I voted November basically because I’m hoping my Life Busy-ness 
will be over by sometime in September but I also want time to catch up on my other reading 
5 Likes
I would tend towards preferring later rather than earlier, so I can work through my current to read pile a bit more before doing another big book order. But it probably depends a bit on which book gets picked as well and whether other book clubs come round to also select and start something and I want to put in an order anyway.
(For batching up book orders “select the book early and then start later” works better than “delay first and then select the book and start it immediately”.)
5 Likes
Any recommendations for someone new to Riku Onda? 木洩れ日 is right around my comfort level in terms of difficulty - I could go a little bit harder perhaps. I‘m open to most genres, but tend to avoid books with sexually explicit scenes or graphic violence. My stomach for that kind of stuff has gotten weaker over time, it seems.
5 Likes
I’ve only read one other book by her but she doesn’t strike me as someone who writes sex scenes and while there is some violence in https://learnnatively.com/book/6f0b78aa58/ I don’t recall it being particularly graphic.
I’ve had 月の裏側 | L30?? in my backlog for ages and this is the summary:
九州の水郷都市・箭納倉。ここで三件の失踪事件が相次いだ。消えたのはいずれも掘割に面した日本家屋に住む老女だったが、不思議なことに、じきにひょっこり戻ってきたのだ、記憶を喪失したまま。まさか宇宙人による誘拐か、新興宗教による洗脳か、それとも？事件に興味を持った元大学教授・協一郎らは〈人間もどき〉の存在に気づく……。
DeepL translation
Arjanakura, a water town in Kyushu. Three disappearances occurred one after another here. All of them were elderly women who lived in a Japanese house facing a dugout, but strangely enough, they suddenly came back to life without losing their memories. Was she abducted by aliens, brainwashed by a new religion, or what? A former university professor, Kyoichiro, and others, who are interested in the case, notice the existence of “human-like creatures.” …
3 Likes
Good point. I guess I should work on a nomination template so that we can start nominating, then vote for our preference, then select starting date. 
I’ve only read Eugenia and currently reading 木洩れ日に泳ぐ魚 too. The only other book of hers that has concrete gradings on Natively is 夜のピクニック | L29 (learnnatively.com). But I hope this club will be a good opportunity for us to discover more! 
Like @cat, my impression is that we won’t find much of that in her books. Even her horror books seem to be on the mild side, judging from reviews. It would depend on your definition of “graphic” though. There were some rather vivid descriptions of the effects of a mass poisoning in Eugenia for example.
6 Likes
Nomination template is up in the OP. Please nominate whatever you find of interest.
I’ll kick off the process with the most obvious nomination, that most people already expressed interest in:
Book: 蜜蜂と遠雷 上 | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Genre: general fiction
Length: 上: 454, 下: 508
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
俺はまだ、神に愛されているだろうか?
ピアノコンクールを舞台に、人間の才能と運命、そして音楽を描き切った青春群像小説。
著者渾身、文句なしの最高傑作!
3年ごとに開催される芳ヶ江国際ピアノコンクール。「ここを制した者は世界最高峰のS国際ピアノコンクールで優勝する」ジンクスがあり近年、覇者である新たな才能の出現は音楽界の事件となっていた。養蜂家の父とともに各地を転々とし自宅にピアノを持たない少年・風間塵15歳。かつて天才少女として国内外のジュニアコンクールを制覇しCDデビューもしながら13歳のときの母の突然の死去以来、長らくピアノが弾けなかった栄伝亜夜20歳。音大出身だが今は楽器店勤務のサラリーマンでコンクール年齢制限ギリギリの高島明石28歳。完璧な演奏技術と音楽性で優勝候補と目される名門ジュリアード音楽院のマサル・C・レヴィ=アナトール19歳。彼ら以外にも数多の天才たちが繰り広げる競争という名の自らとの闘い。第1次から3次予選そして本選を勝ち抜き優勝するのは誰なのか?
Summary - English
Does God still love me?
A coming-of-age novel depicting human talent, destiny and music, set in a piano competition.
The author’s unquestionable masterpiece!
