I recently reread ふったらどしゃぶり When it rains, it pours | L32 after getting into the drama version that is currently airing. I thought it was just ok for some reason the first time I read it, but I actually ended up really enjoying it the second time around! I liked it so much, I decided I wanted to check out a non-BL book by 一穂ミチ, since she made the switch to writing regular エンタメ小説 a few years ago and I hadn’t read any of her newer books yet. So, I picked up ツミデミック | L32 because I’ve seen the cover around an lot and it won the 直木賞 so it seemed like a safe choice. I didn’t read the blurb before getting it, but it is a collection of horror short stories set during the pandemic. (Side note: the fact that it contains both short stories and the pandemic reminds me of 嫌いなら呼ぶなよ | L35, except without the black humor)
I’ve read tons of horror short story collections that haven’t been scary at all, but the second story in ツミデミっク was weird and had an ending that freaked me out personally …in a good way, though! I’m happy about being freaked out by a book. It felt like the perfect horror situation that could happen during the pandemic. Looking forward to reading the rest of the stories to see what else comes up!
Started 薬屋のひとりごと 1 | L38 - I was expecting this to be much harder seeing it’s level 38, which is the highest rating I’ve read (ignoring 星界の紋章〈1〉帝国の王女 | L38??, but I’m the only one who has rated that and it was a while back…). Yeah, there’s quite a bit of vocab there, but it’s far from overwhelming. I’ve read some 中華風 fantasy before so that helps a lot obviously, but even so - my image of what a level 38 should feel like doesn’t match up so far.
I don’t know, it matches mine. I was looking at the stuff I read in the 37-39 range, and they are all pretty much in the same ballpark. I would argue that 天冥の標 1 メニー・メニー・シープ 上 | L37 is harder than 薬屋のひとりごと 1 | L38, while on the contrary I find 献灯使 | L39 easier (and 86―エイティシックス― | L38 impossible to compare, since the difficulty here is vocabulary and that’s very dependent on the person), but overall it’s still representative.
The main challenge (besides vocabulary) with that series is that the author sometimes uses weird sentence structures. There’s been debates among Japanese readers about the grammatical correctness of some of them too (one in particular in volume 4 or 5, I forget). I feel like that would be a nightmare for someone who’s not confident in their reading comprehension.
Well, I was going to say that it didn’t seem to have the density of description/explanations that more difficult novels have, but then read a few more pages and got a dose of political manoeuvring description, so I guess we’ll see how it goes.
My spouse brought home プライム・ローズ 1 | L24??
I don’t know what face I made when I looked at the cover, but my spouse spontaneously began to explain that despite how it looks, the plot is really really good, it’s 手塚治虫 after all.
Joke aside, the actual plot is actually pretty good AND the way she dress is actually justified (her skin is harder than metal, so wearing armor would not change much while decreasing her mobility… even though I still think covering up with normal clothes would not hurt). I also didn’t expression the story to be SF with that cover.
It’s still very horny writing (we do get a good view of her ass on multiple occasions) but it doesn’t feel insulting if that makes sense.
Since I finished the other book I was reading, I went ahead and read through the rest of 日本人の心がわかる日本語 | L25 ahead of the book club. I thought it was pretty good, an easy read that has lots of good example sentences. It does trend a bit into 日本人論 at times IMO, but the author pulls back from going too far.
I started reading カラー版 忘れてしまった高校の地理を復習する本 | L28?? . Not sure why this is on my list, but as I’ve been going from lowest natively level to highest, it’s next to be read. I feel it probably should be higher than 28 due to vocab, but I guess the very simple sentence structure makes it that low.
I’m not sure how much reading I’m going to be getting done this week, as I’m in 台湾 visiting some friends. Thus far it’s been fun trying to read what I can in Chinese, but I feel like anything I could figure out from the hanzi has an English translation right next to it anyways!
It has a ?? at the end. That’s just what nonfiction gets provisionally entered as (I think), if the user doesn’t specify. It doesn’t reflect the actual level (ie LNs show up as L30, manga as L24, etc by default)
I’m on pace with the book club and have started making game with myself about whether or not the author will decide that the keyword is a uniquely Japanese concept or not.
I just finished 貝に続く場所にて | L42 and it was a wild ride.
The book contains a weird mix of mundane with some supernatural elements that could be taken as metaphors. Coupled with the beautiful but surreal writing, the whole thing feels like a long fever dream.
