I have the audiobook for that and I’ve started it probably 4 times now 
I’m sure it’s good given the author, but it certainly is a time investment
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Well, I didn’t feel like doing any serious reading, so I went through a bunch of 悪役令嬢 free previews, found one that was looked okay and just read the two volumes available so far
I gave it 5* in the sense that it’s the perfect brain dead read 
The characters are attractive, the plot is extremely basic (also there isn’t much text since it started as a web toon or whatever those things are called), there’s a lot of hugging and kissing. Just what the doctor ordered.
I read both volumes available so far, but since I just added it, the second one isn’t populated on Natively yet. Edit: it’s here already.
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Mmm, and the opening is not as immediately grabbing as レベル7 (セブン) | L29 which is similarly long. Or perhaps I don’t mean quite that it’s not immediately interesting and more that the documentary style means switches of viewpoint and content that form natural points when you might put the book down. (Plus I had the informal book club for Level 7 to force me to keep a pace going…)
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I mean, three’s a crowd? I do happen to have 理由 sitting unread on my shelf as well…
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I am currently reading サクラダリセット | L25 and enjoying it so far. I am still not 100% sure how the 角川つばさ文庫 version relates to the original light novels サクラダリセット(新装版/角川文庫) | L30??, but from what I gathered it distilled the content of the novels into a two part book series which is a bit easier written and has furigana.
Similarly, ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖 | L32 has a 角川つばさ文庫 version that’s really just the light novels with furigana. Problem is that not the whole series is already tsubasa-fied, so currently you “only” have 3 novels with Furigana. Anyway, I liked it and there’s nothing in it I would classify as fanservice.
I don’t know how easily you can get those on ebay, but maybe you can keep an eye out for them.
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Thanks! Just knowing the imprint or versions to look for helps. I really don’t need the furigana but it helps with the look ups on physical media for sure. Digital wouldn’t be a problem for more obvious reasons. I don’t have a kindle but something about that amazon link tempts me though.
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Oh forgot to mention this - I did おおかみこどもの雨と雪 | L23, all three volumes in one sitting. Will probably do a review on it soon. Very cute - haven’t seen the film. Little sad though.
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I haven’t posted in this thread in a while! It’s been…busy.
I am working my way through a few books, though.
I started the audiobook of ビジネスの未来――エコノミーにヒューマニティを取り戻す | L42?? simply because I adore the author, 山口周. He writes ビジネス書, but focused on the anpplication of ideas from the humanities, philosophy, and history to business and work life. I’ve read many of his books and they’ve all been high quality food for thought type stuff, so I will now pick up any of his books to read right away when I find one on kindle unlimited or audiobook.jp 聴き放題. It’s probably my own personal bias, but as a 文系 girl livin’ in a corporate and 理系 focused world, his books always give me comfort and help me contextualize my life better, so I’d recommend any of them to anyone who is even slightly curious and resonates with the titles or topics of them.
This particular book is focused on current economic trends and the future of business and labor. The first chapter or so covers the idea of infinite economic growth and the concept of economic normality - that perhaps we are entering an era where lower rates of growth are the norm, but that clashes with the worldview of those who have lived through the last decades of high growth and material prosperity…and why reframing that worldview is hard. There are a lot of comparisons between the Japanese economy and the American one which is very interesting, since Japan “peaked” earlier with the bubble popping - but that’s about as far as I’ve read so far.
It is reminding me slightly of なぜ働いていると本が読めなくなるのか | L36, which I also raved about here earlier this year. If ビジネスの未来 looks at the macro-level of what’s happened since the Industrial Revolution/Meiji era and post WWII until present, then なぜ働いていると本が読めなくなるのか | L36 is about the cultural, spiritual and psychological impact on a societal and individual micro-level. They feel like good companion pieces to each other and I do just love reading multiple books that build off of each other and give me a richer understanding of a topic. 
I also started 母影 おもかげ | L28 which I’ve been mildly interested in reading for a few years. It’s from the point of view of a child whose mother gives massages to older men…(I don’t think what she’s doing is actually just a massage, but ahem). The child goes to hang out in the massage parlor after school every afternoon and sees a shadow through a curtain of what the mother is doing with the men, but doesn’t understand what is actually happening. So far it’s slightly disorienting to read since it’s written as if a young child truly wrote it. A lot of hiragana where I’m not used to sit, and a lot of weird descriptions. 
Not too far into this yet, so let’s see how it develops.
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I found out that the series comes from Line manga, where it can be read “for free”. Their business is that you can read a 10-20 pages “chapter” for free per day (plus another one every two hours until tomorrow due to a promotion). Want to read faster? Pay up or watch ads.
