Me too!
I started listening to the ova op in a loop the moment I started reading this 
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I’m currently reading 世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 2 ピッタリもらえる懸賞ハガキ・道の種他 | L23 (mostly to see if it’s easier now, one year after I finished the first one), and I don’t even care how this product will mess with the one who uses it, I want it:
Excerpt:
澄也は、そのファンタジー小説の本を再び開き、そこに印刷された文字をにらむ。
（なんで……なんでこの本、こんなに漢字が多いのに、フリガナがほとんど付いてないんだよ！）
…わかる 
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Useless fact from my book on the history of furigana: famous 1920s and 30s novelist 山本有三 was not a fan of furigana and there’s a quote of his comparing them to ugly black bugs crawling over the page. I wonder if that product idea derived from it?
Here’s the quote (complete with historical kana and kanji usage, and no furigana, of course):
近頃私はルビを見ると、黒い虫の行列のやうな氣がしてたまりません。なぜ、あのやうな不愉快な小虫を、文章の横に這ひまはらしておくのでせう。
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That was a fun item and I felt the same at first when I read the description 
Back on topic I started
which is by the same author and I’m enjoying it so far!
Probably will finish it sooner than expected as I’m hooked already.
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Finally I finished Another エピソードS and I found it easier than the main story and way better than I thought, e.g. the book features a weird 幽霊 as first person narrator. The “problem” I had with the main story was probably that I already knew its solution as I had seen the series and therefore wasn’t that surprised and enthusiastic about its end any more.
But what now? I wanted to read コップクラフト but it will come late, probably another 2-3 weeks, as the delivery is still waiting for some other books to arrive at the store. Actually I am wavering between reading something easier than コップクラフト to not exhaust myself in advance or reading something more difficult to feel relief after it…
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I finished クラスで2番目に可愛い女の子と友だちになった5 | L26 and decided to drop 週に一度クラスメイトを買う話 ~ふたりの時間、言い訳の五千円~ | L27 (it’s weird, and there’s more enjoyable stuff out there).
Next up:
It’s at the default L30 rn, but seems more upper 20s range, so that’s perfect for now.
Also reading along to the audiobook for
which I nominated for the Beginner’s Light Novel Club … so on the off-chance we end up reading it, I’ll be very well prepared lol
After 男子だと思っていた幼馴染との, I think I’ll get back to ソードアート・オンライン プログレッシブ 1 | L34 , since I’ve got just 30% left!
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I finished 嫌いなら呼ぶなよ | L35 and I’m sorry to say it @omk3 and @cat, but I loved it?! I was laughing the entire way through every story since they were all so ridiculous. I had so much fun with all the sarcastic humor and all the slang that kept popping up, too. If you are chronically online (it’s me 
hahaha 
ぴえん) and use Japanese SNS/know the latest Japanese memes and slang (or those from the last few pandemic years) this might also tickle your funny bone the same way lol. The only negative thing I have to say is that I wish I read this right when it came out instead of letting it sit on my TBR so long, since it felt slightly out of date by now. I don’t think the edgy humor or pop culture references will age very well, so if anyone out there is even mildly interested, check this out sooner rather than later. Solid 4/5 stars for me just based on how much fun I had with these stories. 
Now I am onto 貝に続く場所にて | L41 which I’ve been meaning to read since it won the 芥川賞 a few years back. The author lives in Germany and the world of the story is set in Göttingen, which is what initially attracted me to it, as I haven’t read any Japanese fiction set in Germany before. This is now the third “pandemic fiction” book in a row I’m reading after ハンチバック and 嫌いなら呼ぶなよ — I guess I shouldn’t have let so many books published in the last years build up on my TBR! Oops!
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If you’re interested in Japanese authors living in and writing about Germany, you might want to check out 多和田 葉子. I‘ve started her book 雲をつかむ話 where she writes about Hamburg (where she used to live initially; now she lives in Berlin iirc) and I liked it (but too little time to read it, as always…).
If your interest specifically lies in Göttingen, then I’m afraid I can’t be of any help (not even if we were talking about German authors )
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wow that cover is painful.
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嫌いなら見るなよ 
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Any platforms you particularly enjoy or recommend?
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I finished 白昼夢の森の少女 | L30?? yesterday. The final count is 1 story that I loved, 3 stories I liked, 1 story that was indeterminate (I enjoyed it, but the reveal/plot twist at the very end was garbage), and 6 meh stories.
For anyone who enjoys the writing style of the author (I do!), that’s definitely good enough. For those who haven’t read anything by 恒川 光太郎, I’d recommend to go with one of his more well-known books first, to get a feel for it.
When I finished the book, it was like 10pm, so a bit early for bed, but late enough that I didn’t want to read medium 霊媒探偵城塚翡翠 | L33 or 痴人の愛 | L43… (I am going to catch up with the book club of the first one soon™ though). After a bit of scrolling (and I mean literally ~2 min) I came across the info that ルリドラゴン 1 | L19 was on hiatus/cancelled (that news was from last year; I am very up to date), so I ended up buying the ebook and reading it 
It was nice but it indeed ends on a cliffhanger-ish scene, so it’s a bit frustrating, I guess.
Today, medium!
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Hiatus means there’s still hope though. It hasn’t been canceled so far.
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The same way that Nana is on “hiatus”.
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Thanks for the recommendation! I’ve seen both her Japanese books on Amazon and German books in bookstores here but I’ve just never gotten around to reading her since I didn’t know much about her or where to start. I might look out for that one though. 
All the classic ones like YouTube, twitter, instagram or TikTok have you covered if you check out Japanese content creators. Besides that, girls channel is also ok as a news aggregator and has funny BL, anime, and meme topics sometimes (from a female pov, hence the site name) and you can learn slang from the replies. But some topics quickly turn into a cesspool, so be careful which ones you go into. Any news website that posts about current events or trends is also great for staying in the know — some slang from the book such as 地雷女、老害、and 繊細ヤクザ were trending, so there were articles explaining them. That’s all I can think of! 
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I can additionally offer オーストリア滞在記 by 中谷 美紀, an Japanese actress (from the movie リング) who moved to Austria and writes about her experiences 
But I have only read a bit of the book, but it doesn’t seem very difficult (But maybe also because I am very familiar with Austria? :D)
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Excuse me? Was this written for me? Personally? Surely. That timing.
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Oh I have seen this before! I shall also add it to my list
I have a couple of forever hiatus on my TBR and while I’m very interested in reading, the hiatus part is such a big turn off.
For example comes to mind:
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