Great find, just as I’d expect for Cat to find a post from another 猫! I wouldn’t doubt that there is no good way to generate that character in regular font. It seems the mystery of this book starts before even the first chapter…
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I’m now about 100 pages into the 500ish pages of 消滅 by 恩田陸 and I’m amazed once again at her ability to write compelling atmosphere. So far the entire time has been spent waiting in a customs line at the airport and yet I’m reading with avid attention.
Tomorrow is a holiday here and my Life 
stuff has mostly died down, so hoping to read more of this and catch up on my book clubs as well.
Indeed, nothing of the sort. I kinda figured as it’s basically a reference for people looking up how to write kanji
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I’m almost done with 最弱テイマーはゴミ拾いの旅を始めました。 | L23 and wow, it reads like a graded reader. I think this will be one of my recommendations for people who want to dip their toes into a novel in Japanese, especially since it also has a well-produced audiobook. I am pretty bored with it, though. I wish I liked it more because it’s such a great practice with the vocabulary repeating constantly, normal Kanji usage, short chapters and straightforward grammar.
I am progressing much slower through it than through サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L31, which I finished before. And while サイレント・ウィッチ was much harder for me, I just enjoyed reading it so much that I read more every day. I kind of have to force myself to finish 最弱テイマーはゴミ拾いの旅を始めました, which is why I am writing here instead of finally finishing the last few remaining chapters 
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Do you feel like the audiobook would be good practice for beginner listeners as well? (Listening audio only.)
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Depending on how beginner you mean, yeah probably. The portion I listened to (just under a year ago) was certainly easier than any other audiobook I’ve tried, and I was listening to it on 1.5x probably. While I did listen with text, I got the impression it would be fine without
I agree about it kinda reading like a graded reader too
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Hmmm… I split reading/listening and the only issue I have (but that is with listening AND reading) is identifying fantasy names. I am always getting confused between the village/character names because they sound so weird to me that they don’t really stick. (Probably just a me-problem, I get a bit overwhelmed if names feel really unfamiliar to me when I’m reading in a language that I am also not 100% familiar with!) The general fantasy vocab repeats so much you quickly will get used to it, I think. So, if you feel like you are better at keeping names straight, then I don’t think it will be a big problem. I am also starting to watch the anime and now having faces/visual aid to the different characters/villages helps a lot 
I don’t know, everything is also kind of bland? So that’s also a part of why I am mixing things up a lot and get confused through it.
Some parts I also was like… what is the author even trying to communicate now? But that was mostly because it felt extremely mundane. I was worrying I was missing something, but no, it really is 10 chapters of just setting up traps and emptying traps and selling the meat the main character got from it 
Sometimes the main character also randomly mentions (to herself) she is reincarnated without any deeper meaning to the story? It’s just shoehorned in there, I guess because it’s a popular genre? But she really just be like “……私にはどうやら、前世の記憶があるようだ。村の占い師から聞いた。” and then the story continues as usual haha
It is a chill experience though and I enjoy the anime much more than the book. I think it’s one of the easiest audiobooks you can get.
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I have finally done it! I finished ドグラ・マグラ | L50??!
It took probably more than 7 years since I first (virtually) cracked open that book, and 8 months since I started it again this year.
It has been hard to stay interested through the massive part in the middle where the character is just reading a bunch of documents, some written in fairly old (or even very old) Japanese…
There’s a huge pay off at the end (at least, I really enjoyed it), but boy was it painful getting there. I’m giving the book 4* anyway, since the pay off is close in memory, while most of the pain was months away 
I guess that’s not a book that I would recommend rushing through.
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Congrats! The ending made it one of my favorite books. I’ve never been so completely absorbed in something than the last 60 or so pages of that book. Totally agree that the middle part is grueling.
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I started らせん i.e. リング 2 and the book starts more or less with the autopsy of a person that died at the end of volume #1. So as I hoped the two books are closely connected.
But unknown vocab is immense right away, be it technicalities from the autopsy, or less common words concerning the interior of the body and brain. I especially hate to find words written in kanji that I‘d know if they had furigana.
