Most prolific Korean learner poster here back with another book finished: 백야행 1 by everyone’s favorite author, 히가시노 게이고. Unfortunately I’m running into errors adding the book to Natively.
Also unfortunately, the book was bad. They were not kidding with the “1.” It was 450 or so pages of buildup to nothing. I’m sure the reward comes in 백야행 2. I feel extremely baited.
The good news is that both 백야행s are set in the 19th century, so I have reason to read the next one. But I’m feeling bitter and I don’t know if I want to trudge through 400 more pages for the payoff.
세상의 마지막 기차역 is under consideration for next book as well.
I hadn’t updated my bingo for the month of March, so here it is! I finished 뜻밖의 계절 | L25 a bit late for the book club, and I’m putting this under “Unknown premise” since when the book club started, I had no recollection of the blurb at all, I just went right in. I didn’t end up liking it much, but at least I finished it.
Next is 뛰어! | L23, which was interesting, warning chidlren about the dangers of global warwing and where we’re all headed if things continue like this. Besides a few problems I had with the plot, it was quite nice overall, and it’s going into the “one word title” square!
남편을 죽이는 서른 가지 방법 | L27 was a really funny one, from the title alone, and it did not disappoint. Lots of prompts that this could fill, but since I was already set on 12시간 뒤 1권 | L26?? for “title with a number” and on 나는 실수로 투명인간을 죽였다 | L32 for “curious title”, I’m gonna be picking “someone else’s card”, that is, ddochi’s.
And last but not least, 길고양이 별이 | L22, which was pretty meh, but for something I read in under an hour, I can’t complain much. This is naturally going into the cat prompt.
Just finished 光が死んだ夏 1 manga for “Curious title”. It was different from what I expected (in a good way). I really enjoyed it, though there was a lot of look ups for me on some pages and one wall of text was intimidating til I figured out I only had about 3 unknown words in it. Not used to seeing walls of text in Manga so wasn’t expecting it to be as straight forward as it was.
Still reading through 坊っちゃん (Junior bunko version) for “One word title” (though mostly at work), and still reading & listening to また、同じ夢を見ていた for “Past book club”. Understanding a lot more for また、同じ夢を見ていた this time, the listening is working like Furigana for me and it’s becoming more comprehensible as I continue with it though I think I had it figured out before I got passed the first chapter.
Weirdly I kind of enjoy truly bad books because I talk about them almost as much as really good books. It’s the books in the middle, that were just fine, that get forgotten.
Well, ‘bad’ was oversimplifying it a bit. It was extremely disappointing because I didn’t expect it to be an incomplete book (literally a part 1). You might be thinking, but it’s called 백야행 1! Well, I’m used to webnovels that are called 1 and 2 and 3, but there are still cool things happening in each book. This was just 520 pages of buildup (I don’t know if it’s actually 520 pages – probably a little less – that’s the count in kimchi reader) to nothing. And I’m reading 백야행 2 and I’m 120 more pages in and still nothing. The slowest of burns.
Finished また、同じ夢を見ていた for “Past book club” this morning before my lesson. Was expecting to take a few more days but instead just powered through it. Got my first bingo
It’ll be a while before I complete another as they are all starting to get into more difficult territory now with most not having Furigana meaning more look ups and a slower pace. I’ll keep the last 2 Furigana containing books for work reading after 坊っちゃん and the other books for at home reading.
Next book for at home reading will be 本を守ろうとする猫の話 for “Favourite colour cover”, then it’s counter part 君を守ろうとする猫の話 for “2nd volume of series”.
生命式 | L31 only fits two prompts for a change: audiobook and previously stopped book. I had in fact started it just before I took a 6-month break from reading Japanese (and reading in general, most of that time) because of lack of time and energy. I had not even finished the first story then, but not because of lack of interest. I’m glad I could get to it before my 聴き放題 audiobook subscription expires.
(by the way, I’ve set a TBR-only rule for my bingo, but I’m counting 聴き放題 books as TBR since they’re available to me without me needing to make a new purchase)
I’m back with another addition to my bingo. I did indeed start reading 백야행 2 immediately and just finished it. It is set in the 19th century, so how could I resist? (yes, I read over 1000 pages of this story)
Good news is I have at least 2 more spots for Japanese mystery novels.
