Today’s fun coincidence was reading about 横溝正史（よこみぞせいし） in both 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 | L41 and ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 (4) ~栞子さんと二つの顔~ | L31! And both of them even talked about how he spent some time editing a magazine in addition to being an author.
Between 本好き, ビブリア, this chapter of 夜は短し, and 本を守ろうとする猫の話 | L31 (which I’ve only barely started), I feel like I’m just reading books about books lately! 
Maybe it’s a sign I should pick up 図書館の大魔術師 (series) | L27 again too?
so many books at the same time. 
Do you not find yourself wanting to finish a book before starting the next? 
And none of them are short, either. I only have multiple books going because of ebook vs. audiobook vs. physical.
I am having a good time with https://learnnatively.com/book/e85b4bd246/. It’s so much easier than I expected which makes it a really quick read and I have always liked character-driven books and this author does them well… though I kinda hate the husband in the second story… Only ever giving your wife 1 gift and when she accidentally sees it, you throw it away as what? punishment? huge a-hole. That wife is basically completely giving herself up for her husband even before he became sick. the author seems to be going for a “this is so romantic” kinda vibe but I felt a bit icky, ngl.
Not having as much fun with https://learnnatively.com/book/13f4cb524e/ So far, everyone seems to be a bit of an a-hole for different reasons, but I haven’t gotten that far into the book yet. Also, I can’t really remember who anyone is, since I am terrible with names and stuff… might just have to re-read it someday as an epub or something.
WaniKani forum’s Advanced Book Club is reading この本を盗むものは starting Feb 4th if you need another one… 
That’s… Not going to change. 
It’s really the fun of the book.
I’m definitely at my limit right now The reason I have this many is basically the same as what you said: they’re all different ‘kinds’ of reads for me. 夜は短し is hard, so I’m reading ビブリア in between for a break. Then 本好き are audiobooks, and 本を守ろうとする猫の話 is an ebook I just read if I’m bored somewhere and forgot to bring a real book (which is why I haven’t gotten far).
And I guess I also tend to have one or two manga on top of that… But that’s also a different thing, right? …right?
Finished コーヒーが冷めないうちに | L29 yesterday and have mixed feelings. I overall liked the writing and it was an easy, quick read… However, the portrayal of women really made my feminist heart bleed. 
(Not saying women like this don’t exist and shouldn’t be portrayed, but the portrayal was very one-sided and especially the husband in one of the stories was close to, if not fully, a POS with some of his behaviour and that never got adressed)
I will continue with the series, though, especially since in book 2 we apparently learn what’s the deal with the woman always sitting in the coffee shop. 
Since I have この嘘がばれないうちに | L29 and onward only as audiobooks, I will listen to that after finishing おいしいごはんが食べられますように | L29. And after that it’s on to the next 本好き.
Since the last was an ebook, I am now back to physical and I don’t really know what I am in the mood for, so I’ll just go with 探偵チームKZ事件ノート お姫さまドレスは知っている | L27 (i.e. the next in that series) since I have plenty of those to get through.
I should be finishing that around the time the next bookclub starts.
There is still time to get the book, if anyone is interested in joining, btw.
My plans for the near future are pretty much settled. 
Sometimes it’s not about the destination, but the friends we made along the way and then didn’t because time travel.
I finished cocoon | L26, a fictionalized account of a Himeyuri girl (high schoolers used as nurses’ assistants toward the end of WWII) that does not hold back on the horrors they went through. While not perfect, I found it quite affective, and I really liked the central metaphor of the main character imagining they’re in a silkworm cocoon. Cocoons are safe and comforting places - but the majority of commercial silkworms are killed before they hatch. I’d probably struggle to remember words like 蚕 and 繭 if I just read them in a kimono book or something, but now they feel pretty stuck in my head.
(There was also something I didn’t pick up until the endnotes and I kicked myself a bit for not getting it the first time around, but I saw some people in Japanese saying it wasn’t easy to get, so I guess it wasn’t just me? I thought the guy saying お前は女じゃない was because she was engaged in the unfeminine activity of strangling him to death and he was obviously a bit out of it like everyone was by that point, not because she was a boy in disguise to avoid the draft.
)
Over the last two days, I read volumes 1-3 of シャドーハウス (series) | L23 as well as サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L29
Both were recommandations (the later one coming from the recommandation mega thread).
シャドーハウス wasn’t really my thing. As much as there are elements of the setting that are intriguing, I kept wishing for a rebellion to occur, killing off all the nobles. As a French person, I’d like to introduce them to the practical uses of the guillotine.
