”, I found one LN where the next two volumes were published in 2007 so I could fill that spot plus “published in 2007” (the year I started learning Japanese) between the two of them.

Other than that, I now have a line and a column with 4 Xs! I could go for longest in TBR or shortest book next. Oldest bought (not read yet) is ノルウェイの森 (1) | L32 I got it, along with the 下 half for 105 jpy each back in 2009, so they could also work for “cheapest (not free)”. I don’t think I have anything cheaper than that (that I haven’t read yet). Finding a book I can’t remember adding to my TBR or from a male author seems trivially easy.

enbyboiwonder · May 30, 2024, 3:58am

May 29:
a book chosen randomly: SPY×FAMILY 家族の肖像

I actually used a coin-flip website to choose this one lol (first choose between my not-sports shelf and my sports shelf, then divide in half until I reach 1)

And now this makes 3 bings! (4 corners, last row, last column)

omk3 · May 30, 2024, 3:55pm

With 神去なあなあ夜話 I finished a series (great idea, @GreenSeaTurtle !), and all of a sudden I have 4 bingos (if we count the four corners, which I had no idea we can count).

Only 3 more squares to complete the bingo. Strangely enough, the one that’s giving me the most trouble is the random one. Whenever I try a random number generator I’m quick to dismiss its result, and not even because I never like the book it points to. It just somehow feels too easy to take seriously. Maybe I should try the coin-flip idea. Slowly narrowing down the list of potential books sounds more satisfying for some reason.

GreenSeaTurtle · June 2, 2024, 6:01pm

Same as @omk3 (not surprising really, we read it together in an informal book club - thanks again!), I have finished 神去なあなあ夜話 | L34 and will use it for the “finish a series” square.

previously filled squares

GreenSeaTurtle · June 9, 2024, 7:55pm

I finished https://learnnatively.com/book/2c1e37ec2e/ and use it for the „book club“ square.
Not that interesting for me, unfortunately. It was okay, nothing more.

previously filled squares

Naphthalene · June 10, 2024, 12:59am

Two more additions:
銀河鉄道の夜 | L32 as my shortest TBR. Could have been used as “published before 1940”, though
後宮の烏 | L35 finally finished the book club pick I don’t know why, but the inspiration just struck me yesterday and I read the remaining half (when I disappeared from the club) in a single sitting. I enjoyed the book over all, even though the setting feels a bit contrived and messy in the end. I’m putting it down as “no middle- or high-schooler”. Technically, the main character is 16, but her behavior is more in line with a much older woman (and her speech pattern is in Yer Olde Yamato-go, which increases that impression), so I’m still counting it. If anything, 九九 sounds like a teenage girl, despite being older than that (I think; there’s no mention of her age that I could find in the book or on the internet).

By the way, looking at the last column, I was confused a bit by the difference between “lowest level” and “TBR easiest”. I found my notes, and, note to self in case I forget again, “lowest level” is “lowest level ever” (i.e., equal to or lower than my easiest logged book). Man, what a challenging column (well, cheapest not free and workplace do compensate for that a bit).

Previous stuff

pm215 · June 12, 2024, 7:56pm

I stretched a point a little and used 謎解きはディナーのあとで 3 | L31 for “book you read despite its cover”. I don’t think the cover is the worst thing I’ve ever seen, and it arguably fits the book’s mystery/humour style, but I’m not a fan of it:

nikoru · June 12, 2024, 8:44pm

I cannot see any stretched point whatsoever…

enbyboiwonder · June 13, 2024, 12:03am

Why’s the green-haired guy in a different art style… I probably wouldn’t mind it if not for that.

(I’m also working on my “bad cover” one but it’s pry gonna be a while. I keep playing viddy games instead…)

Phryne · June 21, 2024, 9:42am

Thanks, very useful!

This looks fun. Let’s see how many squares I can polish off in the second half of this year.

Filled
Finish a series・シメジシミュレーション 05・L28

In progress
Read a book that you added to Natively・これで古典がよくわかる・L28?
Read something with no reviews/gradings/ratings on Natively・望月光の古文教室古典文法編・L28?

bungakushoujo · June 21, 2024, 1:36pm

Oh, I have this book too! I’ve owned it for years after randomly purchasing at a bookstore in Japan. Surprised to see someone else with it on here. I look forward to your thoughts about it, maybe it’ll inspire me to finally read it.

nikoru · June 21, 2024, 2:59pm

Thanks to the WK Summer Solstice Readathon I read 冗談に殺す | L35 today - ok it’s only 25 pages but this way I managed to get my next entry in the Bingo

Also, it is nice to see that I managed to fill half the spots after half of the year passed

My next field will probably be the Nonfiction one, with アンダーグラウンド | L33 - I still have more than 500 pages left, so this will take a while

Phryne · June 21, 2024, 6:38pm

About 40% of the way through at the moment. I’d say it’s a pretty good introduction to the history of the Japanese writing system and literature. It’s clear that he’s writing for an audience that has been traumatised by their high school experiences of classical Japanese literature He does a pretty good job of making the subject matter understandable: he uses a lot of analogies and refers back to knowledge gained from earlier chapters where necessary. I am finding it very easy to follow along with and quite interesting.

Incidentally, I think it’s excellent reading practice for N2, because it’s written in a similar style with similar essay-y grammar points.

taiyousea · June 22, 2024, 8:05pm

Recent completions:

Non-Fiction: 今日もお疲れさま! 超回復めし (Cookbook) (L26)
Someone’s Favorite Book/Series: 四月は君の嘘 (L23) recommended by Javerend
Finish a Series: ちいさな森のオオカミちゃん Vol. 2 (L15)

I also participated in the Summer Solstice Readathon on WK and knocked out several volumes in one day, including the two manga above! I finished my non-fiction choice back in May but forgot to update my bingo sheet. I’m purposefully avoiding completing a row until I’m ready to black out the entire card