Welcome, everyone, to our second light novel pick, 本好きの下剋上 / 책벌레의 하극상 ! This is going to our first multilingual book club! Welcome to all our Korean learners joining us!
Since this will be our first multilingual book club, there will doubtless be questions and issues to iron out. Please be respectful to all our fellow language learners as we read together!
Summary - English
A certain college girl who’s loved books ever since she was a little girl dies in an accident and is reborn in another world she knows nothing about. She is now Myne, the sickly five-year-old daughter of a poor soldier. To make things worse, the world she’s been reborn in has a very low literacy rate and books mostly don’t exist. She’d have to pay an enormous amount of money to buy one. Myne resolves herself: If there aren’t any books, she’ll just have to make them! Her goal is to become a librarian. This story begins with her quest to make books so she can live surrounded by them! Dive into this biblio-fantasy written for book lovers and bookworms!
어릴 적부터 책에 푹 빠져 지내던 여대생이 사고에 휘말려 낯선 세계에서 다시 태어났다. 가난한 군인의 집에서 5세 소녀 마인으로……. 게다가 그 세계에서 ‘문자’를 아는 사람들도 적고, 있는 책이라곤 귀족들을 위한 책뿐이었다. 책을 아무리 읽고 싶어도 현실의 벽 앞에 부딪히게 된다. 이를 타개할 방법은…… 스스로 책을 만드는 것이다! 책에 둘러싸여 살기 위해 책을 만드는 것부터 시작하자! 세상에 책이 없다면 어떻게하지? 직접 만들면 돼!!
In progress; this will be copied over to weekly threads!
English
Japanese
Korean
Notes
Myne
マイン
마인
Protagonist (Eng. also written “Main”)
Tuuli
トゥーリ
투리
Myne’s older sister
Effa
エーファ
에파
Myne’s mother
Günter
ギュンター
귄터
Myne’s father
Otto
オットー
오토
Subordinate to Günter
Lutz
ルッツ
루츠
Friend; same age as Myne
Ralph
ラルフ
랄프
Friend; same age as Tuuli
Fey
フェイ
페이
Friend; same age as Tuuli
Carla
カルラ
칼라
Lutz and Ralph’s mother
Deid
ディード
디도
Sieg
ジーク
지크
Mark
マルク
마르크
There is a Japanese audiobook available via Audible, but please note that it’s availability will depend on your region! Please see the Natively page for a list of known regional retailers!
Will you be reading along when the club starts on September 4th?
Yes
No
I’ll be reading, but at my own pace
0voters
What language will you be reading in?
Japanese
Korean
Both ()
0voters
What type of media will you be consuming the book as?
Alrighty, version 1 of the home post is up~ I’ll doubtless be going back to revise things as we go to be as helpful as possible, but this should be a start. Notes:
@brandon that first JP link refuses to format I ask so little of it…
Does anyone have a physical Japanese copy of the book they can jot down page numbers for each chapter for me?
And I’ll also need chapter stats for the Korean side as well. Not sure if it would be overkill to have both percentages and page numbers or just one or the other; what do you guys think?
Tagging @brandon and @Megumin: I tried adding the bookclub tag to the thread, but it won’t let me create it. :\ It would if I typed in book-club, but I wanted to keep it consistent with the other bookclub tags we already have.
(I didn’t realize that there was an emoji limit for titles before now…)
And onto more scheduling questions! The first volume has 26 total chapters, plus two extra short stories and the afterword. According to those who’ve already read the first volume, these short stories are not a required experience. So let me put it to a poll:
Should we include the two extra short stories as part of the club schedule?
Yes
No
0voters
(*Note: if we go ‘yes’, this might depend on if those stories are in the KR version. I have not confirmed that yet.) Confirmed! Thanks bibliothecary!
I want to finish this in a set number of weeks, irregardless of page counts
Some other way not mentioned here (please mention below)
Doesn’t matter to me
0voters
I scoped out doing 30 pgs/week last night, and at least going off of the JP Kindle version, it would take us 10 weeks to go through the book, 11 if we add in the extra stories at the end.
I think Korean readers will probably be using the ebook, since physical books are more difficult to come by outside of Korea. Of course if someone does have a physical copy, they can add page numbers.
Although, might it work out that it’s easiest to read it by chapter? If the chapters are roughly the same length, that is…
It looks like the extra stories are included in the Korean ebook.
From what I can tell calculating page numbers from the Kindle version, the earlier chapters are short and lengthen from there. At roughly 30 pages/week (which tends to go above that, by my count), the first week would cover 4 chapters, then each week after would be 2 or 3, depending on size.
Sounds like a plan to me. If there are KR readers using the physical copy, please let me know so we can get those added!
Oh man, I just saw you marked “Both” for which language, @bibliothecary. Godspeed to you!
Interestingly, it gives me the option to create a 本好きの下剋上 tag, but once I hit save, the tag disappears. Also, @bibliothecary, what would be the correct title needed to name a Korean tag of the series name? Like 本好きの下剋上 or 本好き.
Although I won’t be reading along, I’ll be joining the discussion!
