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.
I was checking the illustrations and it turns out Main’s name in world appears in week’s section.
So we can now all agree that Main is the correct spelling
(More seriously, it is the spelling that the author had in mind, but, you know, “death of the author” and all that)
I don’t think you would see it on TV (at least not regularly).
It happens regularly at fish markets over Japan.
Apparently, some people upload it to YouTube as well. Here’s the first result I got:
It happens really early in the morning (I’m talking 4am), so you would usually not get that much more public than you can see in the preview (but also, I think that video is back when there were still covid restrictions?)
Question about the dialogue on the last page of Ch. 11
Are we supposed to know what Maiyne() and Tuuli are talking about at this point? Why is Myne apologizing? It sounds like she wanted Tuuli to promise not to say something, but what?
It’s a reference to a Japanese meme. A bed-ridden girl is saying ごめん to the person taking care of her, who then makes that reply. It has been derived to death. Main is complaining that Tuuli is not giving the meme answer (which, obviously, is impossible, since the meme is not a thing in that world), which is why Tuuli makes the next comment. Then Main narrates (thinks?) that, of course, they didn’t make that promise, but, the meme?
Somehow, I can’t find a good image of the original, so here’s a cute version of the meme (making a joke on the frog noise sounding like ごめん)
Oof. I read through the chapters last night, but I must’ve been way more tired than I realized; I registered the ごめん/約束 thing, but not that there was anything weird about it.
I kind of want to look up a video now of someone making papyrus…
I’m so glad you knew the meme because I never would have gotten that It makes Tuuli’s ホントだよ funnier too. Poor Tuuli.
Semi-related:
My first thought was that Tuuli had seen Myne writing in Japanese or something and Myne wanted her to promise not to tell anyone. Honestly, I wondered in general if writing in Japanese was going to be the thing that really got her in trouble for knowing more than she’s supposed to. From what the guard said it seems the family has caught on that she seems “beyond her years”.
To be fair, I only know it because the question came up in the previous 本好き book club on WK, someone asked their Japanese teacher and THEY knew about it.
For me, the fact that she knew how to knot (?) a bag that are much more advanced that the cultural standard is the thing that I think is hard to ignore. She even had to come up with a weird explanation as for why she could… and that’s easily falsifiable, since you can just ask ゲルダ about it.
Yeah, I also am not entirely sure it’s believable she’d know how to do this as a 21st century girl. I know, she explains about the the newpaper advertisement (?) weaving trend, but she still seems extra resourceful, more so than i’d be
And does anyone know why we’re going to make clay tablets in the spring?? Seems like that’s not really on her quest for a book, but perhaps its just to help her writing heh. Not entirely sure why we don’t just go straight to mulch paper, that must be easier no?
I fell off with reading this last week but now I’m all caught up!
Continuing from last week’s reading with the winter prep into this weeks with the pig butchering and winter crafting stuff, I can’t help but feel a bit annoyed with Main. The world she’s been transported to is much tougher than her previous world and she just acts like a tourist there at times and doesn’t understand their situation and thinks too much about herself and books. Just a mini-rant about the current point in the plot. She’s so frustrating right now!
I shall call this Main’s culture shock arc, haha.
having an aunt who is “artistic” - it’s not that far-fetched, tbh. She keeps mentioning that her mom is doing all sorts of DIY stuff. Crafty people tend to be really happy if they can rope someone into their interest.
Totally agree here. Myne still seems to think of herself like an outsider; I wonder if it’s really sunken in for her yet that this is her life now. Japan might as well have been a dream.
) and Tuuli are talking about at this point? Why is Myne apologizing? It sounds like she wanted Tuuli to promise not to say something, but what?
Just a mini-rant about the current point in the plot. She’s so frustrating right now!