Read some more 2.43 today—just one more subchapter for this match! I already know how it will end, but it’s still got me on the edge of my seat. Aoki’s injury aside, it’s gone pretty much how I predicted toward the end of the first set, although I had been leaning more toward the final set not going into a deuce, to more parallel the Fukuhou match just scaled down to three sets. But like Keisei in the first set, Seiin closes a several-point gap in one go—but Keisei cuts them off then, and though Seiin brings it to a deuce, they won’t be able to pull two points ahead and they’ll still lose. Ooh, I can’t wait to see how the final point goes down. If I were writing it, I don’t know which side would be spiking or whether it’s a block point or not, much less who. I don’t know what I’d most want to see! Actually, no, I think I do know. If it’s Seiin’s attack, it’s down to Oda or Yuni. Oda scored the block point that won the Fukuhou match, and he’s been getting the spotlight again in this match, and it’s great—Yuni may be the MC and the ace, but Oda deserves it. But. I don’t want Keisei’s final point to be due to his miss. I don’t want him regretting that. Asano’s spiking while Oda’s on the back line, and it’s not somewhere he could feasibly have dug it. Yuni can be one of the blockers, but not Oda.
Also picked up DOUBLES!!④ again, since I started writing a story with a couple of my OCs (almost called it a fic, but there is a possibility it could go in the book if I ever actually write it) and one of them draws partial inspiration from Takuma (hell, the story is tennis because of this series, although the setting is really the only similarity). I forgot I had not even 50 pages left. My break from it clearly wasn’t intentional then—it was merely another victim of my ADHD. Anyway, I finished it. It felt like a lot fewer pages than that.
I have this too whenever I read anything harder than what I am used to…I always try to remember even though the feeling isn’t so great, it’s a good reminder than learning never stops.
At some point, you start to need to get out of your way to find harder stuff to read, though [ETA: obviously, there’s always more to learn, but it’s unclear if there’s a need to keep going.] I could spend the rest of my life reading stuff in my casual range. In fact, I probably will. I do have ドグラ・マグラ | L50?? and https://learnnatively.com/book/3ac9f1e90b/ in my TBR, but beyond that, I don’t expect to come across that many things in the level ~50 range.
Edit2: Thinking even more about it, I guess that’s my way to say please no, I am done. Baby don’t hurt me, no more.
Reminds me of 山椒大夫・高瀬舟 | L44 which is a collection of short stories by 森 鴎外. Mostly they weren’t too hard as literary Japanese goes, except that one story in the middle turned out to be entirely a letter in the 候 style… I can’t remember at this point whether I skimmed it or skipped it entirely
Not that one There are explicit ふりがな on them too, to make sure the reader is aware (and that’s why I specified it too).
It’s indeed a valid reading, according to my dictionary.
I’ve been ‘reading’ all of ダンジョン飯. The reason I put it in hook quotes is that after vol 1 I got impatient and just started blasting through it without stopping for most of the lookups, because it’s by far the most difficult thing I’ve read to date (even moreso than Tearmoon and Apothecary Diaries).
That said, I was quite surprised to find how much I was understanding, even if when I look back at a page now there’s still so many words I don’t know and (checking against the english later) I still either had massive gaps in understanding or made multiple mistakes (I misgendered multiple characters for a few volumes, though to be fair even in-universe they are continually misgendered, so that one isn’t entirely on me… I think). Obviously I wouldn’t be able to do this in a book (I’m struggling along in the beginner clubs atm) but it is nice to kinda just… read a manga.
Anyway, I finished Danmeshi and am now going to go back with a fine-toothed comb
Cat ninja girl and red… imp(? can’t remember, it’s been a while since I read those books) dude? Ah, and elf task force leader dude.
It’s been tiring, but I’m having a good time so far! I wonder if some of the issue is that some of the puns can’t be translated? (Good luck getting 酩酊/迷亭 or the use of 犬 instead of 鬼 in an expression across…)
That being said, most of the fun I had so far was because of the shenanigans of the humans. I also can’t believe the author killed 三毛子 just like that. (That’s completely unrelated with translation, it just popped up in my head )
It’s 50% less sounds for the same amount of information! More aerodynamic!
Yep, the male elves from the strike team yeah (though they’re all drawn to be pretty androgynous by design it seems) and the dungeon lord (who Laois mistakes as female for a few volumes as well)
Well I had intended to finish this ch of 2.43 today, but then I ended up watching all 12 eps of 新しい上司はど天然 (w EN subs tho) (it may just be the most 癒し系 to ever 癒し系, also it’s pretty gay for not being BL, and one of the characters is canonically bi! Def planning on getting this on blu-ray at some point, and also getting the manga), so. no time. I’m not sure I even read a third of it. But Yuni’s on the back line now and I get the distinct feeling the deuce won’t go on for long enough to bring him back to the front line (sending Oda to the rear, since they’re both lefts), so Oda almost certainly will be on vanguard when the game ends… Noo… As long as the final point isn’t a block point scored off of Oda’s spike, I think I’ll be fine. Hopefully… Ah man
I am about a third into 伝説の勇者の伝説 now. (don’t look at the mal blurb, it contains spoilers )
This is such a blast from the past, I had to look up the publishing date (2002).
If I read it 15 years ago I might have been annoyed at how it plays to the usual tropes,
but reading it now I am very entertained.
It is a fantasy light novel from before isekai started to dominate the genre.
No waifu collection scheme (at least so far), no wimpy self insert, just cool stuff and banter.
It is not a high brow story, but I rather like it being straightforward instead of trying to be smart and failing.
I should look for a couple more series from that era.