Let me open the book randomly and demonstrate with a sentence that is hopefully spoiler-free:
Okay, that’s two sentences. Not as dreamlike as I hoped, but I feel it still conveys what I mean (how the heck is a smell both vivid and cold? And yet I can feel what it means).
I thought it was all metaphors until the main character literally grew teeth on her back (and they got removed with a spoon by her friend). Then, it kinda went wild from there.
Anyway, the book itself is about memory and facing the loss of people who were close to you. There’s also a lot about art from the 16th-17th centuries. I did cry towards the end.
It’s funny, I came here to say that it could be of interest to @bungakushoujo, but when I marked the book “read” I noticed that, not only there’s already a review from them on the book, but now that I think about it, it’s that review that put the book in my TBR in the first place
Speaking of which:
All in all, I’m not sure if I had fun reading the book, but it was an experience and the ideas presented in it were fully explored in a way that created an emotional catharsis at the end.
I think that summarize very well my experience with the book. I’m still giving it 5* because the sentences were beautiful, though. Plus, I had to look up kanji and I appreciate that; it’s been a while.
Heyyy, I’m glad you enjoyed reading it! I agree the sentences were really beautiful! I can’t remember if I mentioned it in my review, but I read that the author is an art historian and I really felt that come through in her writing since her descriptions were very vivid and contained a lot of mentions of colors and light. Super cool book.
I couldn’t put ツミデミック | L32 down all weekend and finished it! When I first posted about it here a couple days ago, I wrote that it was a horror short story collection but I was kinda wrong. Some of the stories had a horror focus, but they were more broadly about crimes in general set against the backdrop of the pandemic. One thing that I found about the book was that all the stories spanned the length of the pandemic, so you could see how society and the characters circumstances changed and the tone became lighter. Otherwise, all I can say is that it was an emotional rollercoaster and every story sucked me in. There was one story in particular that actually made me tear up at the end (but I won’t mention why - you’ll have to read it yourself! ) If you want all the 喜怒哀楽 this is your book!!
I also finally finished 死者の奢り・飼育 | L40 after reading it very slowly for over a month. It’s safe to say I am firmly a big 大江健三郎 fan after reading this! All the stories were so visceral and dense with meaning, and I had a lot of fun trying to think about what they meant. The subject matter was pretty brutal - lots about Japanese American relations after the war, dehumanization and power dynamics. Some parts were honestly very sobering, but I’m glad I read this.
I’m not sure what to read next now! I may pick up another book from 一穂ミチ since I enjoyed ツミデミック so much…
I can see the inspiration for the main character
I really look forward to read more from that author. I’m going to add 月の三相 | L30?? in the depths of my TBR and forget about it for a couple years. Also, I should probably have guessed level 40?? instead of leaving it as default.
I didn’t realize she had released another book! Based on the blurb it looks to be above level 40 for sure, but it also seems super interesting. Set in East Germany (errrr never mind I just saw your post in the bingo thread ) if you didn’t already fill the square, it may be a good one for “set in another country”!
According to wikipedia, she also has an essay titled かりそめの星巡り, published a few months ago. That being said, I don’t expect the same type of writing in a non-fiction book.
True! That would work.
I had a light novel set in England in mind, but I guess it’s better if I read more “proper” books.
マリア様がみてる 31 マーガレットにリボン | L29 - enjoying way more than I thought I would, given that it’s side stories. This volume is unique, in that these weren’t previously published, and seem to only be focused on the main cast so far
By Your Side is very light compared to the other two, and also very mixed genre of essays. I’m not sure how to really balance these with all the JP reads… but also just wanted to mention them here, in case they’re of interest to anyone else.
Anyway my goal is to knock out マリみて 31, and then make myself finish 28, so I won’t feel scattered about what to read. There’s just 6 volumes after that… If I haven’t finished the 2 百合姫 by then, I’ll read those, and then finally finish 乙女の港, and have a freed up reading plate again
…in a good way, though! I’m happy about being freaked out by a book. 
I agree the sentences were really beautiful! I can’t remember if I mentioned it in my review, but I read that the author is an art historian and I really felt that come through in her writing since her descriptions were very vivid and contained a lot of mentions of colors and light. Super cool book.
) If you want all the 喜怒哀楽 this is your book!!
I may pick up another book from 一穂ミチ since I enjoyed ツミデミック so much…
(errrr never mind I just saw your post in the bingo thread 
