Oh wise Nativelians, there are two types of story that I’m looking for:
Expeditions, preferably with a bunch of people (not just two guys getting lost in the jungle). The Mummy, Indiana Jones, Congo, etc. I’m not picky about where they’re going, as long as it has a pulpy adventure feel.
Cool, isolated facilities where something goes wrong. Examples would include The Thing, The Abyss, Jurassic Park, True Detective Season 4. The setting could be a science station, a space station, an oil rig, etc.
I’m mostly looking for novels but would also appreciate any suggestions for manga/movies/TV .
I’m not sure if kids books get pulpy, but this one iirc is basically about a school for training future Indiana Joneses. I haven’t read it yet, it was a book I bought aspirationally while in Japan, but I still fully intend to read it eventually. This is a series btw, currently 6 books long, not sure if it’s ongoing or complete.
I don’t think my suggestions are the best ones, but maybe they’ll be useful to someone. >.<
I wish I had a suggestion for this, but I don’t. Will be keeping an eye on others’ suggestions for it.
Hrrrmmm. So a couple of things came to mind, but they don’t quite live up to the examples imo. But just in case:
How do you feel about choose-your-own-adventure stories? たったひとりのサバイバル・ゲーム! | L21 has you surviving in different environments that, while usually actively hostile, can kill you pretty quickly.
あなたも殺人犯になれる! | L26 is a bit more of a traditional “murder in an isolated area”, but I thought it was a pretty fun book. Ymmv on how cool a manga camp cabin is, haha.
I usually prefer to read things in the original language, but maybe I’ll track down a JP copy of Jurassic Park
Might be too kid-focused, but I’ll look into it.
Choose-your-own-adventure sounds fun, though it might be too kids book-y. The second suggestion sounds promising since I want to try out 赤川 次郎 at some point anyway.
Thanks - the second one in particular sounds like what I’m looking for.
We’re actually going to read this in a WaniKani book club soon
I agree, but reading the translation can net you some pretty interesting things as well.
Is it the fast-paced one? Someone was saying it was a good book to read before the other mystery book that the fast-paced one did (sry too lazy to look up name rn)… So I might consider joining
It’s this club. The pace will be something like 50-70 pages per week. It’s the third book in our list though, so when I said “soon” I probably should have said “at some point in 2026” instead
Ohh cool. That’s not the club I was thinking of (it was like advanced book club or something, 多分). “Sometime in 2026” is better for me anyway… But I guess I’ll see when the time comes
I’m a little iffy with book clubs, but that pace is probably good for me. So I might join. Put the thread to notify me for now. Thx for the info
Not cute and heart warming but features cats… That’s tough. 三毛猫ホームズの推理 series would fit. Also I think 神様に一番近い動物 had at least one cat story, and I wouldn’t describe any of them (short story collection) as heart warming but I read it so long ago now my memory is fuzzy.
Mmm, it turns out I’ve read fewer cat books than I thought I had. 吾輩は猫である | L48 technically meets all the criteria and I liked it, but it is absolutely useless as a “finish by the end of the year” bingo book
There must be some spooky cat youkai books out there, but I don’t know of any.
I guess I’d classify にゃん! 鈴江三万石江戸屋敷見聞帳 | L35?? as more “silly comedy” than “cute”, so maybe it scrapes over the bar.
Edit: if you can’t find any direct recommendations, I did find this site of cat related book reviews where somebody has read 247 cat related Japanese novels, with pictures of the book covers (often with bonus cat) and reviews.
The current LN pick, 伯爵と妖精 あいつは優雅な大悪党 | L30, features a talking cat-shaped fairy as a secondary character, if that counts. (That’s what I’m going to be using for the same square, actually.) The book of so far is a fun action-y fantasy adventure. We’re technically going to finish in 2026, but there’s no reason you can’t read ahead and finish early. (I might end up amending the schedule to finish before the new year as well.)
After spending the past almost two months making my way through the current volumes of とんがり帽子のアトリエ (almost finished!), I am feeling a bit burned out and in the mood for something “easy”. Does anybody have any recommendations for cute, straight forward children’s books? (Ideally not short stories )
Maybe 華麗なる探偵アリス&ペンギン | L22 or 放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件 | L21? Admittedly, I listened to them audio-only with poor listening skills, so I probably missed chunks, but the bits I did pick up were cute.
Less on the cute side, perhaps, but I enjoyed デルトラ・クエスト 1 沈黙の森 | L25 as a children’s fantasy novel.
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