Would I recommend 백야행? No, I would recommend against it. The first half is very uneventful and the second half is incredibly fucked up. The last book I can think of that made me this disgusted was Earthlings by Sayaka Murata. However, I would say that reading the second half was enjoyable and there are a lot of questions lingering in my head. I plan to read some meta commentary on the book and also some reviews because I want to understand why it was recommended to me as one of 히가시노 게이고’s best works.
I would give the second book 3 stars for “I enjoyed it,” with probably 1/2 star being added just for the poetry and meaning of the title of the duology.
Up next: I don’t know if I can trust 히가시노 게이고 anymore tbh. If anyone wants to know more, look out for my review (with content warnings) of 백야행 when I can get the books on the site. There are a few other 히가시노 게이고 books I want to read. Or maybe 세상의 마지막 기차역.
I finally managed to finish 1Q84 BOOK1〈4月‐6月〉後編 | L34 which I had started more than two years ago
To be honest, it didn’t take me so long because it was boring but because I had read it in German before I started learning Japanese, so I did not feel the urgency to continue the story. Now it’s a much smoother read than two years ago, so having waited feels somewhat worthwhile at least
What next? I’ve just started おらおらでひとりいぐも | L30?? to fill my “Character retired” field, and then I should make progress on the “One word title” and “Science fiction” fields in order to get to a bingo… The former is easy, there is plenty of choice, but I am already afraid of the book I’m aiming at for the latter as it is SciFi AND on paper AND from the 70’s 70年代日本SFベスト集成3: 度版 (ちくま文庫 つ 19-5) | L30??
But in the meantime I will turn to something (hopefully) funny: 知ってびっくり! 日本の歴史のお話 後編 | L21 which I’ll read together with @暁のルナ I will count it towards the “no ratings” field as it doesn’t have any ratings as of now (i.e. the time of starting the book) and I don’t want to rush it solely to be the first to give a rating.
that actually sounds delightful I have such an incredible soft spot for old sci-fi and old Japanese writing that the paperback element doesn’t seem bad at all
Just finished 死者におくる花束はない | L30??, a random pick from audiobook’s 聴き放題 because I liked the title. It was a very classic hardboiled mystery -apparently one of the first of its kind in Japan - and very enjoyable.
Once again it fits many prompts: only adult cast, new author to me, audiobook. But I think I’ll add it to no reviews/ratings/gradings, not only because I was the one who added it to Natively, but because even on Bookmeter and Amazon it seems to only have a couple of reviews.
Book club pick 뜻밖의 계절 | L25 for genre I don’t usually read. This was a YA type story with high schoolers, a genre I don’t normally go for on my own unless its something for a book club.
죽이고 싶은 아이 | L25 for past book club pick. I was actually reading this along with the book club schedule back when it was ongoing, but at some point I fell behind and then it somehow took me months to finish?! But now I’ve finally read it
FINALLY finished my second bingo book, Anne of Green Gables, for the “Set where I’ve lived” (Atlantic Canada) square Started this one right before New Years, and just finished it today. Since I was the first to review it on Natively, I also gave it a bonus
Story-wise, this is a classic work and well-loved for a reason. Somehow I never read it in English and had no knowledge of the story outside of “red-headed orphan gets adopted in rural Prince Edward Island”, so I went in with relatively low expectations… but that red-headed orphan completely pulled me in, and I felt the charm of the characters and the island and Anne’s imagination every page from cover to cover.
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Also little reminder, if you use Storygraph you can add your bingo books to the challenge so people can see what books have been read so far! And I also have a (non-exhaustive) Japanese list of candidates for the “Somebody else’s bingo” square, if you need inspiration!
Ah, I didn’t know the new series had started yet! Thanks for the heads up!
I’ve had several people recommend the original 1979 anime to me, so I feel like I have to see that one first… but I think my anime-watching is probably almost as slow as my novel-reading, so it’ll take me a while to get around to either
Finished ツミデミック | L32 and with it my audiobook 聴き放題 subscription. It was a very good book to end my year of audiobooks. Just the right amount of dark, and just the right amount of difficult. And totally gripping, which is rare for me and short story collections.
This could go to “ghost(s)”, surprisingly, “new author to me”, and “audiobook” once again, but I chose the “received award” prompt (Naoki Prize). Don’t ask me why I avoided the obvious bingo. I think something about the card being lopsided didn’t sit right with me. I still reserve the right to move things around later though.
Started this one right before New Years, and just finished it today. Since I was the first to review it on Natively, I also gave it a bonus 
