Thx for the Korean links - I’ll update those in a bit. How did you find them btw?
2 Likes
Book:
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Is there an audiobook available?: no
Is there an all-furigana version available?: no
Is this book available in Korean?: I don’t know how to check.
Summary - Japanese
猫になって、異世界。 かわいいだけじゃない冒険が始まる!
異世界に転生した少年は冒険者を志すが、体は最弱種族の猫人で、手にした魔法は”空っぽ”とバカにされる空属性だった。
しかし少年は大きなハンデをものともせず、創意工夫で空魔法を武器や防具を生み出せて、空も歩ける魔法へと変えていく。
周囲の優しさに支えられ成長し、そして空属性の真価に気付いた時、最強の猫人冒険者としての旅が始まる!
(Source: Amazon.co.jp)
Summary - English
Becoming a a cat in a different world - an adventure that is more than just cute begins!
A boy is reborn in another world and aspires to become an adventurer, but his body is that of a cat person, the weakest race in the world, and the magic he has in his hands has the emptiness (空) attribute, which is ridiculed as just that: “empty” (空っぽ).
However, the boy, despite his great disadvantage, uses his ingenuity to transform emptiness attribute magic into magic that can create weapons and armor, and even walk in the sky.
With the support of the kindness of those around him, he grows up, and when he realizes the true value of the emptiness attribute, his journey as the strongest cat adventurer begins!
(Source: DeepL translation from the Amazon.co.jp, edited by me)
Content warnings if known
Bullying. Loss of a body part.
Why are you nominating this book: I read the one volume of manga currently available, and it was really fun and incredibly charming, so I need more. Enter the LN.
What I liked most:
- It’s an isekai, but it might as well not be, because as far as I can remember it’s just mentioned once in the beginning and then never again (in that manga volume at least). It’s essentially an adventure fantasy!
- Unlike many isekai, the main character starts pretty weak and has to train hard and actually use their head. And… he actually gets hurt (light spoiler), which is something that I feel like doesn’t happen often in isekai.
- A cute beastfolk main character who’s kind, clever and hard-working.
- I really like the LN cover.
Also, 4.8 is a pretty good rating on Amazon.
6 Likes
I checked if the book had a wiki page and then if there was a Korean version. From there it was simply putting the title into yes24 
1 Like
Do you happen to know if this one is still releasing new volumes? no worries if not, just wondering for the table, and couldn’t find a wiki page
2 Likes
Volume 4 just came out a few days ago, and nothing in the description mentions that it’s the last volume, so I’d assume it’s ongoing.
2 Likes
Just to be clear - absolutely everyone here is welcome to join. “Beginners” is just to denote the level, and differentiate from the other LN club
7 Likes
It’s mentioned a few times in the story, to explain why he knows X or Y. But his behavior matches that of other people, while the main character of 男性向け isekai tend to stick out, so it doesn’t really matter.
As a content warning, there are sexy scenes (but no sex) in the story but I only read the webnovel version, so I’m not sure if there are any in the first volume. There are also dark themes but that should be in volume 2 (and probably beyond, but that’s as far as I have read in terms of content).
I really enjoyed ~volume 1. After that, though, (well, spoiler)the main character is basically all powerful, so it became kinda boring. That being said, I might get back to reading the webnovel at some point.
6 Likes
I’m more okay with that then you seem to be, although I got to admit that’s a shame. I felt like the struggle of the main character made the manga at least a bit more unique that the usual isekai fare.
4 Likes
Agreed! I really enjoyed that part. But it makes sense that it cannot go on forever.
Well, actually, the author could have throttled the main character though 
3 Likes
Plenty of nomination slots still open… But in the meantime, I want to get a general idea of:
What’s a good reading start date?
- January 1st
- January 14
- January 28
- Other (please comment)
0
voters
How much time do folks need between the end of voting, and start of reading? Specifically wondering wrt folks ordering physical books
2 Likes
Signing up… Given my initial goal joining natively was to read a book and I still haven’t achieved that… Time to get fired up
Also I have to say I think it will be tough ;__;
5 Likes
It will depend on the nomination for me to whether I sign up or not, but the first two weeks of January would be hard for me as I’m planning a trip.
2 Likes
Book:
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Is there an audiobook available?: yes, from audiobook.jp (link in the natively page)
Is there an all-furigana version available?: I am not sure
(Optional) Is this book available in Korean?: Yes
Summary - Japanese
友達のいない少女、リストカットを繰り返す女子高生、
アバズレと罵られる女性、一人静かに余生をおくる老女。
彼女たちの“幸せ"は、どこにあるのか。
「やり直したい」ことがある、“今"がうまくいかない
全ての人たちに贈る物語。
Summary - English
A girl with no friends, a high school girl who keeps cutting her wrists,
A woman who is criticized as an idiot, an old woman who lives out the rest of her life quietly.
