We are following the below schedule (page counts may vary based on your medium):
Week
Up to
Approximate Pages
Approx. Percent
Week 1 - June 9
Read through ホテルの客
25
13%
Week 2 - June 16
Read through 暗闇の騎士
34
27%
Week 3 - June 23
Read through 怪老人
32
41%
Week 4 - June 30
Read through 塔上の黒蜥蜴
40
58%
Week 5 - July 7
Read through 水葬礼
35
73%
Week 6 - July 14
Read through 人形異変
31
86%
Week 7 - July 21
Read through うごめく黒蜥蜴 (end)
32
100%
I will generally copy this information over thread to thread each week for ease of finding - you can always expect the schedule at the top of any weekly thread
Law and Order
Any reveals, for the current chapters must be behind spoilers or detail curtains. When we get further in you don’t need to hide details that were revealed in previous chapters.
Questions on vocab, grammar, nuance, and the like are both welcome and encouraged. If you’re not sure if it’s a spoiler, assume it is and use one of the above options to hide the text.
You are encouraged to speculate and guess wildly
Be kind about other peoples’ wild guesses
Even if you don’t read the chapter(s) in time, you are still encouraged to post in the thread for that reading once you have finished it. I advise not reading ahead in the threads as you may see spoilers.
To gauge participation - a poll!
Are you reading week 1 of 黒蜥蜴?
Yes, I’m planning to read along/am reading along this week
If you’re using the YouTube 朗読 I linked this week’s reading ends pretty much perfectly at 44 minutes in.
Oh gosh I wasn’t expecting the S&M vibes I really like our lady thief, and am interested in her use of 僕. It’s kind of cute and fitting for her.
I slowed myself down a lot looking up pictures of clothing mentioned but it gave me more of a feel for the era so it was worth it.
Looking forward to next week, I suspect we’ll get into our first heist or attempt at one.
Very nice start to the book ! I kept picturing it as a 1930s film noir… I hadn’t’ picked on the S&M vibes at the end, despite the use of 奴隷, but, @cat さん, you’re right it makes sens.
I’m very excited for this book !
This is my first attempt of reading while listening to an audiobook, and I must say it works like a charm! I tried this a few years back, where I could not even follow the voice with my eyes on the text, which gave me quite the shock back then and so I started with a cautious 0.75x speed. It was a bit painful to listen for the first few minutes because the voice sounds quite strange, but towards the end I got used to it. Maybe next time I’ll try the normal speed to see how it compares.
I did not take the time to stop to look up and find out exactly what the party guests looked like or what they did - I was very happy that I could follow the descriptions quite well, and simply sat back and enjoyed the ride
It does have the vibes of a 1930s film noir, not gonna lie Let’s see how the robbery and slavery will turn out!
I’ve been reading along while listening to the 朗読 YouTube @cat linked as well. The version I’m reading has a lot of minor differences, so I was wondering if anyone was reading a version that was actually identical to the YT reading and what edition it is. I’m reading the free 青空文庫 on Kindle, which does change old writings but I thought not much else. Differences include: single words, changed or missing phrases or whole sentence parts. Sometimes people are called by their first name instead of last and vice versa.
As an example, right at the beginning when the first scene is set, the aozora edition reads: ナイトクラブの広々としたフロアに、数十人の男女が、或る者は盃をあげてブラボーを叫び、（……）
The recording goes: 公共（？）のダンス場（？）ではないが、それに劣らぬ広々とした床の滑らかな一室に数十人の男女が（……）
After that it’s the same. If anyone does have access to that version, I’d love to know what it actually says. I’m not super confident I got the beginning part right.
I’m reading a print version, but I suspect it’s identical to the Aozora one as mine has the same issues as yours at the same sentence. I just finished doing a read along with a book with much worse text matching, so I guess this one didn’t feel as off to me in comparison I had the same trouble when reading 黄金仮面 with the same narrator and a print book (different edition set). I’m not sure what version they’re reading from
Oh, I forgot to mention: my version has that as well. I’m reading the one that is free on BookWalker (I believe it is directly taken from Aozora) and it has some small changes like ナイトクラブ and ネクタイ and also maybe some particles were dropped in direct speech here and there, but I didn’t notice much else. Oh, maybe my text differs in the same way from the recording as yours, but I was so irritated by the change of the first word that I somehow got out of sync, but I attributed this more to my listening skills than to the changed text
I’m reading a paid Kadokawa version, paired with 怪人二十面相, but I have the same text as you, different from the YT reading.
It’s the exact same recording on Audible.
I should try listening along… that seems like a good idea. But I’m not sure I can find the time to do this on top of reading only (and I want to be able to read at my own pace)
Regarding the differing version in the audio recording, I found this version on Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgxURGER9qWm2LGa2okOFxHIpCOnxJJ73
According to the auto-generated transcript, it uses the same text that we all seem to read. The videos of the playlist are one chapter each, which makes them easy to match to our reading weeks.
I just listened to the first chapter of week 2, and I find the reading quality pretty similar. The only difference is that it’s read by a male voice, and that there are no other actors, so initially I found it a tad hard to understand that our lady was talking. But he is pretty good with different voices, so I got used to it quickly. Plus, it matched my text exactly (maybe there was one particle that differed, not exactly sure, but I can live with that ).
Reading off Aozora on mobile actually wasn’t as unpleasant as I remembered, but definitely not ideal for something this long. I probably would have switched to bookwalker if I hadn’t found this copy so soon.
Since I’m catching up I’m (trying) not to get too distracted by looking up the historical clothing words and unusual terms, but it is a lot of fun. 徹宵 seems like a good word I want to use sometime.
Glad to see my boy 明智 has gotten some respect! I just read a collection of the first published 明智小五郎 stories, and in those he’s just a random guy no one knows about, so it’s cool to jump forward in time and see that the world of these stories has evolved a bit too.
I’m loving the vibes so far as well, from crossdressing, fun disguises, and a 予告状 to mutilating a corpse and even some SM stuff. I’ve read a fair bit of Ranpo that’s strange or unnerving (人間椅子、挿絵と旅する男) but never anything as direct as this. I read in an afterword somewhere that he was seen as a taboo author that young people at the time had to hide from their parents, and I can see how he got that reputation now
I can totally see that! He definitely pushes some boundaries for the era.
Side note, I bought a book last time I was in Japan called 乱歩を探して which when I was flipping through seemed to be a collection of interviews with people who knew or were influenced by Ranpo’s works. I’m hoping to read it once I’ve read more of his books (I’m at a handful of short stories, one full adult book, and a few of his kids books so far). As an author he fascinates me - his style is so incredibly distinct from everyone else I’ve read from the decades he was active in.
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Law and Order 
I really like our lady thief, and am interested in her use of 僕. It’s kind of cute and fitting for her.
and so I started with a cautious 0.75x speed. It was a bit painful to listen for the first few minutes because the voice sounds quite strange, but towards the end I got used to it. Maybe next time I’ll try the normal speed to see how it compares.
Very interested. Wonder if I can get my hands on some of these!
(which one could have expected, given the time, but it never even crossed my mind…)
I had the same trouble when reading 黄金仮面 with the same narrator and a print book (different edition set). I’m not sure what version they’re reading from 