サイレントウィッチ was not bad, for a light novel. I expected something else for the plot (and was a bit disappointed when I realized “oh, it’s going to be one of those”), but it’s still way better than some other stuff I read for multiple volumes. Honestly, I may continue this series once I am done with my 積読 pile. (Or right now, depending how I feel about the preview of the next volume)
For what it’s worth, the primary objective of the series so far is Kate trying to overthrow the Shadow House. Additionally, most of the kids (both Shadow and Living Doll) are brainwashed, so it’s not as simple as you’d like.
I highly doubt the series will end with the mass killing of all the nobles, but if what you want is rebellion it’s definitely going in that direction.
Thanks for that giggle…
I finished https://learnnatively.com/book/13f4cb524e/ a while back. Not a fan, but I am a very small minority, it seems.
Then I started https://learnnatively.com/book/becc04945e/ which is so much better than the first book. While in the first the message basically was “Women, you can only be happy if you are perfect little self-sacrificing and submissive Yamato Nadeshikos.”, the message in the second seems to be “Men, you are humans and you don’t have to be perfect.” 
The second story almost made me cry. and I also finally know what the deal with the lady in the white dress is. 
探偵チームKZ事件ノート お姫さまドレスは知っている | L27 is as ridiculous as they all are… but that’s what is to be expected.
Glad you enjoyed it! I’ve got the second one on my own 積読 pile, I’ll probably get to it around the end of this month.
I’ve been continuing both 夜は短し歩けよ乙女 | L42 and ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 (4) ~栞子さんと二つの顔~ | L30 this week. I’m really enjoying the magical realism in 夜は短し, and the constant changes in tone between the two narrators is fun. The lack of grounding to the story isn’t an issue for me, it’s just part of the fun. The ビブリア book is interesting in that it’s not separate mysteries in each chapter like the rest of the series, the whole book is one mystery with lots of characters and turns. And that intrigue I mentioned from the start of the book just popped back up, so things should get even more interesting from here!
After reading the free preview (first ~10%), I decided to just go for it and bought the rest of the currently published volumes (2-4). I’m a bit more than 1/3 through volume 2.
Oh wow, I’ll be playing catch up in no time then! For what it’s worth, I believe the series goes volume 1, 2, 3, 4, then ‘4 -after-’ before the upcoming volume 5. Also I thought I heard somewhere that volumes 1-4 adapted the original syosetu.com story, so maybe the others are adding on after that? Not 100% certain though.
The あとがき of volume 1 mentioned that there were 16 chapters originally and that volume 1 covers 1-3. I expected 5 or 6 volumes for that reason, but 4 is still in the ballpark.
I read another good chunk of this today, and the characters just came across a puzzle that’s apparently a reference to one from 江戸川乱歩’s debut short story, 二銭銅貨 | L37. They’re about to spoil how it works, so I feel like I need to read the original before I go any further… On the plus side I’ll be able to give another Aozora short story some gradings & a review here 
I’m really glad more people are reading + reviewing them. As a free resource they’re so useful, but given a lot have challenging language I think they might feel intimidating to just dive into.
Also 江戸川乱歩 is 推し. Love him. Now I’m tempted to read it too…
edit: couldn’t resist. Listening with this 朗読 and already learned a new word! 支那鞄 which looks like this:
I have in my flashcard notes that 支那人・シナ人 (well, particularly シナ) is possibly a slur these days. I wonder if this is still a common term
I did the same! Just finished it (had to stop early yesterday), and it was a fun story. The cipher was really cool, and the ending was fun. The structure felt similar to 人間椅子 somehow, with the long buildup, main events, and slight twist ending. Always interesting to see similarities between works of an author, but I should definitely read some more of his stuff too
I just finished ロジカとラッカセイ 1巻 | L21 in 4 days, which makes it the fastest manga that I read in Japanese by far. There weren’t even any cliffhangers, but I just couldn’t stop reading!
And I’ve written my weirdest review yet, since almost anything worth saying feels like it would be a spoiler 
I hope it’ll still get a few people to read it (as unspoiled as possible), since it was fantastic. Easily the best thing I read in Japanese so far, and definitely one of my favourite mangas in any language.
It was also the first manga I ever read without furigana! I learnt two things:
And tomorrow I’ll start with the second volume. Really looking forward to it 
I am reading this series – はたらく細胞 BLACK (series) | L28, now on Vol.6.
Generally like it so far. There are things about Kanji and vocabularies, but that’s pretty much it.
The story is about diseased body and treatment. There is also blood transfusion, to make it even more interesting. But in the end, cells can’t do much. No heroic story, nor solution, or something similar. Nothing similar to a real human.
Vasectomy got the fluid blocked somehow.
