Yes, I was going to ask your thoughts on the Okinawa part. To me, it feels like it takes inhuman amounts of willpower to still go to the beach in their situation. (Especially considering that a secret part of the US military, based in the general region, would be probably looking for them… although said military may have no reason to believe the two of them are also in Okinawa, so they may not be looking too hard).
But if you are that far, I guess I’ll just ask how much you like box kanji 
Perhaps they thought the military wouldn’t be looking for them so soon after they came back. The unit had been missing for a while, quite a few troops died and they blew up the stuff they left behind. All that would take time to explain and be reported. While they were in the taxi they did pass by a base which is abit sketchy.
The box kanji bit was cool
1 Like
Sure, but they are important, first hand witnesses in that. Some of those people probably died because of the way they handled things the first time around. I feel like mentioning to look for them would be one of the first priority. Plus, one of them has fairly distinctive features.
How do you like the series otherwise? 
1 Like
Good day, my fellow natively readers. I hope you all are making tremendous gains on your language learning journey.
I started reading また、同じ夢を見ていた | L25 yesterday since it’s another easier novel popular among learners that I have been meaning to get to for a while. I’m only about 15% in so far but to me, it seems even easier than books currently rated at the same level like 時をかける少女 | L25 which I finished recently. I almost wish I had found it sooner. It’s actually nice to read without constantly being in a dictionary every once in a while. 
I think I’m coming down to the last few purple non-children’s novels that I want to read. Though, there’s a whole sea of L30?? novels out there, so I’m sure there’s some easier stuff hiding among them.
5 Likes
This is interesting as I could have sworn @basilsauce once said また was the harder book. I haven’t read that book but I have read others by the same author and definitely would rate them more difficult than 時をかける. Is it just the vocab or also the grammar?
You know… I bought [また、同じ夢を見ていた | L25] a few months ago and looked at it a few times and simply from a readibility standpoint I feel like it harder than the other books around L25.
Maybe I am crazy though because I generally prefer something with more complex grammar and kanji that is easier to read off the page (considering overall spacing, breaks with paragraphs/subchapters, print size, kanji usage, how straightforward sentences are etc.)
4 Likes
Im enjoying the series otherwise, I like the short episode/story format. Am looking forward to seeing how the underlying story unfolds.
I haven’t looked on the internet for anything about the series. Do the creepypastas the stories are based on actually originate from Japanese message boards?
How about you? I see that you’ve read a few of the books.
I only checked two (八尺様 and one that is probably still a spoiler for you, I forgot when it happens) and they were indeed from there. I don’t know about the rest. There’s one in particular that I feel is specific to this series, but I’m not sure.
As in “all the books published so far” 
I really like(d?) the series. It’s a bit of a slow burn, but it was a lot of fun.
2 Likes
Both, I guess. Maybe it’s just more similar to most of the books I have read in the past? I don’t know what mediums you guys use to read but I read digitally with furigana disabled so that might be affecting my perception of difficulty.
I don’t think any of us are crazy considering the current vote. Toki has 3 for easier, 3 for similar, and 2 for harder than mata. What would really be crazy is saying something like “mata is harder than conbini ningen” since it is unanimously agreed that mata is easier with 15 votes. I haven’t seen a more one-sided vote between novels than that one.
2 Likes
I read 時 and よるのばけもの (same author, I never read また) both as paperbacks. I listened to some of the audiobook for another book by the author (the one about eating a pancreas) but didn’t finish it because I didn’t enjoy it, but felt it was also harder than 時.
I kind of suspect it’s the writing style that’s dividing people 
But it’s hard for me to say for sure since I haven’t read また.
1 Like
Today I:
And apart from textbooks and graded readers, that’s the first Japanese book I finished in its original language! I didn’t even finish a manga yet!
17 Likes
Congrats! Huge accomplishment! 
2 Likes
Congratulations! What did you think of reading your first real book?
1 Like
Today I have a 4 hour flight so I’m going to try and read 冴えない彼女の育てかた 2 | L31 in that time. If I get tired I’ll switch to the next unread 名探偵コナン volume.
5 Likes
Thanks! Yeah, I’m really happy too!
Thank you!
I have to admit that this book in particular felt a bit more like a chore near the end, but I’m both glad that I started it and that I was able to finish it! It’s not just a nice accomplishment, but I also learnt a ton with the help of the book club, and being able to read it gives me the confidence that I’ll be able to read other stuff around that level too
4 Likes
Woah, that’s a bold claim you are making! Don’t you know that the kkkbears pride themselves in the bear book being one of the easiest for learners? I hope this isn’t a denial of the “the supremacy of くまクマ熊ベアー and the genius of くまなの” 
Speaking of 赤川 次郎, it seems that most of their books aren’t terribly difficult. The obvious one for me would be 吸血鬼はお年ごろ | L26 because 吸血鬼 but the high volume count terrifies me. If I read just one volume, it’s over, I’m reading them all. So, I think I’m going to have to put that one off for a while. 
4 Likes
Just finished 本好きの下剋上~司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません~第一部「兵士の娘1」 | L31. It was great. Loved it. And it was much easier than I expected. (Audiobook is great, too.)
I thought about immediately starting the next volume (since there are like 29 to get through), but I don’t want to burn out on the series, so I am reading a palate cleanser in between.
I have seen 夜カフェ 1 | L24 mentioned quite a bit and it should be a really easy read for me. Also: At 50k characters It’s short. (Compared to the 160k characters that was 本好き😰)
6 Likes
Glad you enjoyed it! Keep in mind that the series is in arcs, so there are really good points to stop at for extended breaks. The names of the arcs are definitely spoilers, so be careful about that, but I can share the arcs in terms of book ranges if you want to know.
(Also, there’s only a few books left to be published to wrap up the series!)
Oh, also I’m kind of curious how you rate your books. I saw you gave it 5/5 in terms of language learning and entertainment, but only gave it 4/5 overall. What other factors do you consider when rating books?
2 Likes
Thank you, but I have watched the anime and that goes to book 7 or 8, if I remember correctly, so I am good for a while yet. I’ll just take a break when I feel like it, since I know how the story progresses anyways but I might come back to you once I have reached volume 8… in a year or so… 
My star-rating is very subjective. Most books will be 3 stars (=good, but nothing special). 4 stars is really good and 2 stars is not worth your time. (If I give something 1 star, it’s basically toilet paper in my opinion. ) 5 stars only go to books that are all-time favourites. I don’t think 本好き is perfect (it’s unnecessarily lengthy in parts, for example) but I do think that it’s an entertaining read and the language is useful. 
5 Likes
