Which was written from the perspective of a little kid (& their family/friends) growing up in Osaka.
It was mostly happy/odd little snippets of growing up - but about 3/4 of the way through something quite jarring happened, and I found it quite a weird book as a whole.
This collection of short stories started off fairly everday (while bordering on profoundly weird).
E.g. Picking up a lost phone, and impersonating the owner
But the later stories got more and more fantastic,
e.g. the final one, a world where over-stressed people started inflating until they float away.
I loved all of these stories, everything felt fun and absurd and heartfelt in equal measure.
Took me almost 14 hours, which is very quick for my standards. It’s about a girl who loses someone dear to her who then appears as a ghost, and she learns to cope with the death and let go through the power of human connection. Overall it’s worth a read if the blurb sounds interesting to you. You do get what it says on the tin.
Award:하얀 밤의 고양이 / Stretching this category a bit because I don’t think any other books I will/can/want to read match perfectly. It was selected for distribution as part of a local literacy program in Korea, so I guess that counts? Absolutely one of the best books I’ve ever read.
Not Modern:단군 신화·주몽 신화·박혁거세 신화 / Part of the 외국인을 위한 한국어 읽기 series that I’ve enjoyed reading the past year; I started this volume after a trip to Buyeo and Gwangju to learn more about the three kingdoms period.
Finish a Series:카페 보문을 부탁해요 2 / This short series started sweet and got a lot more complex in the second volume. I really loved the character development, and the introspective but not overly dramatic way the MC monologued.
It’s got a certain charm to it! One chapter in, I thought I’d never read the sequel, but having finished it, yeah, I will be reading volume 2. Anyway, I’m glad it got another read!
I’m finally ready to present my bingo card. I have only read 2 books so far so I need to pick up the pace. This is because I spent 3.5 weeks in Korea doing nothing but socializing nonstop.
The books are: 레드 클로버, which is my DOTY – disappointment of the year. Second book of the year and it was total shit. I saw this at a bookstore in Korea and it was coverly love at first sight. I bought it on Ridi. Awful book. I will move this to coverly love if I find a book worse than it, which I hopefully will not.
눈에 갇힌 외딴 산장에서 - first book of the year. A physical book.
I had to come up with more categories to make a 6x6. Here are some of the more interesting categories and my reasons for making them.
한강 read, historical fiction, final boss book, 1-day read – these are all intended to be highly challenging. Nonfiction will not be challenging because I already have a book picked out (최강록의 요리 노트)
Translated from Chinese – this is an encouragement to myself to read more Chinese murder mysteries especially from 창호께이. I am reading a physical book by him right now.
New setting (for a Korean book) – this is an encouragement to read something by a Taiwanese or Hong Konger author. 2026 is the year I become Chinese (iykyk). Chinese-language books are just books to me. “For a Korean book” really means “for a book I’ve read in Korean.”
내돈내산 and the physical books and books I’ve dropped are supposed to get me to read the physical books I have already bought.
New favorite author is supposed to be a book by an author who is new to me that I really like. Booktube book is also supposed to encourage me to read new things (that are recommended by Korean book tubers I’m subscribed to)
幸せのマチ | L24 for Ghosts! I kind of adored it. Funny to see that someone else gave it two stars. Different strokes for different folks. I think what I liked about it so much was a combination of the unusual art style, the silly/absurd humor and ghosts, the setting, and also the main character. I don’t have complex thoughts about it I guess, I just liked it a lot.
I read コンビニ人間. I had high hopes for the book but ended up not liking it a lot, mostly due to one character. I’ve written a review for the book that explains it a bit better. It’s a short book though and I’m glad I tried the book, even if I ended up skimming through the second half. I’ve put in the “Past bookclub” slot because it was in a Wanikani bookclub.
I’m probably going to read a Silent Witch volume next. Though I might go for something easier as well. Haven’t decided definitively yet.
Completed ふらいんぐうぃっち series volumes 1-14. The grammar and vocabulary seemed to get more difficult as I progressed to the later books in the series but unsure if that was my own abilities or if the books really do get more challenging as they progress.
Slightly behind with my numbers, need to finish another 7 volumes this month to keep on track but I know there will be some I will breeze through when the time comes and others I will struggle through greatly.
Every part of that book that didn’t have that character, interesting and decently enjoyable. Parts with that character were maybe the worst book I’ve read in Japanese.
Finished my next book, a biography of the famous author couple Yoshimura Akira and Tsumura Setsuko. While it gave me a pretty nice view into the lives of the couple and their family, the most interesting part was admittedly that I read it together with a Japanese friend who had lived in the same area as the two, and who had actually met them when he was a child! This way he could extend the stories further and explain a lot to me regarding the surroundings. 吉村昭と津村節子:波瀾万丈おしどり夫婦 | L40
Now I only need to finish one more book this month in order to meet the Bookmeter review challenge xD
For that, I’m torn between 香君4 - it would give me “Finish a series” and I know I can read it rather quickly, but it is still pretty long and requires a few days.
The other option would be カインの末裔 | L40 - It would give me “Added to Natively” (which would put me in reach of my first bingo), the story is allegedly interesting, and the author is interesting as well, and very short, but the author is new, and it was written way back when, so I might be in for a surprise.
I think I’ll try the short one and if I realize within a day or so that it doesn’t work out, I’ll switch to the other one.
This way he could extend the stories further and explain a lot to me regarding the surroundings. 
