This might be my last update for a while, but I am very proud to share that I finished what I anticipated to be the hardest bingo square: nonfiction. I HATE nonfiction. I have not willingly read nonfiction in probably 8 years, and when I did read it, it was because the history teacher I had a crush on lent it to me.
I had a few books I was considering for the slot, including one about architecture and one humorous self-help book about the Korean workplace, but when I looked through my Korean e-library and saw one that I assumed to be about Trump, I thought it would be an easy read.
It started strong with an opening chapter about Trump, the figure. Then it swerved into broad predictions for 2024-2028, mostly focusing on international relations, global trade, oil, potential naval warfare between the U.S. and China and the state of U.S. shipbuilding, China’s economic prospects, Japan’s economic prospects, inflation, global debt, and the AI revolution. I wouldn’t say it was unreadable, but it was very difficult to binge last night, as I had to do in order to finish it before the library yoinked it back from me. I learned that the world is cooked, but especially Korea. I also got some great practice in speed-reading in Korean.
I also read 고백, Confession, by a Japanese author. I don’t know how much thematic or literary value it has, but it was at least extremely entertaining and readable. If you like morally gray or black characters, look no further. In the same vein as 용의자들, but much better for me.
I only have 3 squares left, and right now I’m feeling like reading Higashino Keigo, not romance and certainly not a webnovel. Putting books on my bingo card has significantly increased my motivation to read, so I’m not sure what kind of pace I’ll be able to maintain now that my card is almost full. But I do have the goal of 100 books read in Korean to look forward to! (currently at 94)
Is this about a teacher who taints her students’ milk? If so the Japanese title is 告白 and we read it for the mystery club some time back. I personally really loved it, especially the less charming themes of motherhood which were explored.
Yep. The first chapter was explosive for sure. (spoilers) I enjoyed the first three viewpoints the most. Well, I guess I enjoyed the 4th and 5th as well, but they felt cartoonishly evil in some ways. The ending was cathartic in some ways, but I was a bit disappointed that the teacher basically made the evil boy blow up his mom’s lab. I considered her actions just, and was able to justify her (attempting to) infecting the kids with HIV, but not stopping at simply disarming the bomb and choosing to re-arm it at his mother’s lab was kind of insane. I suppose you could say that there was a big focus on how parents, but especially mothers, impact their children while raising them, and that Shuya’s twisted character was the result of his mother’s abuse and abandonment – or at least that the teacher considered it to be so, and so as a mother herself she enacted revenge on another mother. This somewhat disappointed me because I viewed the teacher as just and would honestly have supported her killing either of her daughter’s killers herself, but idk about indirectly killing one of their moms and… now that I think about it, I guess she indirectly killed both of their moms because she actively tried to fan the flames on Naoki. That’s kind of powerful. But while the readers know that Naoki intentionally killed the daughter, I didn’t see any evidence that the teacher knew that, so it comes off as her maliciously tormenting someone who she thought was just caught up in the situation by accident. Which convinced me that every single character is morally gray or black (I would say most of them are impossible to sympathize with when you know the whole story)
I am in awe everytime I see an update of yours, you read so much! Almost a 6*6 black out bingo and still half of the year to go, you’re a bingo wizard. Way to go, you funky little yellow dog!
Hahahaha awww thank you! I’m glad someone likes seeing them, and I like seeing everyone else’s too! This bingo thread has been a huge motivation for me to read more. I would make a 7x7 bingo if only I could find more prompts that I could creatively fit Higashino Keigo books into.
Yeah, I also thought she was a bear at first. There are actually two emoticon packs on KakaoTalk that elucidate this. The first is “춘식이는 고양이” (Choonsik is a cat) and the second is “춘식이는 집순이” (Choonsik is a (female) homebody). All of my former students (Korean middle schoolers) thought she was male, so I had to tell them about the emoticon pack lmao.
For anyone curious, a male homebody = 집돌이. -돌이 and -순이 suffixes are used to denote a male or female person who likes something. 빵순이 = woman who likes bread. 빠돌이 = man who likes idols
Set Where I’ve Lived - 기억술사 1 | L27 a bookclub pick that didn’t live up to expectations but at least it is usefull in filling a bingo spot!
Natively No Ratings - 악의 | L30 I read so much Higashino imma just have to find ways to squeeze them into the board. This wasn’t added to natively yet when we read it so in here it goes.
Unusual Genre To Me - 명탐정의 규칙 | L28?? speaking of squeezing in the Higashino, obv crime isn’t an unusual genre to me but satire/comedy is so I’m putting it here.
previous fills
One Word Title - 하우스메이드 Ironically neither the normal word for housemaid in korean nor the term actually used in the book.