Where does their “happiness” lie?
There are things I want to do over again, things aren’t going well right now.
A story for everyone.
Why are you nominating this book: I’ve heard more than once that this was a good first book, which got me interested. It’s quite popular, and has generally good reviews (particular for the learning potential; regarding enjoyment, there are a few mixed ones), but I thought the premise looked interesting. I think that the fact that it’s not an isekai/adventure/fantasy also helps in terms of language learning of more day to day vocabulary.
PS. this is classified as a novel, not light novel. I have to admit that even after reading what the difference between both is, I still don’t really understand. If it doesn’t fit into the club though, I can remove the nomination.
6 Likes
Book:
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Is there an audiobook available?: no (or at least didn’t find)
Is there an all-furigana version available?: yes, but according to natively it’s significantly different
(Optional) Is this book available in Korean?: i’m not sure
Summary - Japanese
小磯健二は憧れの先輩・夏希に「4日間だけフィアンセの振りをして!」と依頼され、長野県の田舎に同行することに。その夜、健二に届いた謎の数列を解いたことで世界が一変し!?
Summary - English
From Anilist: When timid eleventh-grader and math genius Kenji Koiso is asked by older student and secret crush Natsuki to come with her to her family’s Nagano home for a summer job, he agrees without hesitation.
Natsuki’s family, the Jinnouchi clan, dates back to the Muromachi era (1336 to 1573), and they’ve all come together to celebrate the 90th birthday of the spunky matriarch of the family, Sakae. That’s when Kenji discovers his “summer job” is to pretend to be Natsuki’s fiance and dance with her at the birthday celebration.
As Kenji attempts to keep up with Natsuki’s act around her family, he receives a strange math problem on his cell phone which, being a math genius, he can’t resist solving. As it turns out, the solution to the mysterious equation causes Oz, the program that controls nearly every aspect of life to be hacked into, it’s up to Kenji and his new “family” to stop the hacker before it’s too late.
Why are you nominating this book: I read the manga of summer wars as a teen and really enjoyed it, so it has a special place in my heart. I was hoping to read it again, this time as a novel. I personally think the story is fun and quite original.
The only downside is that it’s rated with a difficulty of Level 25(?) and has 351 pages, so I worried it may be harder than expected.
3 Likes
I also think light novel vs novel is pretty arbitrary, and am fine including books that seem light novel-like, even if they’re not strictly in that category on Natively.
If folks feel otherwise, feel free to chime in, but otherwise I’ll add it to the list when I have a moment
6 Likes
I think there’s overlap with children’s / light novels as well - I’ve seen a few that are listed on Amazon as children’s books, but Anilist classes as LNs (based on the publisher). I’m not that bothered about it, but it might be an idea to have a rule that a book can only be nominated for one book club so there isn’t overlap…?
Here’s the Korean version of one of the nominations:
3 Likes
Thx for the Korean link. @snowwater can you add it into your post?
I appreciate the intent, but I’m not planning to have such a rule. If there were a direct request from another club, I’d discuss/consider it.
The whole reason I started this club was b/c it seemed unlikely the < L30s were going to get picked anytime soon in the original club. So that would be a bit self-defeating.
Also given the steadily growing number of book clubs here, that might not even be sustainable/possible in the long run.
5 Likes
For me, if I don’t have it, it’s now around 8-10 weeks for delivery so I’ll only vote for books I have or are on the way. Ordering now, I’m looking at at least second week in January.
I have some nominations to add just haven’t yet. I’ll try tomorrow. Last few days have been pretty hectic.
3 Likes
There’s a book I read last year that I sort of assumed was a LN since in my head YA = LN, and it feels like a shoujo romance in novel form, but it’s on here as a regular novel and that it doesn’t have any illustrations probably supports that categorization. At the very least, it is a youth novel, though. It’s L27, and if no one objects to me nominating it, I wouldn’t mind rereading it.
Also, if I’m interested in reading the pick and I don’t already have it, I’ve mostly been using CDJapan lately and delivery generally seems to be within 2 weeks after ordering unless something’s on backorder, but if it gets here late I shouldn’t have too much trouble catching up. ~L30 seems to be the upper limit of my comfort zone currently.
3 Likes
Imo if it seems/feels like a LN to you, you can go ahead and nominate it. Tho feel free to wait for other’s input, if you want.
Noted… Looking forward to the recs
2 Likes
