Have you found yourself only reading things around the same Natively level, not pushing yourself to read more difficult books? Is there a “green level” book (i.e., LV 34-40) you desperately want to read but you’re currently in the purple zone? Do you just have no idea what to read next? Do you just like challenges?
If so, you may be interested in the Level+1 Reading Challenge!
The idea is simple: read a book from each level! When you finish one book, go up 1 level (hence the name Level+1). You’ll be reading slightly more difficult books each time. This will help if you:
tend to stick with books at the same level for a long time
tend to jump too far ahead, getting overwhelmed
You can count books you’ve already read before this challenge. If the level changes due to gradings, don’t worry too much about it. You can choose to either count it at its current level or the level it was at when you read it.
FAQ
When can I join this challenge? Any time! There is no time limit or official start date.
What counts? Anything as long as it’s at a level you haven’t read yet.
Can I count books I’ve already read? Yes Or, if you don’t want to count books you’ve already read before this challenge, you don’t have to.
Do I have to start from a certain level? Nope! Your starting point can be anywhere: level 1 graded readers, level 14 manga, level 30 if you’re already at that level… wherever you want. As long as you keep pushing forward! You can go back later and fill in levels you haven’t read yet as well.
What happens if a book changes levels? Does it still count for X Level? This is up to you. You can choose to keep it at the level it was at when you originally read it, or you can move it around. Personally, I’m going to keep it at the level it was at when I read it unless it’s a drastic change. But you can do whatever you want.
Is this a competition? No, we’re not competing against each other. So don’t worry about speed / number of books / anything like that
tldr for faq: this is a very casual challenge simply meant to push you to read more difficult things, so do whatever you want. The only rule is that when you finish a book for this challenge, the next book should be that level + 1.
Template
Feel free to document your challenge in this thread. I’ve made a template if you want to keep track here (or make your own!):
Make sure there is a space after the link so the table formats correctly.
The blank lines are so you can know which level books you still need to read in case you’re counting already-read books towards the challenge.
Okay, I think that’s everything I need to add for a challenge home post. I may have to update this post later; this is my first time making a challenge, so I’m not sure what all is necessary info. Anyway I hope other people are interested in this idea! Now let’s get reading
I’m starting from LV 19. I’ve read things above that level but since 1) I’m getting back into reading after a break and 2) I’m already reading a level 19 book, I’m starting from here.
When I first came up with this challenge I was thinking I wanted to count books I’ve already read, but thinking about it I’m not going to count books I finished before today.
Actually I’ve changed my mind, I’ve decided to count books I’ve already read. Went with whatever I finished first
Interesting idea! To my surprise, I’ve apparently read something from every level from 17 to 36. Technically 31 is missing right now, but 本好きの下剋上 was at 31 for months before moving to 30 recently, so it seems fair to count it. I don’t have any books outside of that range on my radar right now, but maybe I’ll look for something later.
I think it’s a really great idea for lower levels… for me personally, it’s less practical…
I have already collected all levels 20-32… after that, it gets sketchy…
I really like this idea and totally want to snoop this thread and cheer people on. For myself however it’s a similar situation to Biblio - I already read kind of all over the levels. I have some rougher reads planned starting in October though (三体、糞尿譚、then probably 半落ち + 黄金仮面 in Nov/Dec) so as far as “personally challenging reading” I’ll be with you in spirit!
I’m not going to participate but this is basically the reading strategy I’ve been using for the past year and a half, as best I could. Natively and the current selection of reader-graded books wasn’t available for some of that time, so I had to estimate the difficulty level of many of the books myself. Although I didn’t manage to read everything in order, it turns out I can check off all the levels from 22 to 35. At this point I’m feeling a bit tired and like it would be good to take some time to consolidate and reinforce what I’ve learned, and I’ve found a couple of series that I enjoy, so I’m just going to hang out with my favorites for a while. And I’m glad the strategy worked to get me to a level where I can actually do that. I definitely recommend it!
Do you like poetry? ア、秋 | L35
I marked it a short story but eh, it’s probably closer to poetry. I gave it such a hard rating due to how it was written. Since it’s currently a tentative 38 you could knock out the missing level pretty quick!
That’s the only part I couldn’t figure out. Still not sure if it means anything or if it is meant to be nonsense.
Anyway, I did read it so I guess I’ll add it to my list as well. It wasn’t that hard to follow besides the one part. There was a slight delay in mental processing for the katakana, but even that wasn’t too bad!
I really like the idea of this challenge! I don’t think I’ll participate, at least not yet; I’ll probably reevaluate when we get closer to new years. What would interest me is doing this when the audiovisual of the site is integrated; I would definitely get a ton out of level + 1 for that.
Yeah I expect the rating to fluctuate all over. Just by the nature of the way its written I had no idea how to compare it to other writing I liked it though (I usually do like 太宰) so I’m glad others are reading it.
It’s just a bunch of half formed ideas jotted down. They are not connected with each other (or maybe they used to be, but the connection is lost).
Haha, I avoided rating it on purpose to keep the level. Oh well. Time to find something else.
Edit: I did grade it, which changed nothing (still level 36), but it’s interesting to see the gradings. It’s really hard to grade something so short. I’m basically going by how it would feel if I took an extract of the same length from the book I am comparing it to, but that’s probably not consistent.
It’s funny to see that @seanblue graded it easier than 魔女少女育成計画, while I said the opposite
Obviously it’s very hard to compare something this short to a full length (light) novel. All I can really go by is:
I didn’t have to look up that many words in this, while in 魔法少女育成計画 I looked up a ton. (It’s possible that the short length is skewing my perception of this.)
Only one section tripped me up, and it’s the section that’s not really supposed to make sense.
Of course, if this was a full length novel and I got tripped up this badly once every five pages that would be a problem. Not to mention, if I had to deal with the katakana okurigana for 200+ pages my head might have exploded. But yeah, hard to compare, so I did the best I could.
An interesting idea~ I went with whatever I finished first at each level, providing it wasn’t a temporary grading. Looks like I’d need to find something for 16 (difficult… はなにあらし (series) | L17 looks potentially interesting, but I don’t feel like buying anything specifically for this challenge) and 38. 38 has more to choose from as well as a couple free ones, so I guess I’ll start with that.
I attempted a different work by that author and it turned me off them entirely. Graphic animal cruelty was the main plot point. It very much seemed like gore for gore’s sake. I mentioned it to a Japanese friend and they basically were like “yeah, stay away from that author”.
Depends on your own limits of course, but felt I should warn.
Or, if you don’t want to count books you’ve already read before this challenge, you don’t have to.
I liked it though (I usually do like 太宰) so I’m glad others are reading it. 
