Spoilers should always be hidden using spoiler blur.
When discussing a specific section, please mention where you are in the book, ideally by chapter so people reading different versions have a clear point of reference.
Feel free to read ahead if it’s exciting, but please refrain from spoiling ahead of the appropriate week.
If you have a question about grammar, vocab, cultural things, etc - ask! That’s a welcome part of the discussion too, and other readers will be happy to help.
Will you be reading along when the club starts on May 6?
Yes
No
Maybe
I’ll be reading, but at my own pace
0voters
What type of media will you be consuming the book as?
Physical
eBook
0voters
What language will you be reading the book in?
Japanese
Korean
Both
0voters
Historical Figures, Events and Places
This book mentions a lot of real historical figures and events. Here are some informational resources on them. (Please be aware that if you want to go in 100% blind, these lists will contain some spoilers for you)
(For wiki edits) Please add Chapter, Page, if possible, when something is mentioned in the story.
Battle of Lepanto Wikipedia article (they used a very different name for this in the book - please add it here if you encounter it)
Spanish Armada (Ch 8, p. 268) Wikipedia article
Re: schedule - thanks to @nikoru of about two years ago, I’ve pulled the Bookwalker percentages they provided then; please note that, as always, digital percentages are iffy and are provided here merely as a point of reference.
Chapter
BookWalker %
Page Numbers (Phys)
# of Pages (Phys)
Chapter 1
0%
5
40
Chapter 2
15%
45
25
Chapter 3
23%
70
39
Chapter 4
35%
109
25
Chapter 5
43%
134
46
Chapter 6
59%
180
42
Chapter 7
72%
222
39
Chapter 8
85%
261
21
Chapter 9
91%
282
11
予感
95%
-not present-
8
あとがき
98%
294
As you can see, there’s a bonus short story, 予感, only present in the digital version of F&B. It’ll be wrapped into the final week, and those who want to read it can. Note that it’s not story-important to read through it.
Which leads to pacing: the chapters have weird page numbers, so while we can do 1 chapter/week, they’re not incredibly even.
So, after some struggle I was finally able to buy the ebook
I really really want to read the book and participate in the book club. I think it is the book that is the longest on my wish to read list on natively. But 1) unfortunately I think it is still a few levels above my level, leading to 2) that even 20 pages per week will probably be too many for me. (Also considering that I am currently moving, which is stealing all my time, AND I definitely join too many book clubs for the little free time I have currently lol ).
I guess this all will result in me reading the book, but at a much slower pace. And after finishing the pages of a book club week, I will read all your comments
I amended my book pacing vote, because, while I’d prefer a chapter per week, I am fine with any other pacing as well. Not like I won’t participate just because the pacing is off. I might skip a week or so and play catch up, though.
As the ~20 pg/week schedule is currently winning, I’ll post a schedule for that later today when I have access to my physical copy, as I’ll need to cut some chapters in half. I’ll leave the poll open though for whoever hasn’t voted yet.
All right; barring any last-minute changes, this will be our schedule for the next 14 weeks:
Week
Date
# of Pages
Ends on Page
Ending Line
1
May 6
21
26
海斗達は口々に叫びながら、全速力で走っていった。
2
May 13
18
44
(end of chapter)
3
May 20
26
69
(end of chapter)
4
May 27
21
90
少年が低く呻き、瞼を震わせた。
5
June 3
18
108
(end of chapter)
6
June 10
25
133
(end of chapter)
7
June 17
24
158
「…善良なら我らが女王陛下に害をなさそうとした卑劣漢に過ぎません」
8
June 24
21
179
(end of chapter)
9
July 1
21
201
感激というほどではないが、やはり誉められるのは嬉しいものだ。
10
July 8
20
221
(end of chapter)
11
July 15
18
240
「今回もすんでのところで逃げ果せましたしね」
12
July 22
20
260
(end of chapter)
13
July 29
20
280
(end of chapter)
14
August 5
17 (or 25 w/ the bonus story)
297
(end of book)
Hmmm. This actually worked out fairly well with around 20 pages per week. There are a few bumps here and there, but nothing too wild.
@pyororon It’ll be good for me to re-read the book, I have to say. I was going along looking for decent halfway points, and I some of these conversations I don’t remember in the slightest. Like ウォード talking with Geoffrey on the Gloria.
Thanks for setting up the schedule! I’m reading on the Kindle, so I added the Kindle ebook percentages. There was also one small typo in the ending line for week 7, so I updated that too.
A lot of the details like that are vague to me now too. It’ll be interesting to see if there are any points that stand out more now with knowledge of how things are going to go later.
I have a general key that may change in the future:
Default blue pin: place that is mentioned but was not visited in the chapter
Green camera icon: place that has been visited in the chapter
Red question mark icon: place that may or may not exist, that I’ve mapped to something that seems like it could be correct based on context
Please be warned that I’m not sure how the link will open (filtered to the first chapter or with all chapters open), so there may be an initial risk of spoilers. I opened from another browser, and it looks like it sets the filter to the first chapter, but better safe than sorry.
If I missed anything or anyone else wants edit privileges, please let me know.