The Hagae International Piano Competition is held every three years. In recent years, the emergence of a new talent, a champion, has become an event in the music world. JINJI KAZAMA, 15, is a boy who lives with his beekeeper father from place to place and does not have a piano at home. Eiden Aya, 20, who once won national and international junior competitions as a prodigy girl and even made her CD debut, but has been unable to play the piano for a long time since the sudden death of her mother when she was 13. Akashi Takashima, 28, a music college graduate but now an office worker at a music shop, who is just barely within the age limit for the competition. Masaru C. Levy-Anatole, 19, of the prestigious Juilliard School, who is considered a potential winner due to his perfect playing technique and musicality. The competition is a battle against themselves, a battle of geniuses. Who will win the first three qualifying rounds and the finals?
(DeepL translation)
Content warnings if known
none that I know of
Why are you nominating this book: This has won the Naoki prize and is very highly praised. Many people in the club have expressed interest in it, and I already happen to own it. It is, however, very long. I guess we could start with the first volume only, and take it from there. (There’s also a third volume, loosely connected to the other two if I understand correctly, so there’s even more reading material if we end up loving it so much we can’t stop reading).
6 Likes
Oh, are we doing nominations in here? In the Murata book club over at WK we just threw in all of her books and then decided on which one to read. I was somehow expecting a similar procedure here…
BTW how many books did she write in total?
2 Likes
There’s lots, so I thought we would do nominations of what feels more immediately interesting to us.
From the OP:
I couldn’t easily find an exact count, but there are 86 books by her listed on Bookwalker, and there’s a very long list on her Wikipedia page. So I think nominations are the way to go…
3 Likes
Ok I checked the Japanese Wikipedia and in the 作品 section there are 69 entries 
I had no idea 
In that case, nominations it is 
4 Likes
Book: 月の裏側 | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Genre: sf horror?
Length: 461
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
九州の水郷都市・箭納倉。ここで三件の失踪事件が相次いだ。消えたのはいずれも掘割に面した日本家屋に住む老女だったが、不思議なことに、じきにひょっこり戻ってきたのだ、記憶を喪失したまま。まさか宇宙人による誘拐か、新興宗教による洗脳か、それとも？事件に興味を持った元大学教授・協一郎らは〈人間もどき〉の存在に気づく……。
Summary - English
Arjanakura, a water city in Kyushu. Three disappearances took place here in quick succession. All of them were elderly women who lived in Japanese houses facing the ditch, but strangely enough, they returned shortly afterwards, but with no memory of their disappearance. Was she abducted by aliens, brainwashed by a new religion, or what? Former university professor Kyoichiro and his colleagues, who are interested in the case, realise the existence of a ‘human-like creature’. …
(deepL translation)
Content warnings if known
nothing specific that I know of, but there’s a very creepy atmosphere, according to reviews
Why are you nominating this book: This one I have wanted to read ever since @cat first recommended it ages ago. Onda is great at creating an atmosphere of unease, so I think this would be a good pick for when we’re in the mood for something creepy. This October, for example. 
6 Likes
Book: Q&A | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Genre: mystery/suspense
Length: 382
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
都下郊外の大型商業施設において重大死傷事故が発生した。死者69名、負傷者116名、未だ原因を特定できず――多数の被害者、目撃者が招喚されるが、ことごとく食い違う証言。防犯ビデオに写っていたのは何か？ 異臭は？ ぬいぐるみを引きずりながら歩く少女の存在は？ そもそも、本当に事故なのか？ Ｑ＆Ａだけで進行する著者の真骨頂！
Summary - English
A serious fatal accident occurred at a large commercial facility in the suburbs of Tokyo. 69 dead, 116 injured, still no cause identified - numerous victims and witnesses are summoned, but their testimonies differ at every turn. What was captured on security video? What was the strange smell? What about the existence of the girl walking with a stuffed animal dragging behind her? Was it really an accident in the first place? The author’s quintessential story, which proceeds solely by Q&A!
(deepL translation)
Content warnings if known
May contain some graphic descriptions of violence due to panic? Unsure to what extent.
Why are you nominating this book: This book is entirely dialogue (my weakness)! Onda seems to specialize in telling a story from multiple angles, and this time there is no narration, just questions and answers.
