"What should I read next?" Megathread

Japanese Reading
101

We are talking Volumes as 1 (Part 1, 2 and 3) being episodes 1-6?

Because that seems either extremely rushed or the books go into extreme details.

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102

No, as 1 being 1. Arc 1 corresponds to episodes 1-14.5 (with the caveat that there’s something from much later)

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103

Can you say (maybe behind spoiler tags for everyone else) what volume or arc that “something from much later” is from? I heard about that when the anime first aired, but was still early enough in the series that I wasn’t willing to google it. But if you know I’m definitely curious.

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104

Technically, the anime is putting the event in the right spot (chronologically), but it’s only mentioned in the story much later. As such, I don’t think it’s much of a spoiler (besides introducing a character that we won’t see until Arc 3)

Ah, and that’s literally where the part is from: volume 9.

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105

Since I am in this thread, I guess I’m going to also ask for random recommendations.
I’m planning to catch up with the mystery book club tonight, but I don’t really feel like reading anything in particular right now… (so, no poll)

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106

How about 島はぼくらと | L30?? (same author as かがみの孤城)? Or perhaps 香君 (series) | L30?? (same author as 獣の奏者)?

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107

How about FLESH & BLOOD 1 | L33 or 記憶屋 | L30? The former I’ve read and enjoyed, and while I haven’t read the latter, I thought it looked pretty interesting.

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108

I suspect you’ll like 異世界の名探偵 1 首なし姫殺人事件 | L32 (probably will land close to 30) a lot more than me. I’m getting through it, but fantasy settings just aren’t my jam. It has no fan service as well.

If the themes don’t bother you おやすみ、夢なき子 | L30 is such a wild ride.

I’m currently reading (well, listening to) 崩れる脳を抱きしめて | L34 and it’s a human drama, no particular dark elements yet. IMO 36 is a bit high for it, I’m guessing it got that for having some medical vocab but it’s really not that bad. I find the MC a bit annoying, but he’s at least showing growth.

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109

Ah, the title sounds interesting if nothing else. Curious to hear your impressions when you’re done with it.

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110

It’s much more heavily fantasy than mystery, at least so far. I’m 50% done and it has some mystery going on now, but I’m pretty stalled in reading it between book clubs and fighting off a cold (favoring books that require no mental energy).

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111

How about 魔法少女事変 1 | L28? I see it’s on your wish list, and it’s a fun TS comedy. If you’re looking for non-manga, maybe サイレント・ウィッチ 沈黙の魔女の隠しごと | L29 would be up your alley. Or for something totally different 神様 | L33 is a bizarre short story collection and one of the first things I read, I remember enjoying it and I’ve been wanting to go back to it again sometime.

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112

Thank you all for the suggestions!

I still haven’t finished 獣の奏者 :rofl: I’m having some issues with that author.

I added those to my wishlist.

Oh, that one is on audible. I may try it.

I remember you suggesting that one before :joy: I still have it opened as a tab on my phone.

That one was already in my wish list, it turns out. :sweat_smile: Maybe I should get to it.

Also on audible, so maybe.

I was thinking about 活字, but maybe manga is what I need to get out of my current slump.

Or

Sure, more light novel, why not. Not on audible, though.

I’m thinking audible might help to just push me forward even when I don’t feel like reading. Maybe? Other than that, short stories may work as well.
We’ll see.

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113

A a few suggestions if you’re feeling like audiobooks:
夢探偵フロイト: -マッド・モラン連続死事件- | L33 is on Audible JP. It’s very lightly horror, light novel style. I haven’t finished it but that’s mainly just because I got distracted by other books. I was going pretty strong there for awhile.
コーヒーが冷めないうちに | L29 is a basic emotion grabber. I loved it as an Audiobook, people who read the book directly said it was meh. I don’t think you’ve read it?
不機嫌な果実 - I’ve owned this forever and haven’t listened to it, but a Japanese friend of mine laughed at the title and asked why I was reading it. It sounds saucy.
魔法少女育成計画 | L35 I admit to knowing nothing about this other than it’s a light novel and on Audible JP
先生とそのお布団 is another one I haven’t read/listened to, but it seems chill and has good ratings.

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114

I closed the polls as I’ve finished 世にも奇妙な商品カタログ 7 無敵ドリンク・金にする手袋他 | L24.

As for the conclusions of the poll, I’m not sure if I’ll be able to go through two books at once, but I’m going to try anyway.

For the version of 本好きの下剋上, I’m going to give the normal version a go. If I see I’m struggling I’ll jump over to the Junior version.

This is the contrary to what I put on the poll, but the reasoning is that I’m going to try to +1 my reading game, and having no furigana on every word might expedite my kanji reading retention, as I find myself relying too often on it.

I’m going in very blind in 本好きの下剋上, the only thing I know about the series is a short 3 phrase summary of the story setting. We will see how it turns out!

Thanks to everyone who voted and helped me decide!

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115

Well, I just grabbed the first two things I found at my local library, which ended up being completely random because I still do not understand the way things are organized there the following:

and

On an unrelated note:

I read it a few years ago (already?!?) and I can confirm that it’s a light novel. :joy: Despite the cute cover, it’s a dark, bloody battle royal type of story.

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116

For what it’s worth, I have read the first four volumes of 魔法少女育成計画 and enjoyed all of them. I own the next two and will likely read them in the first half of next year.

It is indeed a battle royale style series, with each volume (sometimes pair of volumes) having (mostly) new characters, story, etc. I don’t know how much variety or overall plot it’ll have in the long run since I haven’t made much progress yet, though I do see hints of a larger story. I suspect I’ll never find out since the series is so long. :sweat_smile:

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117

I enjoyed both of my previous picks (well, I’m technically not done with FLESH&BLOOD, but almost), which proves that my selection method is correct.
The two next random definitely deliberately chosen books are

and

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118

Well, I am done with コーヒーが冷めないうちに and 1/3 through 記憶屋.

コーヒーが冷めないうちに gave me strong huit clos vibes. It’s a single room with the same characters doing everything, very theatrical. I really liked the atmosphere, but I guess the drama felt a bit cheap? That felt like the perfect level to complement the setting, but your mileage may vary. I struggled to decide how many stars to give the book, but ended up going for the “huh, I dunno” 3* :rofl:

Not much to say about 記憶屋. I don’t know if it’s an effect of the cover, but it gives me some 夜市 | L31 vibes (although I was thinking of the cover of 秋の牢獄 | L31 :rofl:); different author, though. We’ll see. I plan to finish the book today or tomorrow.

Time to select the next ones.

Oooh double @cat this time.
I am literally using a list of suggestion with a random selection “script” (a single command, actually, np.random.choice(recs, size=2, replace=False) :stuck_out_tongue:)

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119

Looking for the next book! I’m in my 30s, and I would like to find more material at my level that treats more adult problems…I just finished reading おおかみこどもの雨と雪, which was OK, and コンビニ人間. The latter was easily my favorite novel I read in Japanese, although there was a lot of new vocab which made it a little challenging and took a long time to read. I’m at WK level 34, but I’ve tried reading books marked at 30, and those felt too difficult, regarding unknown vocabulary.

  • I was looking at かがみの孤城 and また、同じ夢を見た because they seem to be in my range
  • I love magical realism
  • My goal is to be able to read authors like Haruki Murakami and Banana Yoshimoto
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120

I’m in my 30s and thought 鏡の孤城 was fantastic despite being about middle schoolers, but don’t care for works by the author of また、同じ夢を見た because the storylines felt too childish for me. YMMV. Works you may like below level 30:

Bonus level 30+ that I think would be approachable due to less vocab stretch:

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