So I am currently considering which book to tackle next and thought I would put it to you all
I tend to favour novels over short stories, but I did enjoy the first Nazotoki a lot! I have read and liked a couple of Keigo Higashino’s novels, and the one in the poll features the ballet world which is a particular interest of mine. As for Teiji de Kaerimasu, I have heard a lot of good things, but it is on the high side in terms of level for me (up to 32 is usually comfortable).
I’m looking for is a good time - the last book in Japanese I read wasn’t for me and was a bit of a grind. So if you have any opinion or hot takes on these books, please let me know and vote away!
I’ve read and liked both vol 1 and 2 of Nazotoki – if you liked the first one I think you’ll like the second too, because it’s basically “more of the same”.
I see there’s a vol 3 out now; it’s on my to-buy list, but I need to work through more of my bought-and-unread pile first
So right now I’m going through 本好き1 audiobook after reading it on my own.
I still have undecided what to read next, after I finish the audiobook. I’m kinda tempted to jump to volume 2 to see if it becomes easier than volume 1, but I also fear I might get a slight burn in the series, so it’s a bit of a worry, so looking for input:
本好き is one of those series I definitely need a break from after reading a volume. It’s a fun series, but there’s only so much plotless meandering I can do at once.
I just finished chapter 3 and it’s very mildly spicy so far, nothing excessive. Also, I appreciate that it’s from her point of view. It’s way too common for scenes like that to be from the point of view of the guy or some “neutral” external narration.
So, I have updated my tablet with all the e-books I plan on reading in the nearer future. Some of those I don’t remember why I have them. Probably the あらすじ sounded interesting or someone mentioned the book somewhere.
I still have something else to finish, so I am not immediately choosing something new, but if anyone has any thoughts on any of these books, I’ll be happy to hear them.
For all of them? Honestly, I am not a big mood reader. I usually try to switch up the types of books, as not to burn out on a genre, but other than that… I’d prefer to not read the most difficult of them first, but I haven’t looked at levels yet, so knowing my luck, that’s exactly the book I’ll end up picking.
Ah, then I can at least comment for now that よるのばけもの and 君の膵臓を食べたい are by the same author. They felt very similar to me in terms of structure but the former felt easier (although they both got the same difficulty rating). However I enjoyed the latter better
か「」く「」し「」ご「」と「 is also by the same author but I haven’t read it.
I guess I am the opposite of helping at this point, sorry
コンビニエンスストア様 is a short story, like 5 pages or less. You could knock that one out super fast.
この本を盗む者は I’m currently reading. It’s fantasy. I’m enjoying it a lot, but it’s VERY heavy on descriptions which caused a lot of people to drop from the club because they were either:
a. having trouble visualizing the story because it was too much, too fast
b. didn’t like that writing style - it’s quite dense.
ペンギンハイウェイ is a cute kids book, but it’s very clearly aimed at young boys. I remember getting pretty bored of the boob talk.
よるのばけもの and 君の膵臓を食べたい are both written by the same author as @Naphthalene said. I hated both, but their work is wildly popular. It generally seems like you either like their writing style or not.
海辺のカフカ I dropped reading due to explicit animal cruelty scenes.
最後の医者は桜を見上げて I started the audiobook, got bored, and never finished, haha. Maybe one day.
不機嫌な果実 I have in my TBR pile, it’s a spicy read
変な家 I listened to the audiobook of. It was easy and forgettable.
also I think I saw a drama adaptation of 祈りのカルテ so if I am thinking of the right show it’s a feel good episodic medical drama
I indeed thought it was too fast at times, as in the scene changes were too quick and (because of the non-sensical nature of the setting) I couldn’t follow some of what was happening. And yet other times it was way too slow, which is probably due to it being overly descriptive. I dropped it barely into the second chapter as a result.
You weren’t the only one - I don’t think you do the read every day thread (where I saw the comments) but I think we lost 3 or 4 people due to the writing style
I highly recommend 獣の奏者. At least the first two books (I haven’t read the rest yet) which form a complete story. This author sort of had trouble melding the key fantasy elements with the political elements (and this is kind of a recurring problem for her), but in this case at least the main character and the fantasy elements easily make up for any shortcomings of the political aspects.
I think that’s pretty much all I completed from that list.
1Q84: I liked the premise, but there are some stuff that I found hard to stomach (the rape of children, mostly, but there were other parts I have issues with as well). Also, the 3rd book felt slooooow. There’s a lot of nothing happening in there.
この本を盗む者は: I enjoyed it but as @cat said some people found it a bit rough. To be fair, the first chapter felt hard, but it gets better. The third chapter was my favorite. I did recommend the author in your other thread.
By 林 真理子, another author I recommended in the women writers recommendations thread.
記憶屋: I’m partial to this one, since I have a phobia of dementia/memory loss and it’s literally about acting up memories (as the title implies). To me, it felt like a super high stakes thriller and my hands were shaking while I was reading it… but I’m not sure if anyone else would have the same experience. The adrenaline might have drastically improved my enjoyment, beyond what the book is actually worth. I don’t really know.
I liked 鹿の王 and 獣の奏者 quite a lot, but they can be hard reads at time. Also, the author likes to jump between viewpoints quite a lot, but the different characters have usually unrelated plot lines until pretty far in the story, which I really hate. Every time there was a change, I would usually just put down the book for a few days. It felt worth it in the end (again, I did enjoy those books), but it was rough for me.
Thanks for letting me know. Thanks to 記憶屋, I realized that it’s fine as long as I am supposed to be afraid of it. I think that’s kind of a rare case, though.
(Ah, and, interestingly, I am not affected if the character starts as amnesiac/ has no memory of who they are or got there)
nah, all input is welcome. If I know someone hated a book and why or someone liked a book, that’s helpful, too. Also in the future since I can gauge whether our tastes align or not.
I think I might just go with one of the 住野 よる books next, just because there are so many and it should be a fairly quick read. But first, probably gonna knock out コンビニエンスストア様 as per @cat 's recommendation. After that, maybe 獣の奏者 (1) | L33 since it has been positively mentioned twice and apparently
so that’s less of a commitment than I thought. Very helpful info to have.
It does seem to have rather divided opinion. Personally I didn’t have trouble with it difficulty-wise but I found the aspects of the story the author wanted to write about were not the parts I wanted to read about… I’m currently reading it mostly just to finish it, not because I’m enjoying it.
I read it already!
That was rough, but it helped that the story never focused on his point of view but on that of his wife.
I did speed through that part, though.
世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 
本好きの下剋上 
Probably the あらすじ sounded interesting or someone mentioned the book somewhere.
Honestly, I am not a big mood reader. I usually try to switch up the types of books, as not to burn out on a genre, but other than that… I’d prefer to not read the most difficult of them first, but I haven’t looked at levels yet, so knowing my luck, that’s exactly the book I’ll end up picking. 
But first, probably gonna knock out コンビニエンスストア様 as per 
After that, maybe 