I have my book around to glance over the pages you will be going over each week.
I’ve recently read, and afterwards listened to Vol 1 and Vol 2, so it might be too much 本好き to handle .
If the Book Club continues as stand-alone, I might join fully further Vol 3 or Vol 4, although that’s unlikely to happen I guess, as these are very heavy and long.
But who knows, maybe being the first Korean/Multi one, it might happen!
Back on topic, I want to try and read along with this bookclub. Having already read the book (and watched the anime, and read the manga, and listened to the audiobook ) I’m considering comparing the English translation side-by-side with the Japanese as a fun new exercise. I haven’t decided for sure yet but I’ll definitely follow along with the club somehow!
Okay; the table in the OP should be fully updated with as accurate page numbers as I can get them. JP and KR versions of the book are roughly equal page-wise.
Taking look at our pacing poll (please vote if you haven’t!), it’s a pretty close stand-off between 20 pages and 30 pages per week. (Please also vote on whether the short stories should be included in this poll [at the bottom of the post]! It’s at a dead tie!)
This is what the schedule would look like if we did 20 pg/week:
20 pgs/week
Week
Start Date
Chapter Number
Notes
# of Pages
# of Pages
1
Sept 4
1
4
4
2
11
10
2
Sept 11
3
12
12
4
9
8
3
Sept 18
5
10
8
6
9
10
4
Sept 25
7
9
9
8
10
9
5
Oct 2
9
10
9
10
10
8
6
Oct 9
11
14
12
12
12
10
7
Oct 16
13
13
13
14
13
10
8
Oct 23
15
heavier week for JP
13
11
16
16
14
9
Oct 30
17
16
14
10
Nov 6
18
heavier week for both langs
12
11
19
16
15
11
Nov 13
20
10
9
21
10
9
12
Nov 20
22
lighter week for KR
17
14
13
Nov 27
23
11
8
24
10
10
14
Dec 4
25
19
17
15
Dec 11
26
14
14
(16?)
Dec 18
SS 1
13
10
(16?/17?)
SS 2
15
11
Afterword
3
2
This schedule is pretty consistent at 2 chapters/week up through week 12; week 8 sees some heavier reading page-count-wise for the JP crowd, week 10 more pages for both languages, and week 12 lighter for KR.
And this is what it’ll look like at 30 pg/week:
30 pgs/week
Week
Start Date
Chapter Number
Notes
# of Pages
# of Pages
1
Sept 4
1
4
4
2
11
10
3
12
12
2
Sept 11
4
9
8
5
10
8
6
9
10
3
Sept 18
7
9
9
8
10
9
9
10
9
4
Sept 25
10
10
8
11
14
12
12
12
10
5
Oct 2
13
heavier on JP side
13
13
14
13
10
15
13
11
6
Oct 9
16
16
14
17
16
14
7
Oct 16
18
12
11
19
16
15
8
Oct 23
20
slightly heavier for JP
10
9
21
10
9
22
17
14
9
Oct 30
23
lighter for both langs
11
8
24
10
10
10
Nov 6
25
19
17
26
14
14
(11?)
Nov 13
SS 1
13
10
SS 2
15
11
Afterword
3
2
This one’s also fairly even; it’s generally going to be 3 chapters/week, with JP readers taking the heavier loads whenever that pops up.
And finally, starting with 20 pgs/week and speeding up to read 30 pgs/week partway through:
20 pages -> 30 pgs speed-up starts on week 7
Week
Start Date
Chapter Number
Notes
# of Pages
# of Pages
1
Sept 4
1
4
4
2
11
10
2
Sept 11
3
12
12
4
9
8
3
Sept 18
5
10
8
6
9
10
4
Sept 25
7
9
9
8
10
9
5
Oct 2
9
10
9
10
10
8
6
Oct 9
11
14
12
12
12
10
7
Oct 16
13
schedule speed-up to 30 pgs/week
13
13
14
13
10
8
Oct 23
15
13
11
16
16
14
9
Oct 30
17
16
14
18
12
11
10
Nov 6
19
16
15
20
10
9
21
10
9
11
Nov 13
22
17
14
23
11
8
12
Nov 20
24
10
10
25
19
17
13
Nov 27
26
14
14
(14?)
Dec 4
SS 1
13
10
SS 2
15
11
Afterword
3
2
These counts and starting days and whatnot are all flexible as we read, of course; if it makes sense with the group to fold a longer chapter into a week, or break it out, we can do that easy. With all that in mind:
What schedule would you prefer?
20 pages/week
30 pages/week
20 pages/week to start, then speeding up to 30 pages/week
I was wondering if we should not start off with 20 pages and half-way through increase to 30? Getting into a new reading style always takes a bit but usually people speed up once they’ve become familiar. December is a fairly busy month here, usually, so it might be good to finish early and use December as a break before the next book.
本好きの下剋上~司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません~第一部「兵士の娘1」| L32
책벌레의 하극상 제1부 - 병사의 딸 1 | L30??
)
I ask so little of it…
Godspeed to you!
The JP version doesn’t include chapter numbers either; I need to go back and pick them out myself…
.
