Any spoilers, 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.
Always mention where you are in the book when discussing, ideally by chapter so people reading different versions have a clear point of reference.
Feel free to read ahead if it’s exciting! But please refrain from spoiling ahead of the appropriate week
If you have a question about grammar, vocab, cultural things, etc - ask! That can be part of the discussion too and I’m sure some folks would be happy to help.
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.
Still haven’t had time to get to this week’s part. I think I remember what happens in this chapter, but I won’t comment until I get to listen to it (probably this weekend)
I am half-way through and I am not sure what the author is trying to do with stuff like this
トニーの恋人──まあ男なんだが──そいつはえらい猫嫌いで引き取れない。
Imagine just dropping someone’s sexuality into a random conversation, when it has nothing to add. But at the same time, the author could just be like “Gay ppl exist. Let me just add some random gay people and not make a big deal out of it.”
I think it’s the second thing. “I need to have a bunch of easily identifiable characters. I’m just going to give them all one specific characteristic.”
I think I enjoyed the first half of the chapter a bit more this week. the setup in the second half is obviously necessary, though it did get more interesting near the end. For the most part they feel like stereotypical villains, though if their powers are what they say they are, it could make for some incredibly interesting action scenes down the line.
I am not sure what the author is trying to do with stuff like this
god I laughed so hard when I read that, that and the direct reference to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and 9-11. I think he’s trying to make the setting/plot more serious or believable by grounding it with direct references to real events and other things, but it just comes out of nowhere every time. Also definitely some of it has to do with what @Naphthalene said about using character traits as shorthand identification for characters.
That being said, I think Kei offhandedly bringing up that Tony is gay mid conversation is in character for him, considering it seems to weigh on his mind in their previous interactions.
The content of the chapter was pretty much what I (vaguely) remembered.
With audio only I was incapable of following the explanations of why she couldn’t say at the embassy (?). I just remember that she belongs to a different (political?) faction or something. At least, I felt in sink with ケイ.
Speaking of “ケー”, we can finally see why she kept insisting on that pronunciation… but くろい was the REAL ケー・イマトゥバ (if I remember the spelling correctly).
I didn’t remember the scene near the door where he tells himself he is not a lolicon, feels no horniness, and is perfectly collected. Good to know, I guess. I feel like the author is trying to keep the option of romantic development if ケイ starts seeing her more as a woman, but let’s hope not.
The switch between points of view is really tricky with audio only. I’m glad I already knew it would happen
Slowly going along through the book in conjunction with 本好き, and I’m really surprised コップフラフト is 5 entire levels higher than 本好き on Natively. The vocabulary is definitely more specialized at times, but 5 levels feels like a huge gap. Like, “if 本好き is near your comfort level it would be extremely time-intensive/tiring to read コップフラフト” is what I would expect seeing that gap, but it doesn’t feel that way to me reading along. I suppose コップフラフト’s chapters are also longer, which might also contribute to a feeling of added difficulty?
I think it’s a bit of both. 本好き has people reading it who are familiar with it from English, or from having already been exposed to the anime or manga.
Cop Craft is jammed full of made up words which for me made keeping track of things more of a pain, but not to the point of level 35. I would say it’s harder than 本好き but it’s more of a 31 vs 33 type difference than a 30 vs 35 imo.
edit: just went to look at my own ratings and I did rate it as similar to some L35 items…but I don’t agree those are 35 either
I found copcraft to be harder, it definitely has stretches where it’s slightly easier or on par, but there were quite a few times where I had to stop and break down a sentence or paragraph, where with bookworm I’ve found that the limiting factor is just the vocab.
I checked out JPDB for bookworm and copcraft for more concrete stats, and it’s quite interesting. Copcraft has shorter sentences on average, but pretty much every other stat for the first volume is slightly higher than bookworm. If I had to guess, I’d say that copcraft being a shorter book, with more unique vocab only used once, that is often very obscure or made up, lends itself to feeling far harder than bookworm even if they are statistically similar.
It’s definitely a bit of an anomaly, but when you think about it, the level system is going to be inherently skewed by the subjective opinions of it’s users, as well as the averaged level of users on the site.
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someone wants to see the world burn. 
. Too many names and titles.
I suppose コップフラフト’s chapters are also longer, which might also contribute to a feeling of added difficulty?