Some else’s Card - 용의자들 nabbed from Sua’s card. I enjoyed it more than she did
Set Outside Korea - 이상한 그림 originally in jp, naturally takes place in Japan
2nd Volume of Series - 죽이고 싶은 아이 2 a sequel that didn’t dissapoint
Curious Title - 너만 모르는 진실 pretty good title for piquing the interest
Favourite Colour Cover - 우린 그림자가 생기지 않는다 awful book, good cover
Rec - 그래서 우리는 사랑을 하지 i don’t see a lot of queer lit recs in kr yet, this short story collection gives you a taste of different authors in the field.
Unknown Premise - 뜻밖의 계절 I picked this one up blind just because it seemed to be on other learners’ read lists so I figured it would be at the right level for me.
If I keep to my current 2-books-per-month pace I’ll have enough to fill my card by the end of the year, but I prefer to choose books on a whim rather than to fit into my board so I guess we’ll see what I can do with the rest of the books I read this year
¯\ _ (ツ) _ /¯
2nd volume of a series:逆転裁判 逆転空港 | L28 , Ace Attorney: Turnabout Airport. I was the first to rate and review this one, so it gets 2 bonus stars!
This mystery had a better set-up in that it wasn’t immediately obvious who committed the murder or how, and it was more compelling given that Odoroki finally gets to join the Ace-Attorney-protagonists-accused-of-murder club. The characters also feel a bit more fleshed out in this one compared to the previous book, and less like the book was just trying to remind you cast members existed when they came up. The repetition does grate a bit, though, and by the end, Naruhodo has failed to prove that Odoroki plausibly didn’t do it and the judge has been on the verge of announcing a guilty verdict so many times that the eventual resolution feels like a fluke and not a hard-won triumph. But overall, I really enjoyed this one as an Ace Attorney fan, and most of the problems I have with it boil down to it being a kids’ book and not a “real” case.
This is the last of my physical bingo-able books that I was planning to read anyway this year, so from here on out I have to actually put some thought into what I’m reading to try to fit books on the board and score a bingo The “Book and an adaptation of it” square will take some time to do, so even though it’s the easiest way to a bingo, I probably won’t be filling that one any time soon… ooh, choices, choices.
Back again! I had a longer bingo pause, since I read the entire yotsuba series, and couldn’t find a slot for them on my bingo card
I started Dr Stone, since everybody was talking about how the anime finally comes to an end. Well, that was bait, but I was already hooked by then so obviously I have to binge read the whole manga now gave me quite a few bingo fields and a bingo, too!
I took quite some freedom in applying bingo fields, but since this is just for fun…
I used “everybody is talking about it”, since that is why I started in the first place. I used “genre I usually don’t read” cause I have no interest in those classic-like shounen, usually. When something is tagged as shounen, I usually don’t even consider it worth watching/reading. I replaced my “adaption” field, since I I stopped watching the “gal to dino” adaption, but watched the whole dr stone anime. I felt the “disability” field was quite a match for the whole “fuzzy eye disease” arch, as they really nailed how the characters suffered from the lack of clear vision. I guess retirement age or older is a stretch, but the main character had been conscious for 3700 years… Not sure about the “no ratings”, since individual books are rarely rated, so I might replace this one in the future. Personally I wouldn’t tag it as “science fiction”, but it’s fiction and it got a lot of science. I’m considering adding it to the “topic I don’t know much about” for the chemistry content, but got to rearrange the books first to fit a chemistry heavy one in there.
Anyway, here goes my updated card and my first three bingos!
I was not quite sure where to put my new entry, 先輩、美味しいですか? 2 | L24. Originally I started reading it without checking any summaries, so my plan was to use it for the Unknown Premise slot, but the title makes it kinda clear what’s it’s going to be about, so I just went with “2nd volume” (though I actually read all three volumes…)
This is a pretty chill Yuri manga centered about two college students and about cooking. There’s some drama involved but it’s very light - it’s mostly about how the two of them start to get closer by cooking together.
Sadly it’s a bit lacking in the character development which makes the romance itself somewhat weak, but it was overall fun.
Though sadly it has no cats
I’m finally close to getting a bingo! I just need to figure out if I can find some Yuri manga about revenge somewhere…
It’s not that it’s a terrible cover, it’s just … really strongly giving (presumably unintentional) at-the-doctor’s-office-getting-the-first-ultrasound vibes. That’s the only thing I can think when I look at it at least.
I understand each word individually, but all of them put together… To be fair it’s a sentence that is missing a verb, so I’m not sure how understandable it even is supposed to be. The book itself so far is a good level for me.
This wasn’t added to natively yet when we read it so in here it goes.
stars!
The “Book and an adaptation of it” square will take some time to do, so even though it’s the easiest way to a bingo, I probably won’t be filling that one any time soon… ooh, choices, choices.