Difficulty wise it’s only a smidgeon harder than hamefura, if you have read a fantasy LN before this should be ez.
I can’t seem to stick to one book at the moment and keep bouncing back and forth between several, even though they are all enjoyable enough. It seems I am just lacking a bit of focus at the moment. Anyways, a big round up post of my recent readings:
I am still working my way through 御不浄バトル | L35??, which is very relatable if you’ve ever had a bad job in your life. The humorous and fast-paced writing kind of sucks you in, although the story leans towards the slice of life side. All the toilet talk is just on the edge of being too much but then the timing and matter-of-factness with which it suddenly shows up is really working for me somehow. When your job sucks, you really do want to just spend a few extra minutes in the restroom because of the few moments of peace and solace you get!
I’ve also been listening to the audiobook of 同志少女よ、敵を撃て | L38 and enjoying it. Normally I am not a fan of Japanese books set in different countries, since the cultural details or behavior often feel off. But, you can tell the author researched a lot for this book and it has been a nice read (listen?) so far. Even though there are a few Japanese character tropes, they make it easier to get attached to the characters and don’t take away from the seriousness of the story.
I started ファーストラヴ | L30?? and am about 30 pages in. So far, I am having difficulty really getting absorbed into the book due to the author’s writing style. Everything feels a bit dark and mysterious but I don’t know why yet?! I didn’t realize it when I picked this up but it is a winner of the Naoki prize and I wanted to try to read a Naoki prize book this year so here I am! Shall keep trudging on ahead.
Finally as part of my goal to read more level 40+ books this year, I have started 堕落論 | L44?? by 坂口 安吾. It feels a bit like the anti version of 陰翳礼讃 | L44 by 谷崎, where instead of talking about how great Japanese things are, 坂口 is extolling the virtues of Western conveniences. I have been reading a few pages of this in bed before going to sleep each night, but it is so interesting that I will probably end up “promoting it” and devoting a full day-time session to reading it. If you are into history or other modern classics, check this out!
I also have to add that I quite like the Bungo Stray Dogs anime cover, since his pose really gives a sense of 堕落. The Kadokawa BSD books are on Kindle Unlimited quite often, so I think I am going to try to read through a couple this year in my quest to level up my reading further and read more famous literary works!
After I had finished Q&A for my Bingo, I didn’t feel like continuing my harder books, namely the 大江健三郎 collection and 糞尿譚 and I needed to pick a digital book because I was out of town, and so I decided to read the 5th (and final) volume of 鹿の王. This will go into my “complete a series” bingo card box. So far it’s an okay read; I do remember the main figures but none of the details lol. Curious to see how much I will miss out on because of that…
Anyways, here is my reading plan for the near future:
I’m in a similar mood. After being burned out by too many book clubs last year, I thought I’d try to stick to one or two books at a time, but yeah, that didn’t work out.
I’m still reading 砂の女 and loving it, but it takes all my concentration to follow the narrator’s confused train of thought sometimes, so it’s not for every day, and I’m making slow progress.
I’ve also started 地獄堂霊界通信 1 as my “longest in TBR” book. It’s a book for children by the same author who wrote 妖怪アパートの幽雅な日常1 | L27. I had bought it (years ago) for the fun supernatural element, and there’s a lot of that, but it’s also darker than I expected, in not exactly the ways I expected.
Started 黒い森の記憶 with the club and it’s an intriguing read so far, and the writing is not as barebones as I expected, so that’s a plus. But I’m keeping to the book club schedule, so no reading ahead.
And since I wasn’t in the mood to read any of the above today, I just looked at my tsundoku bookshelf and opened a few random books reading the first sentence or so. And somehow I read a bit more than the first sentence of 憤死 | L33 and I’m now halfway through. I don’t know why it’s not classified as horror, the second story had me dreading to read on, dreading not to. Very anxiety inducing, just what I needed! It was set to become my read-in-a-day book the way I was going, but then I got distracted by random stuff, so probably not.
I finally finished 冥府の王の神隠し | L29 as of this past weekend, opening up a reading slot in my schedule for FLESH & BLOOD 14 | L35; I’m only a few pages in, but it’s already started off good, as expected. :3
Otherwise I’m still plodding along with 今日からマ王! 魔王誕生編 | L32 and 美しい彼 | L30 per their respective book club schedules; the latter in particular I’m really enjoying, and I’ve been looking forward to reading it every week.
Ah, and I’ve been reading volumes 1 and 2 of この男は人生最大の過ちです (series) | L29, which has been some goofy relaxing fun. Not sure if I’ll immediately continue after finishing volume 2; I may buy volume 3 to remind myself I own it/need to continue, but I’ll likely jump to another manga after this one; I’m debating between two different bingo squares for what I jump to next (either longest TBR or got for free; the latter I’m fudging a bit since I don’t quite remember what I’ve paid for at this point, but the manga chosen will be representative of all the free stuff I picked up over the years).
[ETA: obviously, there’s always more to learn, but it’s unclear if there’s a need to keep going.] I could spend the rest of my life reading stuff in my casual range. In fact, I probably will. I do have 
There are explicit ふりがな on them too, to make sure the reader is aware (and that’s why I specified it too).
I read it in English ages ago and I was so bored… 
)
)
When your job sucks, you really do want to just spend a few extra minutes in the restroom because of the few moments of peace and solace you get! 
The Kadokawa BSD books are on Kindle Unlimited quite often, so I think I am going to try to read through a couple this year in my quest to level up my reading further and read more famous literary works!
I love reading 坂口安吾. He’s such a character. Adding to my wishlist.