5 Likes
I think I will die reading this … 
By the way looking at Bookwalker, it claims that this book is part of a series:
But the other book is from a totally different author, so I’m assuming it’s a glitch in their data?!
4 Likes
I think it’s a glitch, yes. Although it is the same title and publisher.
My guess is that they liked the format, and asked more writers to do something similar, making it a loose series in terms of approach only?
edit: by the way, it seems to have very good reviews (because I needed to add to my wish list)
4 Likes
Oh, interesting find then
Although I must confess I’m already struggling to understand the two sentences of the abstract (in terms of who did what to whom), so maybe hmmm…
3 Likes
I promise I’ll stop with the nominations after this (erm, for a while at least). I wasn’t planning to nominate anything else, but this is a totally different genre to the previous ones, and it’s good to have wider representation, right?
, 
Book: ドミノ | L30?? (learnnatively.com)
Genre: comedy
Length: 384
Is there an ebook available?: yes
Summary - Japanese
一億円の契約書を待つ、締切直前のオフィス。オーディション中、下剤を盛られた子役の少女。推理力を競い合う大学生。別れを画策する青年実業家。待ち合わせ場所に行き着けない老人。老人の句会仲間の警察ＯＢたち。真夏の東京駅、二七人と一匹の登場人物はそれぞれに、何かが起こる瞬間を待っていた。迫りくるタイムリミット、もつれ合う人々、見知らぬ者同士がすれ違うその一瞬、運命のドミノが次々と倒れてゆく！ 抱腹絶倒、スピード感溢れるパニックコメディの大傑作！
Summary - English
An office awaits a contract worth 100 million yen, just before the deadline. A child actor is dosed with laxatives during an audition. A university student competing in a guessing game. A young businessman planning a break-up. An old man who can’t get to the meeting place. The old man’s haiku club mates, who are all police alumni. At Tokyo Station in mid-summer, each of the twenty-seven characters and one animal is waiting for the moment when something will happen. The time limit is approaching, people are entangled, strangers pass each other, and at that moment, the dominoes of destiny fall one after another! A masterpiece of a panic comedy, full of gusto and speed!
(deepL translation)
Content warnings if known
None that I know of
Why are you nominating this book: It’s a (slapstick?) comedy with multiple characters (28!), each with their own distinct stories, all somehow converging at Tokyo Station. Sounds fun. There’s also a sequel, ドミノin上海.
6 Likes
Thanks! That’s good to know. I’ve heard she has quite a range genre-wise, and wasn’t sure what that meant in terms of that kind of stuff.
All these nominations are getting me excited to read more of her works! I have about enough points on Bookwalker for 1 or 2 of the sale books, the only question is which one(s)…
5 Likes
Hmm, if we manage to run our first poll before the 14nth, you/we’ll know.
If we start our poll on the 6th, we can close it on the 12th, with time for purchases before the sales deadline runs out. How does that sound? The time for nominations may be too short, but then, large as her bibliography is, the options are still rather limited compared to other bookclubs, so maybe the short time for nominations won’t be a problem?
4 Likes
Sounds perfect! 
And then we can discuss the starting time and whether we want a strict schedule at all, and these things.
I wouldn’t worry about this too much tbh. As you say, the scope is so limited, so I don’t think that it really matters as much whether we pick from 5 or 15 of her works… 
By the way, to all who are interested in the Bookwalker sale currently going on, I double-checked some of the bargains and it’s quite a mixed bag. Some clock in at only 30 or 40%, so you can get a better deal any time if you wait long enough for a 50% coin cashback fair (right, omk3? 
). But if you don’t like the coin cashback, that’s of course a different story.
There are a small handful of books though where you get much more than 50% off in this sale, and these are rather worth grabbing in my opinion, as it is quite rare to get such a high discount.
4 Likes
I don’t know what you’re talking about 
I only buy about a dozen books at every discount or coin back campaign, nothing much
But yes, if you’re interested in coins (I thought I wasn’t in the beginning, silly me, because “how much would I be able to read anyway?” ), it’s worth waiting if the discount is less than 40-50%. Although Gentosha has fewer of those than Kadowaka or Kodansha, I noticed.
3 Likes
Coins are about buying, not about reading 
smh
5 Likes
