Natively link added!
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Book: 湖底の光芒 | L35?? (Amazon JP and bookwalker )
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
遠沢加須子は、夫の遺した中部光学というレンズ製造会社を諏訪で経営している。親会社の倒産で苦境にたった時、手をさしのべてきたのは、ハイランド光学の専務・弓島邦雄だった。親会社の横暴に泣く下請業者の悲哀、加須子にのびる欲望の影、そして奔放な義妹・多摩子の愛憎の果てに、悲劇がおとずれる…。ミステリーの醍醐味を凝縮した長編推理小説。
Summary - English
(Translation from ChatGPT, mildly tidied up)
In Suwa, Etsuzawa Kasuko oversees the operations of Chubu Optical, a lens manufacturing company inherited from her late husband. When the parent company’s bankruptcy puts her in a tough spot, Yumijima Kunio, the Managing Director of Highland Optical, extends support. The tragedy unfolds amidst the subcontractors’ lamentations over the parent company’s oppression, Kasuko’s growing desires, and the complex emotions of her uninhibited sister-in-law, Tamako. This is a detective novel that captures the true essence of mystery.
Content warnings if known
None I know of.
Why are you nominating this book: I like Matsumoto Seichou, and have read a fair number of his books. (As a result this isn’t one of the top three really famous books of his, but I didn’t want to nominate a book I wasn’t going to read with the club!) In the 1960s he was Japan’s best selling author, and won a pile of awards. He’s often credited with bringing a social realism focus to Japanese mystery stories in the post war period and taking it away from mere puzzle solving/alibi breaking/etc; the books of his I have liked best have depicted some aspect of Japanese society as well as being murder mysteries. This book seemed to do OK in Amazon reviews, so hopefully it’s a good one. At 478 pages this is long-ish but it is a single volume work. First published as a magazine serial in 1963 under the title 石路, first published as a novel in 1983. His contemporary fiction novels seem to wind up at about Natively level 35 or thereabouts.
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I put a placeholder for now until the Natively link is up. Helps me remember to fill it in when it’s available.
There is one more spot remaining before nominations close
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Two spots, surely? You still have medium in the nomination list, but that slot is now free for a new nomination.
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Oh I didn’t notice Medium was still there. I usually remove the winner right away. Must have missed it this time.
edit: it’s gone. 2 spots open.
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Book:
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
人は、死んだらどうなるの？――いなくなるのよ――いなくなって、どうなるの？――いなくなって、それだけなの――。その会話から三年後、凰介の母は病死した。父と二人だけの生活が始まって数日後、幼馴染みの亜紀の母親が自殺を遂げる。そして亜紀が交通事故に遭い、洋一郎までもが……。父とのささやかな幸せを願う小学五年生の少年が、苦悩の果てに辿り着いた驚愕の真実とは？ いま最も注目される俊英が放つ、巧緻に描かれた傑作。第七回本格ミステリ大賞受賞作。
Summary - English
What happens to people when they die? --They’re gone. - What happens when they’re gone? --They disappear, and that’s it. Three years after that conversation, Housuke’s mother died of illness. A few days after he and his father began living alone, his childhood friend Aki’s mother commits suicide. Then Aki is involved in a car accident, and even Yoichiro is … What is the shocking truth that a boy in the fifth grade of elementary school, who hopes for a small happiness with his father, arrives at the end of his agony? This is a masterpiece by one of the hottest young talents in the world today. Winner of the 7th Authentic Mystery Award.
Why are you nominating this book:
It’s on my physical TBR. It’s famous. It has won a price. It sounds interesting.
Audiobook is being released at the end of February 2024.
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May I remove an old nomination of mine? 眠りの森 東野圭吾
I started reading it on my own and I realise it’s not so accessible as it’s not in e book format, so less suited to the book club 
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Yeah, 東野圭吾 seems to dislike ebooks 
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I have a few things I could nominate, but will wait if someone else wants to add anything.
Options:
various books by 伊坂 幸太郎
various books by 米澤 穂信 (I think they are mystery?)
various books by 赤川 次郎
(I have also been eyeing すべてがFになる The Perfect Insider | L32 but a lot of people have already read this, so probably not a good pick.)
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A real shame bc his stuff is very accessible and smooth to read!
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Book: 点と線 | L36
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
From the book’s Wikipedia page: 福岡市香椎の海岸で発見された男女の情死体に疑問を持った2人の刑事の事件捜査を活写し、F・W・クロフツらによって確立されたアリバイ崩しのスタイルを継承したミステリー長編[注釈 1]。著者の最初の長編推理小説であり、松本清張ブームを巻き起こした作品である。
Content warnings if known
None known
Why are you nominating this book: Found it in my TBR pile A language partner recommended this to me at some point.
Looking at the Natively reviews, it doesn’t seem to be popular with everybody, though…
It was written in 1958, so it might contain somewhat old-fashioned language?
