I wrote an answer and forgot to send it and somehow it survived the night
this is probably going to be one of the main problems in the criteria section yepyep, I suspect that at the very least at first all the selections will be things that are relatively well known/has a publication/have some kinf of “proof of quality” and only after we get more familiar with the “Japanese web novel sphere” of the internet will it start expanding to new and more unfamiliar sections.
This is probably the one thing we can actually easily solve imo
since we can filter things that have already finished or just go by a rule of “reading x number of chapters” that will look reasonable enough.
In this sense the book club will probably be a bit unique for having either relatively shorter reads each time, or things that end in awkward places (in which case we can choose to read more or people will read more on their own, this will probably be an interesting thing to experiment with as well since we can play around “continuing a series” which is something I noticed in book clubs here doesn’t happen much - for obvious reasons but still an interesting quirk to explore lol).
I originally thought I’ll wait a couple of days but I have some ideas overflow on things regarding this so for now I’m going to create an Informal Book Club to dump some of this ‘spam to consider’ and if nothing happens then that’s that
So this likely wouldn’t come to fruition for a while, at least not on my end, since I’ve been so busy lately (+ we’ve got a fair few clubs at this point for everyone to juggle already), but the thought’s been bouncing around in my mind and I wanted to put it down in some form at least (especially since 獣の奏者 and 新世界より just went on sale recently). Would anyone be interested in a fantasy bookclub? I’m talking fantasy like @Naphthalene’s “Fantasy that’s not isekai” list or potentially the other books suggested being added to the list (see replies to Naphth’s original comment). There’s definitely room for discussion on what would be done with isekai books, but I wanted to toss the idea out there and see who would potentially be interested in joining such a club.
I went with maybe because it really depends on the book. Fantasy is a very broad genre, but if the chosen book interests me (and I own it, which happens to fit both 獣の奏者 and 新世界より ) I’d definitely check it out.
Maybe because I have read most of the book on the list, but I don’t mind reading some of the suggestions (and thus helping the list get longer )
(I’ll still lurk/comment if people go with a book I already read)
I’m “interested”, depending on several factors. I’m unlikely to join if it’s in the next few months because I’m on a break from 本好き right now and plan to resume that in October to read the last three volumes. I’d be open to reading something after that if the book and pace matches what I’m looking for. I already own 香君 and want to read that soonish, but it’s a bit long and I don’t know that book club pace will work for me. I’ve already read 獣の奏者 and don’t need to reread it (though I’d certainly recommend it), and 新世界より is out of the question at my current level of Japanese.
I went with maybe because it depends on if I have it or not, or if I want to read it. I’m finding out that if I’m not super syked for it, it can put me off when I try to force myself into reading with a club yet if I read it at my own pace, I can power through it.
There’s also the level thing, I’d need to be higher levels to read some of this stuff. Though that 147 book series is kinda calling out to me.
Not necessarily a Visual Novel, I think if there are common games among people in the thread than even things like “Reading Killer lore in DBD in Japanese; 1) The Unknowns 2) The Plague” and etc can work?
A “Book Club/Study Group?”
Opening a book club for textbooks? A study group based on using a specific workbook/learning material? for example a bunch of people doing lesson by lesson in a timetable for each chapter in KANJI LOOK AND LEARN | L5 or something - study group has potential forum wise now thinking about it lol, like “study group 募集 or something” and then using natively as the source for workbooks and stuff a good site if this ever happens is happylilac
Choosing and voting on what list to use as a reference to read something each time
anything goes club
the idea is that people won’t hesitate about taste or quality in what they nominate
audiobooks by narrator
deciding on specific narrators we like for audiobooks and choosing books by that criteria
cats/dogs
of the more common pets are cats and dogs, and it’s a subject for a lot of media in Japan (from historical to financial or fantasy and etc), I thought maybe some people would enjoy something like this
culture club
a club focused on reading things related to Japanese culture or by choice of a cultural theme and reading on it from wikipedia or other sources
Dialects
A Book Club for things written in dialects
food related book club
whether fiction or non-fiction, food for food thoughts
kaijuu book club
or just kaijuu club in general
Multimedia Adaptations Club
A club where you purposely make groups of people consuming the same plot from different media and maybe later comparing what and how it went
Specific authors unofficial clubs
unofficial clubs for specific authors (for example I’m a fan of 藤田和日郎 but he’s not necessarily as well known in the west - though some of his works turned into anime by now so maybe he’s getting more recognition in the west as well consequensly?
Youkai Book Club
there’s so much content and potential to this; 水木しげる, actual research on Japanese Youkai folktales, Non-fiction in general, stories from every genre (horror, action, mystery, romance, historical, si-fi, there’s always something with Youkai in every genre I think lol)
Continue the source material club
A club that always starts the manga or novel where the anime ended
) I’d definitely check it out.
)
