🕵️‍♀️ 推理小説読書会 📚 Mystery Novel Book Club 👮‍♂️ Preparing to read 赤ずきん、旅の途中で死体と出会う!

I have an account, I just don’t use it… I am more of a discord girl… leanrnatively is the only forum I am active in, as it’s too much time for me, to add a second forum. I already have 2 Japanese discord channels I am semi-active in, plus a few more I mostly lurk in… :see_no_evil:

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That’s my fault. :raised_hand: They all looked different and interesting. :open_mouth:

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For some reason I had assumed @Drinos submitted https://learnnatively.com/book/9ce4863e44/ :joy: :vampire:

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Almost up to the last week for 体育館, so we should be doing a new poll soon, right? Anyway, here’s a nomination

Book: 時空旅行者の砂時計 (no Natively entry)
Is there an ebook available?: yes

Summary - Japanese

瀕死の妻のために謎の声に従い、2018年から1960年にタイムトラベルした主人公・加茂。妻の祖先・竜泉家の人々が殺害され、後に起こった土砂崩れで一族のほとんどが亡くなった「死野の惨劇」の真相の解明が、彼女の命を救うことに繋がるという。タイムリミットは、土砂崩れがすべてを吞み込むまでの四日間。閉ざされた館の中で起こる不可能犯罪の真犯人を暴き、加茂は2018年に戻ることができるのか!?

Summary - English

To aid his dying wife, the protagonist Kamo follows a mysterious voice and travels back in time from 2018 to 1960. The solution to the “Tragedy of the Field of Death,” where his wife’s ancestors, the Ryusen family, were killed and then buried in a landslide, is apparently the key to saving her. He has until four days, upon which the landslide will devour all. Will Kamo be able to uncover the criminal performing impossible murders within a sealed mansion and return to 2018?!

Why are you nominating this book: This book is supposed to be really good (it won the Ayukawa prize). The author, Houjou Kie, hasn’t written many books (yet), but her hallmark is writing hybrid mysteries. This is her debut work, combining time travel with a murder mystery, which seems like a cool and exciting premise.

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体育館の殺人 has an usual schedule with the last reading spanning 2 weeks due to the amount of pages

Week 9+10 (EXTENDED WEEK): 5.1 - end (78 pages)

In any case, probably good to write up timelines again:
So since technically 体育館の殺人 ends the week of the 2nd, a new poll will be opened on January 9th. It will run for one week to collect votes, then there will be a 2 week intermission to allow people who prefer paper copies to order them. So next club opens January 30th.

Already submitted though? Also yasssss time travel mysteries :sparkles:

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Are we full up on nomination slots? Not that I’ve got anything immediately in mind, but just in case anyone’s got any last suggestions.

I’m waiting for 時空旅行者の砂時計 to show up on Natively before officially adding it to the list (I believe Brandon is on vacation for the holidays) but once that’s in we’ll be at 18 and have two final slots left.

I’ve debated adding 此の世の果ての殺人 | L30?? (江戸川乱歩賞 winner) but I feel like I have enough nominations on there and shouldn’t hog the space :sweat_smile:

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I’d say I wouldn’t mind if we get around to voting time and there’s still space left. My biggest issue is just not having a broad enough knowledge of the Japanese mystery field to be able to consistently suggest things, so I’d definitely welcome suggestions from someone who does until I can get some more mystery experience under my belt.

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Honestly just throwing in books you know nothing about besides a rough summary is fine. I still have a few ‘classic’ mystery authors I haven’t read in Japanese and no idea when I’ll get around to them as my 積読 pile is *checks* 58 books :cold_sweat: I should work on that…

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Ah, this makes me feel so much better! :sweat_smile: I was feeling slightly anxious about my own pile of bought and as yet unread books being 15 books high , which is more than I read this year, while my list of books I’m possibly interested in is in the several dozens and keeps growing. :slight_smile:

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Interestingly, 15 is also the limit I am allowing myself. But I am standing at 14 right now. :grin:
(Well, if I ignore the free garbage I grabbed from booklive, which I do :stuck_out_tongue:)

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In my defense a sizeable chunk are old paperbacks I got for free because a library was taking them out of circulation :pray: Grateful to live in an area with a higher Japanese population (and multiple colleges teaching Japanese probably helps).