The coroner and the deceased knew each other from university and the coroner thinks of himself and his institute to be top notch, so here‘ll probably emerge the motivation to solve the mystery…
Let’s hope that he does not delve to deep, but that’s of course an absurd idea, as we all know that in a horror setting persons always go into the darkest areas, how much ever we‘d want them not to go there.
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On the flip side, I always like medical stuff written in kanji because it makes new words easier to pick up
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October: Started reading more overall. Finished all level 0 of free NPO Tadoku Graded Readers and two volumes of チーズスイートホーム | L14.
November: Finished all level 1 of free NPO Tadoku Graded Readers and a little of 2s (2s are boring or long to be honest), the rest of チーズスイートホーム , the first two volumes of よつばと! | L17, the first three volumes of 夢でフラれてはじまる百合 | L18, and 僕らの食卓 | L20 but not its sequel.
Right now? ガンバレ! 中村くん! ! | L22 and I did start 夜は猫といっしょ | L17 because cats in manga but the first two chapters seemed boring when I finished them. Planning to finish the first volume and see if I should drop
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All I remember about that series is “cute and basic” what did you think of it?
I also believe the same. I did learn the word for confession however. I guess it’s okay but not painfully mid if that makes any sense (???). The mangaka is still dropping chapters; I don’t really think it has any reason to go on any further but they still have to go on that double date so I’ll read the next volume but after that, it’s dragging and I’m done.
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“Cute and basic” is accurate. I like the little non-canon gag at the end of the volume (might be the inner covers) where a secondary character explains what the main character did wrong.
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I genuinely thought (misremembered) vol 3 was the final, until my friend (who I recently got into yuri) mentioned it was ongoing the other day
Definitely sounds like inner covers… I never know when you’re supposed to read those (well the front ones anyway)
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I always read them at the end, in case of spoilers.
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I suspect this is the correct answer, but every once in a while I’ll run into one that seems like it could/should be read earlier 
I finished 転生王女と天才令嬢の魔法革命 2 | L32 (picked it up again) and ソードアート・オンライン5 ファントム・バレット | L33 and feel very accomplished 
. I practically instant-ordered the rest of 転生王女 upon finishing it. Oddly this time around, I’m finding the 転生王女 3 jpdb deck easier than SAO 6, so I’m doing that one instead. So grateful both series have audiobooks
Update: I finished the while series, and I think I’d say it’s the best, or at least most profound manga series I’ve read. It got better and better every volume, despite the underwhelming beginning.
Originally wrote: It was enjoyable I guess… but so far I’m unimpressed, except for the volume’s last chapter - where things suddenly got interesting, and now I’m hooked for vol 2. It’s easy reading, and enjoyable despite the flaws.
CLAMP book club’s next read is starting. I’m going in with zero knowledge/expectations. So lets see where it lands
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Well, I bought a bunch of things yesterday (mostly manga) due to the “Favorite books of 2024” thread.
I read 現実もたまには嘘をつく | L21 (volume 1; I don’t know why the volume number doesn’t show up for volume 1) which was nice, but had very little focus on the mental state of the main character with respect to crossdressing. @seanblue did warn me about that, so it did not come as a surprise, but I still feel like it’s a bit disappointing. In particular, I feel like it is extremely challenging for a guy to pass as a woman (past puberty), so the main character managing to do that on the spot and even be attractive is distractingly unrealistic. That’s more of a me problem, though
I then read 事情を知らない転校生がグイグイくる。 19巻 | L21 which is still one of my favorite series this year. It really feels like we are getting close to the end, though, as the author is obviously wrapping stuff up. That felt really bitter sweet.
Then, I started 砂の女 | L45 as my “hardest in TBR” bingo spot. I read about 20% and reached a part where the titular woman is sleeping completely naked except for something covering her face to protect it against the sand… and I couldn’t help thinking that getting sand in your bits sounds like a really bad time. I would cover that part up too Guy writing women moment?
The writing is pretty good, though, and despite the weirdness of the situation, it does manage to keep my suspension of disbelief (to some extent; see blurred comment above )
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I just read 君と綴るうたかた 1 | L21. I’d give it like 3.5/5, so I rounded down. Nothing wrong with the first volume, other than 朝香 being a bit of a creep. I guess I will keep reading based on @暁のルナ’s positive view of the series as it progresses and the high ratings on AniList.
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