One book is 10 chapters, and the first 25 (so until half the next volume) was completely free. I did use all the free coins they gave me plus some bonus tasks and I’m now around (virtually) volume 5.
I also started reading other stuff in there in the meantime (one chapter per day because all my bonus chapters are going towards the series above), including ババンババンバンバンパイア 1 | L25 because it was mentioned in the BL thread… I’m not really fond of it so far though 
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OK, quick poll for who would be interested in reading 理由 | L34 in a similar one-thread informal book club like the one we did for レベル7. Pace probably 30-40 pages a week, start date up for discussion.
I would take part in an informal 理由 reading thread
- yes
- no
- option for click addicts
0
voters
Paging people in this conversation, plus a few people who I know use the forum and appear on the book’s activity log just in case they’re interested: @cat @Belerith @nikoru @enbyboiwonder – feel free to ignore if you’ve already read it / tried it and didn’t like it / have other plans.
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Thanks for pinging me! 
I tried it and found the beginning (after the prologue) somehow very very hard to read (plus, to read on paper 
) and on top of it all the book is not available on BookWalker and the paper copy I tried is actually Belerith’s 
, so there are simply too many things in the way 
Oh and please tell me whether y’all also think that the characters are extremely tiny in the book? 
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Oh well this sounds fascinating (in an uncomfy sort of way). Wishlisted.
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I finished 人妻教師が教え子の女子高生にドはまりする話 | L30 and wrote a review, as well as some additional comments about the author’s style. It felt very unrealistic, and I wasn’t nearly as uncomfortable as I should have been (to the novel’s discredit). But as writing style goes, it was a smooth, enjoyable, and productive read. Currently reading 私の初恋相手がキスしてた, and it’s making me consider retrying やがて君になる 佐伯沙弥香について 1 | L30 (all by the same author), since I feel less lost with the author’s style now. But my next read will probably be:
b/c I don’t see fantasy action yuri all that much (well there’s 転生王女 and わたおし I guess), and it’s a good level. There’s a manga version too.
Started:
On ch 5/6 - so far I like it. It’s cute, a bit suggestive at times (like these two girls who don’t realize they’re in love yet are sending each other selfies in the bathtub), and they seem like actual high school students. I’m slightly burnt out on school slice of life setting rn tho. So may take a bit to finish.
Finished:
Wrote a review - beautiful and interesting so far. I like the leads a lot, and the “rival school factions” setting (which I’m otherwise iffy on) is being put to good use.
Some fun and hilarious fluff - recommended
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My copy (the 新潮文庫 edition, 686 pages) is 39 characters a column, 18 columns a page. So that’s a smaller font than some (ビブリア古書堂の事件手帖IV ~扉子たちと継がれる道~ | L30?? as a random light novel is 38 x 16, and 本の読み方 スロー・リーディングの実践 | L36 is a very low density 35 x 14 using a larger font and generous gaps between columns) but it’s not super small I think. @cat has a copy of 水車館の殺人 | L35 that we were talking about in the book club thread that looks like it is 43 x 18.
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Started reading the 3rd volume of くまクマ熊ベアー | L22. Seems to be a common choice for readers with a steep drop off rate. I will continue reading it. I have a pile of new books coming in the mail in a few days - including a series which I have wanted to read since I started learning Japanese. (It is not on here yet which is odd!) Guess you’ll find out soon. 
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Oh, interesting! Belerith’s book has 41 chars, 19 columns, which is more than any other book I own. (The ones I checked were around 37 chars and 15 to 17 columns.)
Sadly I don’t remember the publisher or total page count. Maybe @Belerith can fill us in here?
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I have the same edition as @pm215, 新潮文庫 at 686 pages including あとがき and 解説.
I counted 18 columns with 39 characters max on two random pages. Interestingly they used a smaller font for the two ‘afterwords’: they’re 19 columns with 41 characters. Did you possibly start with the back of the book @nikoru ?
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You mean that’s why the book seemed to be somewhat incoherent each time I moved to the next page? 
I think it’s rather more plausible that I counted on an arbitrary page, which happened to be in the afterwords
Anyway, thanks for discovering this and for ending my confusion! 
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Started reading through this today because it looked pretty cute, and it is sooo cute. Pure sugar straight into my veins. Although I get a little bit of the impression that the author maybe really just wanted an excuse to draw a bunch of stylish clothes based on the first few chapters 
Enjoying this a lot so far, thanks for the shout
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Leaving a small note here, for lack of a better place. If I was supposed to have updated a book club thread and forgot, give me a tap on the shoulder. @cat I still need to look at the mystery book schedule, haven’t forgotten.
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