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I’ve read that and liked it, but it does depend a bit on what your preferences in the genre are… (I won’t be voting for it, purely because I have already read it; it’s one of the top three famous books by the author I alluded to in my nomination of 湖底の光芒 
)
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Oh, I didn’t realize it’s the same author 
I simply browsed my TBR pile and checked out some books that I suspected might be mystery novels, and that’s how this nomination came about 
@cat if you think you have better nominations in stock, please feel free to drop this one!
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I’ve read 点と線 as well, it’s much more of a procedural investigation to dismantle the culprit’s alibi than a whodunnit, and the ‘trick’ is probably not as impactful as when the book was first published.
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We don’t absolutely need to fill every voting slot, of course; if there’s spaces left that means next round we don’t have to cull anything to make space for new books.
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I have a nomination idea! 
Book 満願 | L30??
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
死にたい人たちのあいだで、随分評判らしいのよ。
磨かれた文体と冴えわたる技巧。この短篇集は、もはや完璧としか言いようがない――。驚異のミステリー3冠を制覇した名作。
「もういいんです」人を殺めた女は控訴を取り下げ、静かに刑に服したが……。鮮やかな幕切れに真の動機が浮上する表題作をはじめ、恋人との復縁を望む主人公が訪れる「死人宿」、美しき中学生姉妹による官能と戦慄の「柘榴」、ビジネスマンが最悪の状況に直面する息詰まる傑作「万灯」他、「夜警」「関守」の全六篇を収録。史上初めての三冠を達成したミステリー短篇集の金字塔。山本周五郎賞受賞。
Summary - English
Among those who wish to die, it seems to be quite popular.
With polished writing and sharp craftsmanship, this collection of short stories is nothing short of perfection—a masterpiece that has conquered the astonishing triple crown of mysteries.
In the title piece, “It’s Fine Now,” a woman who has killed someone withdraws her appeal and quietly accepts her sentence, but… The true motive surfaces in a brilliant finale. The collection also includes “Dead Man’s Inn,” where the protagonist hopes to reconcile with their lover, the sensual and chilling “Pomegranate” by beautiful high school sisters, and the breathtaking masterpiece “Ten Thousand Lanterns,” where a businessman faces the worst situation, among others. A total of six stories, including “Night Watch” and “Gatekeeper,” make up this monument of a mystery short story collection that achieved the unprecedented triple crown. Winner of the Yamamoto Shugoro Prize.
Content warnings if known
I unfortunately don’t know, but I would suspect some of the usual tropes for mysteries such as murder are present.
Why are you nominating this book: I’ve seen this book around a lot and it has good reviews, so I thought I’d nominate it. It is also a short story collection, which is something different (and if one story is great or to everyone’s tastes, there are more stories.) 
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it has an audiobook as well. 
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Done.
Definitely a bummer he seems to be opposed to ebooks, you’d think an author would want more readers.
It’s his most famous book and so I’ve left it in. Really comes down to how the vote goes. I don’t see any reason not to have two books by the same author on the list. If you feel strongly about this though I can remove it.
Added as well.
Also this seems as good a time as any to make a small announcement I’d been sitting on for a bit.
Starting with the next book there will be two changes to hopefully streamlines some bumps I’ve seen in this club and also in other clubs on the forum. Not necessarily recently (this past month or so has been a mess for me, so apologies to anyone in clubs I’m running 
) but over the past year.
1. This is now officially an ‘Advanced’ club.
Finding a pace that works for everyone and having books of a level everyone can read leads to disappointment and a lot of polling to find comfort zones. I think having clearer ideas upfront of levels and speed will allow people to opt in or out before committing.
With that in mind, here are the rough guidelines going forward based partly on WK’s Advanced Book Club but also partly on what I have seen to largely work for this one.
- Any level book 25+ is welcome to be nominated, as are unleveled books expected to be 25 or above.
- The club will read at a speed of approximately 30-60 pages with the higher page counts weighted toward the end of the schedule. 60 is a max, not a requirement.
- Unless the book sections are too difficult to cut appropriately, schedules will be made starting with fewer pages and ramping up in the last ~1/3 of the book.
A beginner/intermediate sister club is welcome, if anyone wants to spin one up. Feel free to overlap on levels - I expect the main difference would be speed and also having an upper (rather than lower) cap.
2. How nomination culling will be handled
What we’ve been doing up to this point is cutting any books that receive no votes. We’re starting to reach the number of voters where I worry about having a no cull cycle and only one spot opens. This can lead to a very stale list of choices. Going forward, we will cut down to 17 to allow for at least 3 new nominations each cycle, based on number of votes. This means:
20 nominations = 1 winner, 2 cut
19 nominations = 1 winner, 1 cut
However any books getting no votes will be cut so if we have, for example, 18 nominations and 1 book wins and 3 have no votes we’d drop down to 14 nominations.
As always, I’m open to hearing feedback and will wait a bit before putting this in the OP and making it ‘official’.
edit: After 12 days there have been no objections so I’ll add this to the OP.
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So do we vote for the next mystery club pick next week? (I’m hoping we can make the timing for physical book purchasing line up with the WK ABC, which has just started voting; plus I have some about-to-expire cdjapan points )
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