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I am really looking forward to the next one. I don’t really keep pace with the club, but I like reading other people’s opinion and stuff. Reading is such a solitary thing that it’s fun to sometimes feel like it’s a group activity. :green_heart:
(Also, I get to read books, I would probably not pick up on my own. That’s always a plus.)

These are noob numbers. :rofl: my physical 積読 pile is over 100 books. :see_no_evil: It doesn’t look like 100 books… I thougth it was maybe 50 or so… :skull: My digital one is a multitude of that. (The 本好き books alone are like 30 volumes - and I have a few LN series on standby.) Someone send help. :face_holding_back_tears: I need to control myself next time I am in Japan. :sweat_drops:

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One more nomination:

Book: そして五人がいなくなる<名探偵夢水清志郎事件ノート> | L25 (そして五人がいなくなる [vol 1 of 名探偵夢水清志郎事件ノート])
Is there an ebook available?: yes (currently part of KU)

Summary - Japanese

夢水清志郎は名探偵。表札にも名刺にも、ちゃんとそう書いてある。だけど、ものわすれの名人で、自分がごはんを食べたかどうかさえわすれちゃう。おまけに、ものぐさでマイペース。こんな名(迷)探偵が、つぎつぎに子どもを消してしまう怪人「伯爵」事件に挑戦すれば、たちまち謎は解決……するわけはない。笑いがいっぱいの謎解きミステリー

Summary - English

Yumemizu Seishiro is a master detective. It says so on his nameplate and business card. However, he is a master at forgetting things, and even forgets whether he has eaten his dinner or not. In addition, he is lazy and goes at his own pace. When this famous (or lost) detective takes on the case of the “Count”, a monster who makes children disappear one after another, the mystery is immediately solved…not. A mystery with lots of laughs!

Why are you nominating this book: I want to read something easier. It might also attract a few new readers that feel intimidated by level 30+ books. But essentially, I heard a few Japanese people talk about this series as their gateway into mystery novels and love of reading and that piqued my interest.

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Oh, I really like the look of this one! I don’t know if we’ve had a nomination with the “not really a detective in reality” archetype yet. I also appreciate the lower level nomination; I hope we can bring in a wider reading group if it gets chosen!

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Do you all think it might be worth noting clearly when a book is for younger audiences? I’ve only read two books that turned out to be for young adults or younger (not that they were labeled as such), and I felt very unsatisfied by both of them. I guess I’m too far removed from the intended target group. I have nothing against the book club picking such books, but I’d find it helpful to know beforehand what the intended audience is.

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I think it would be nice! I think I was the one who suggested this book, and I didn’t realize ahead of time, else I’dve marked it when nominating. :sweat_smile:

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I have read some amazing (English) middle grade books in recent years. I don’t think that target audience necessarily makes for an uninteresting book, but mystery is a bit special in that regard since they will be simpler and less dark on principal. Though middle grade mysteries can be quite a fun romp. I struggle most with YA since they kinda try to be adult but are just not enough adult to be interesting to an actual adult. Middle grade just tries to be fun/interesting. :thinking:

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I only knew 体育館の殺人 was meant for younger audiences having looked at reviews and such. Japan doesn’t seem to put things into a YA category as much so you’re more or less going with a gut feeling based on cover art, description, writing style, etc.

Looking at the current nomination list (I’m leery to edit / add things to the list until the Discourse issues are fixed, so just for clarity we have one spot remaining):
赤ずきんちゃん is maybe not intended for young but it’s definitely silly.
アンデッドガール is likely YA
ノッキングオン・ロックドドア is likely YA
名探偵は嘘をつかない is likely YA
私が大好きな小説家 is a straight up ラノベ iirc, but yes, YA.
透明人間 looks maaaaaybe YA but the reviews don’t suggest that so unsure. One review said this though which…

AB型っぽい。

wat :joy:

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Thanks for doing all that work :slight_smile:
そして五人がいなくなる is 100% Middle Grade. I wonder why Japan doesn’t distinguish YA more. Or maybe the labels make it clear? (Books are often grouped by publisher rather than author in Japanese bookstores. Maybe ppl know that label XYZ from publisher XYZ is YA? :thinking:)

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