"What should I read next?" Megathread

Japanese Reading
141

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This is now you in my imagination. :rofl:

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It’s… Not wrong

Quick, hide the 積読 pile

Bulk buying on eBay usually isn’t too bad though. Frequently less than $4 per volume even after shipping so a good way to get them even vs digital

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I’m at a reading crossroads and thought it’d be fun to do one of these for once :grin: I’m breaking the formula a little though and including some VNs for funsies!

Some background on the options since I don't know how to shut up

I’m currently reading BU$TAFELLOWS with the Wanikani book club and so I’m looking for something to fill the time between splits. I just finished reading through volume 21 of ブルーロック (aka all of the mainline volumes I have currently) hence the light novel and manga prequel things, very fun :eyes:

I’m technically a little ways into 山猫 but not really enough to feel completely committed yet :joy: I’ve enjoyed it though, it’s got the kind of mystery nonsense vibes I enjoy as you can probably tell by some of the other things here. 花子くん and チェーンソーマン I’ve interacted with to varying degrees, but I have several volumes of both available and fully intend to read them, just… when :joy:

And then the VN-type things, I am partial to VNs with voice acting as a medium and that’s both of them, they both have really interesting stuff going on, I’ve heard amazing things about both, etc etc. Hence my dilemmas haha.

Anyway who knows what I’ll end up doing, but I’m curious to see what people’s thoughts are :eyes:

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The author of 山猫 also wrote 心霊探偵八雲 1 赤い瞳は知っている | L28 and I enjoyed it quite a bit. After all, you don’t seem to have nearly enough options :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

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Just finished むらさきのスカートの女, and previously read コンビニ人間. Looking for the next oddball N2-ish novel that is available in bunko size.

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I think 世界から猫が消えたなら | L28 might be a good fit! It’s a bit simpler than コンビニ人間 in my opinion, but a fun story and not too long.
Alternatively 神様 | L33 is a fun, crazy short story collection, or https://learnnatively.com/book/5cc882d1e4/ is a great (reverse?) Murder Mystery.

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@Athakaspen has good suggestions, I’ll also toss in すべての神様の十月 (series) | L27 (first book can be read as a stand alone). It’s lightly connected short stories about Japanese gods in modern society.

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Thanks! I’ll look into these.

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Thanks. I’ll check it out

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I definitely recommend かがみの孤城 | L28, which is a bit long (550 pages) split across two bunko size volumes.

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Hey all, I’m looking for a new novel/light novel to read. I’m currently doing a project on high school delinquents in the late 80s/early 90s for university. Does anyone know of any novels from around that time (or set during) that follow high school delinquents? Or even a recent light novel that is set during that time?

I’d say my level is around N3, but I’m happy to read something more challenging if there’s nothing around that level.

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:thinking: this seems like it should be easy but I mostly am finding things that almost but don’t quite fit.

セーラー服と機関銃 (series) | L30 is a book series I haven’t read, but I generally know the plot and it sort of fits, albeit a bit more fantastical given the yakuza connection. Also from the late 70s so a smidge early. 赤川次郎 is a good fit for someone of N3 level grammar, a small challenge but not much and he usually has a smaller spread of vocab.

If manga and live action TV shows apply this series I watched some of the show and it’s also about delinquents. Bonus OP on youtube. I wouldn’t recommend the TV show for N3 though, at least not what I’ve seen, because the audio quality is pretty bad and I’m not aware of any versions with JP subs.

Dear Friends | L25 is a bit later than you’re looking for (early 2000s) but throwing it out there. It specifically deals with high school sex work.

Googling around this maybe fits your description although it’s a modern novel talking about the 1980s rather than something written in the 1980s: 青少年のための小説入門

Googling in general it’s a lot easier to find lists of stuff like 不良漫画 than it is to find novels so best of luck. I’m sure there’s plenty of content hiding somewhere

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Thanks cat! Funnily enough, that last novel sounds like the exact thing that I’m looking for. I get the sense that a lot of delinquent content cater toward a demographic of real youth that don’t fit in (and usually exist to comfort, and impart some kind of advice unto them, GTO or Rookies being a good example). This one sounds interesting, great cover art as well! I will take a look at these other recommendations as well :slight_smile:

I’m currently working with ろくでなしBLUES for my project, so I’m looking to move away from manga a little bit, but I still want read something related to give me a better sense for how Japanese felt during this time period (and improve my own Japanese)!

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So, I have a bit of time before several book clubs start end of January and during February, and I need something that tides me over, but isn’t too long/hard so I can be done before I get into the book club thicket.

On top of that… something that I will actually enjoy would be nice. I’ve read too many things that were kind of middling lately.

I’m currently torn between those candidates:

Sooooo… what would you choose if you were in my shoes?

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I voted for 少年探偵団 because I love the author’s works (although I’ve not read the modernized versions) and if you like campy Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys type stories I think you’ll enjoy it. That said, everything I’ve read by 新美南吉 I’ve liked and I’ve heard a lot of good things about きまぐれロボット - including from Japanese people who remember the stories fondly. I don’t know anything at all about the 人狼 book, though.

But of the three I do - seems like you can’t go wrong!

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I can finally go back to the list of suggestions!
Next random picks are

Thanks again!
Well, maybe I should wait until I have actually read the books to say that :stuck_out_tongue:

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I have no idea, to be honest. It’s been more than 20 years since I last read any books like that, if at all.

But looking at the results, I guess I’ll find out! Thanks for your help, y’all! :slight_smile:

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So, I did try the winner of this poll some time ago. I couldn’t really get into it, so I dropped it. I felt a bit bad dropping a poll result, but I really don’t feel like forcing myself through anything anymore. However, I did start the second place book: NHKにようこそ! | L33, and I’m enjoying it so far. :slightly_smiling_face:

With that said, I’m going to ask if anyone has some recommendations in the horror genre. I want to branch into new things this year, and I think some “real” horror would be a good start.

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Ah, that’s sad. I was hoping it would be interesting. Do you mind expanding on what was the problem? (Just boring?)

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Just a heads up that Japan will label things ホラー that are not even remotely what an English speaker would consider ‘horror’. :sweat_smile:

If you don’t mind it being kinda trashy (very trashy? one scene had me seriously rolling my eyes), I think ドールハウスの人々 | L33 is the only actual horror I’ve read in Japanese.

人間椅子 | L36 , 幽霊 | L35, and 桜の樹の下には | L32 are all short stories in the ‘creepy’ category.
心霊探偵八雲 1 赤い瞳は知っている | L30 is fun, about ghosts. I think it shys away from real horror though. Again more just ‘creepy’. https://learnnatively.com/book/b1b862e6d8/ also kind of walks that line of it could be horror if it wanted to, but never really reached far enough for me. So another ‘mildly creepy’ book.

Also never read it myself but someone on WK read リング | L34 and really liked it IIRC.

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