Alrighty, I’m back. Some real life stuff caught up with me, but I’m hoping to make some good progress this week. Ended just as 勇気 and co. finish purifying themselves in preparation to meet with the mountain god. (Wow, what an interesting spoiler to write for this book, haha.) I’ve been consistently listening to two audiobook sections per listening session, which ends up being 10% each time so far, which is nice. About 1/3 of the way through the book now.
Man, I bet the pollen on that mountain is insane. It’s probably not possible to not have any sort of bodily reaction to it, I bet. Surely at some point the air you’re breathing would be 50% solid; no body is going to okay with that. I live in an area that sees heavy pollen every spring, but it’s not even remotely 田舎, so I can’t imagine springtime on a mountain forest.
I will admit I kind of glazed over the descriptions of how large the area is they were planting and how much 清一’s family owned.
Hopefully 山太 is okay; I find it amusing the village folk went from “did a stranger kidnap him in their car” to “he was spirited away from the forest god”. I wonder where he’ll end up. I’m also glad 勇気’s coworkers stood up for him being a part of the village during that meeting; I wonder if we’ll see more of 神去村 being…insular? Is that the right word? Not really accepting of outsiders, at any rate. At least, not in ways that matter, I suppose; they’ve seemed friendly enough on trivial matters so far.
I have been listening to the audiobook for this nearly every day, but posting updates for an audiobook is hard since it’s difficult to keep track of where I am. I’m enjoying all the relaxing countryside vibes everyday, though. This book is so light, but fun in audio format!
Oh, I picked up a copy of this book last year so I will join! I really enjoyed the other two books I’ve read by this author and I’ve heard good things about this one
It would of course be great if finally one or the other joined us for the sequel, too, but even if not:
Makes me happy to see that @omk3 and me discussing whether/when to read the sequel together actually made quite a few others interested in the „series“, too.
I’ve had this book for about a year now, but it’s not the kind of book that normally floats easily to the top of my TBR, so I was glad of the excuse to finally check it out.
Yuuki’s allergies are so bad even his nose and ears itch?? And he’s someone who doesn’t normally get allergies. Man, I don’t wanna think how bad mine would be… My rash would probably not stick to just my arms. Might also be bedridden due to not being able to keep my eyes open. -shudders- It sounds super beautiful there, but I would not want to be there in the spring, holy heck.
The mountainside is completely yellow?? And pollen is a gross greenish yellow, too… Okay, maybe not so beautiful at that point, but all the flowers themselves… Actually, I am a bit morbidly curious about what that much pollen even looks like. We’ll get a lot here, but it’s just, like, enough to give cars a yellowish cast and to have a solid film of it floating at the edges of puddles and stuff, and for the paper towel you’re using to clean the outside of the window with to come away way more green than brown/black (and to need to use at least twice as many since you can’t just clean, you gotta get the pollen off and then clean. Even if you literally just cleaned it the other day). But to just blanket the ground? I kinda wanna see that, tbh. From inside a hazmat suit. It would be fascinating, I think.
lol I love that he used 花粉 in place of 雨 in 雨が降ろうが槍が降ろうが. Apparently that expression often gets translated as “come hell or high water,” so that would be, what, “come hell or pollen”? lol. Actually that expression I only know because I used “wild horses wouldn’t keep me from you” in a fic and then of course wondered if there was an equivalent expression in JP, and this is the one I came up with as the closest (like, “whether rain or spears should fall from the skies, I will find my way back to you,” that sort of feeling) (but I digress)
Hah, I still remember the word “腐海” from Nausicaa (never did finish that, whoops)
I didn’t finish the chapter, though. I’ve only got 10 pages left, but I got too excited at the prospect of playing my newest video game. I should be starting ch 3 tomorrow. Hopefully.
I managed to finish this today after listening to it on and off over the last weeks. It was really great in audiobook format! All the voice actors really brought the story to life. I’m kind of sad there isn’t an audiobook for the second book! Anyways it was interesting learning about forestry/logging and enjoy all then nice Japanese nature and seasonal events from a distance. Now I almost want to go get stuck in 神去!
Part 4 reached! We’ve moved from summer to fall. 勇気 has managed to nicely aggravate 直紀, but I’m all for it; they need more in their relationship than just “you’re pretty” “whatever”. As always, it’s a joy to listen to this audiobook; it’s probably my favorite I’ve listened to so far in my limited experience.
I finished the book yesterday! I enjoyed it; came for the mountain, stayed for the mountain. I also really enjoyed 勇気 as a character; it was just fun getting to learn everything and meet everyone with him.
I probably won’t read the sequel soon, but it would definitely get notched up a few places if there were an audiobook available.
So the setup is hilarious and after reading a book where no one ever said or did anything, 20 pages in and I’ve already gone on a wild ride with this book!
His description of the journey out there reminded me of a journey I took from Tokyo to Kamikouchi - a regular train from Tokyo, then a dinky 2 carriage train from Matsumoto, and finally a bus deep into the mountains! It took all day but was pretty magical.
(And omg. As a person with terrible hayfever, the thought of those trees… Hahaha )
Update: I am now approaching autumn in the book! It’s such a fun read, the narrator cracks me up but there’s also such beautiful descriptions of nature like the eerie mist that covers the mountain. I love the strong seasonality, to me that feels very Japanese. My daydream fantasies have now expanded to include buying a mountain
No thank you.
Anyways it was interesting learning about forestry/logging and enjoy all then nice Japanese nature and seasonal events from a distance. Now I almost want to go 
So I will belatedly be putting in my thoughts here 
and after reading a book where no one ever said or did anything, 20 pages in and I’ve already gone on a wild ride with this book!