not set in Korea - 비정근
A substitute teacher who doesn’t actually like teaching goes to diff schools and…solves mysteries that happen there? LMAO. Like a student gets poisoned at school, a teacher apparently kills himself at school, etc. Sounds dark but it’s pretty chill and an easy read.
Apparently early ish Keigo Higashino. I had no idea it’d be unconnected stories with the same main character (plus two random short stories at the end) cause I probably wouldn’t have read it if a knew. Got bored of the MC being some genius solving them all so easily by the third story lol. Oh, but yeah they’re all set in like different Japanese towns/schools since it’s translated from Japanese.
keep hearing about it - 죽이고 싶은 아이
Fun! Glad I read it. YA is not really what I’m looking to read these days, but I’m glad I caved. Read it in a weekend. Will probably read the sequel at some point…
new topic to me - 뒤틀린 집
Ghosts. A little creepy, which I like. But I hated one character and it got a little frustrating to read by the end bc of that. But I liked all the new vocab!
non-human protagonist - 긴긴밤
I thought it’d be a cute, easy chapter book for kids but…I was crying…I feel like this is a book for all ages lol idk if it’d hit as hard being a kid tbh. The parents who read this book to or with their kids must be bawling ahahahah.
Very late to join the challenge but I’m filling my first square with Q&A | L31 and using it for “Set in a country that is not where the books language is spoken”. It’s a kind of generous interpretation since the book doesn’t specify where it’s set but it seems to not be in Japan at least so I’m counting it
I get excited every time I finish a book because 1) I can add to my bingo and post here and 2) I get closer to my overall goal of 100 non-webtoon books read in Korean (77/100!).
I moved 은둔형 외톨이의 마법 to “shared hobby with MC” because the MC likes reading, and because 기억술사, which I just finished, is WAY more of a “book about books.” It was a very light and easy read with a tiny bit of suspense. I definitely think it could be a good pick for the Korean book club.
Somehow I still haven’t finished a bingo.
I also keep saying which books I’m going to read next and it ends up being a total lie. Well, I started reading 백야행 1 at least (5% in lol), and I pulled 세상의 마지막 기차역 off my shelf, because one of my goals this year is to read some of the books I bought years ago that were too hard for me back then. 불편한 편의점 was one, and others include 세상의 마지막 기차역, 타워, 민트의 세계 (will probably be in the “books I dropped” category), 얼마나 닮았는가, and some philosophy book.
In other news, I am 30 words from 19k known words on Kimchi Reader! I can’t wait to get to 20k, but it’s going to be a huge slog…
no bingos yet but did get the Cute BL Romance Square done today and got the first vol of GLT done yesterday in a single read with the spring readathon. Only 5 more vol to actually read (the first fol was a reread)
The BL was cute, fluffy, easy, and SFW
(need to finish this story - two more vols to read)
Just finished とんこつQ&A. It has been nominated for an award, I hadn’t read the blurb, and it may or may not be the latest published in my 積読 (I have 50+ books in there and I’ll need to look them up one by one to be sure either way). For now I’m entering it as nominated for an award (第39回織田作之助賞), but may change later.
Edit: So I had a quick look and it seems to be indeed the last published in my library (2022). So here’s the changed card:
I’m almost done with the Natively level not yet covered, and that will give me my first bingo!
Now to find a cat book… (i have several wishlisted, what i do need to find is the will to read one of them.)
I didn’t love [라르고][BL] 아빠와 나와 가족이 되자 | L22 but I did finish it
It was at level 20 when I read it, and somehow I guess my ratings made it climb to 22? Which is strange because I agreed with the level 20 rating.
In any case, it’s my first time reading a level 20 and/or 22 book, so here goes! My first bingo!
By the way, if anyone still needs the “retired character” bingo square I have set up an informal book club to read おらおらでひとりいぐも | L30??! So far it is just @Akashelia and I, but anyone is welcome to join! I will be starting around April 1st.
It was a wild ride but I definitely had fun with it! Not what I expected when I picked up a Japanese novel for the first time in a while but I’m really impressed how despite the wild turns everything felt well tied together in the end
I see we‘re on the same page here!
In between I had a few „oh come on…!“ moments but looking back it was a very good story. I also liked the style with the questions and the diary. Sadly the author doesn’t seem to have written any other books though.
No bingo yet, but I am on track to get one in April
Previous squares
January:
Category: Read a book and its adaptation
I read シャドーハウス Vol 1 (Shadows House) and watched the first 2 anime episodes that perfectly cover Volume 1. It was great - definitely recommend!
昴とスーさん 1巻 | L22Category: unusual genre for me. I’ve never read a slice of life manga, and this also has other elements I don’t want to spoil that I’ve not approached yet. I left the first review if anyone is interested, I definitely recommend.
しろくまカフェbis 3 | L19Category: favorite color cover (I love green and blue!). The cute world of panda, polar bear, and penguin can always brighten my day
One word title: ハルタ 2020-AUGUST volume 77 | L31 (I’m tracking the series I’m reading in Harta in Natively separately by volume, but by now I’ve read more than a volume’s worth of one shots and commentary in Harta, I’m going to count it!)
The first book on my board: 呪術廻戦 逝く夏と還る秋. I’m also currently reading another book, 世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 1 インスタント死神・友だちクジ他 for the recommended to you prompt, which means that either Hellsing (birth year) or FMA (disability) could give me my first bingo. ATM though I’m focusing on Witch Hat Atelier, so that’s still another ~month away.
#3 Workplace setting / Character speaks a dialect: 舞妓さんちのまかないさん 12 | L25
I sort of recycled this prompt from last year, but I didn’t get a bingo last year, so it doesn’t really count?
#4 Reread: 気になってる人が男じゃなかった | L25
I don’t think anyone else really liked this bingo prompt idea of mine, but this is my reverse bingo board and I can do what I want! I think rereading is great, especially for language learning. But also I want to remember how the story went before I start reading the newly released third volume!
I thought this would be my “has ghosts” book, judging by the cover, but no. I won’t reveal whether there ghosts or not because that would spoil at least one story, but the best fit is the “didn’t read the blurb” prompt. In fact, not only had I not read the blurb, I didn’t even remember why I had purchased it - at all. I enjoyed it a lot though, so good decision, past self.
It also fits the “no ratings, reviews or gradings prompt”, and I guess also the “dislike the cover” one (that arm). And “new author to me”. I suppose I reserve the right to move it around later if needed, but I was so perplexed about why it was in my library, that I think it’s in the right place.
Sorry for double posting, but I just finished the audiobook I had been listening to for a while now, スマホを落としただけなのに | L27.
As always it fits several prompts, like “only adult cast”, “new author to me” and “audiobook”, but looking at my TBR it’s the only cover that comes close to a colour combination that could be considered among my favourites, so to “favourite colours” it goes.
Oh, and with it I now have read 80 non-manga non-children’s books according to my bookmeter. Only 20 more for an even 100!
