"What should I read next?" Megathread

Looking for an L26 book to read since that’s what’s next for my Level+1 challenge thing, these are the L26 books I own. I know absolutely nothing about the first two past their synopses, although I’ve at least heard of 寄生獣 before. I am more familiar with the story of 魔女の宅急便 (at least the Ghibli version)

Or if you have your own suggestion for a book currently graded at L26 feel free to rec it!

I have a feeling 魔女の宅急便 is going to win just due to sheer popularity among Japanese language learners, but we’ll see

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I voted based on how cool the cover looks. I haven’t read any of these :joy:

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I randomly came across that while staying at a friend’s place. I read the whole thing in one night instead of sleeping :stuck_out_tongue: Highly recommended.

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Seen the anime. It was a cool story, and explores some interesting themes. There’s blood and gore though, not sure if that bothers you.

Well if you find any, do let me know :sweat_smile:
What kind of horror would you be interested in?
I’ve read several books that were labeled horror, but none of them were actual horror in my mind. Mildly creepy maybe, like @cat said.

山の霊異記 幻惑の尾根 | L30?? is a collection of short stories related to creepy experiences while mountain hiking. Some of them are mild and some are actually creepy. Cool atmosphere, cool nature, nothing that will keep you up at night though.

夜市 | L31 and 秋の牢獄 | L31 (standalone books by the same author, contain two and three novellas respectively) are labeled as horror, but…no. Very cool settings, but the way he tells the stories feels slice of life or fantasy rather than horror.

化身 | L37 Again labeled as horror but didn’t spook me at all. I did like the book though, the first story especially.

Things I haven’t read:

リング | L34 may be actual horror as I understand it, but I haven’t read it.

https://learnnatively.com/book/c12d202032/ A book review video I watched recently suggested this is actually scary.

I keep coming across this 予言の島 | L37, said to be a mystery on the first read, horror on the second.

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I read all 6 books of the series last year… and I did not enjoy them. I thought I would and I should, but there was just nothing that held my interest (apart from knowing how it all ends, because the series spans a fairly long time, so you get to see her grow up and stuff). I think 8 year old me would have loved them, though. :sweat_smile:

Since I don’t know the other two, I voted based on cover for the one that looks like a fun, wholesome read. I am in a wholesome mood.

There is a whole discussion about stuff like this in the book community. Basically, anything that does not fit into the western (i.e. US) idea of a genre (especially horror, but not limited to), gets immediately rated lower. I wonder if anyone has actually ever sat down and defined what horror means to different cultures. Would be an interesting doctor thesis. :thinking:

Thanks for making my TBR even longer. :rofl: Oh wait, it’s a manga. Nvm. :see_no_evil:

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You wouldn’t happen to know any other japanese books that fall into that category would you? Awhile back I actually looked for japanese ND and HB books directly, but found that getting them wasn’t feasible.

Edit: Well actually I looked on booklive and they totally have some of them available digitally so nvm. Still wouldn’t mind more book recommendations though.

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都会のトム&ソーヤ 1 | L26 could fit the bill.

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Glad you found ND and HB available digitally! It’s worth noting that 少年探偵団 is actually a series, I’ve only read 2 of them so far.

It reminded me of ND/HB because of the time period and style of writing. Nothing else I’ve come across so far has that same vibe for me unfortunately. Plenty of kids detective fiction, but I haven’t read much in that category.

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Dang, that looks really interesting. Might nominate it in the 推理 book club after this vote…

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The books of 江戸川乱歩 are free on 青空文庫, e.g. 図書カード:少年探偵団

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Ha, that’s what I’m starting right now (in the abridged furiganaized 10歳までに読みたい日本名作 version with occasional pictures, because my Japanese reading ability is that of a baby).

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That book is for 10yos, you’re nearly in middle school!

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If so, I’m a nearly middle schooler who asks “What does that word mean” like twice per sentence :laughing:

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Yeah, I was hoping to like this one too (the art is really nice), but I didn’t find it too interesting. The humor just fell flat for me. Like, there was one point where the main characters went to catch some infamous 痴漢 that always shows up on the train, but all of a sudden it turns into a TV show… just because? Plus, one of the MCs was constantly groping the 女装 character’s butt as “comedic relief,” but it really got more tiresome than funny. It was a mix of comedic random humor moments and more serious moments, but I kinda struggled to take any of it seriously. Plus, the characters were super dramatic, but in a really unfunny way. Like there was the time when some teacher suddenly broke down crying while desperately trying to convince the main character to stop doing 女装. I realize that that was probably supposed to be humorous, but it felt like one of those bad soap operas that come on at 3 am on public television. Besides that, from what I read, it seemed like the main theme was going to be the typical “be yourself!” YA self-acceptance message that you’ve probably already heard a million times over. I didn’t feel like it was going anywhere too interesting. I can’t really speak on the whole book Though, I only read 94 pages. It has really great reviews on Amazon, so maybe I just stopped too early.

Yeah, I realized this. 人外サーカス | L33 was listed as horror, and published under 角川ホラー文庫, but I promise you that it is little more than an action battle novel. I guess they can consider it horror because it has a lot of gore? I honestly have no idea. The author has published some books that seem to be actual horror, but I’m somewhat reluctant to try them out after the circus book. :sweat_smile:

I never really read too much horror, so I don’t really know. I’m not a veteran in the genre, so there’s nothing in particular I’m really looking for. I’m just trying to get into it, so I’ll take any and all recommendations.

Anyway, thank you all for your recommendations. They will certainly be helpful to my dive into the genre. :smile: (Gotta finish 小説 アニメ カードキャプターさくら クロウカード編 下 | L25 first though, it’s been on my owned list for way too long now :grimacing:)

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I hope that was consensual, otherwise :nauseated_face:

Maybe it was meant to be serious? (Also, did you mean 3 pm? Last time I watched tv at 3am, it was about analyzing a game of Go; I just remember being mildly annoyed that the guy was always the one giving explanations while the girl was just reacting “あ〜なるほど”).

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It wasn’t.

No, I’m talking about the shows so bad that they don’t even bother putting them on while people are actually awake. :laughing:

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Looks like I’m reading 寄生獣! I’ll start today :smiley:

I’m fine with it dw

This is kind of what I was thinking. I did like the first couple chapters of 魔女の宅急便 when I tried reading it a while ago, and since it’s one of the few physical books I own I’ll probably read it eventually. But I think most of my motivation for reading it is that 1) I love the movie and 2) I want to read more books that aren’t manga.

This is also how I felt about 夜カフェ when I read that: something I would have loved as a kid but am really only using to improve my reading comprehension now. So if I do read 魔女の宅急便 I’ll probably end up reading it with the same mindset

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This isn’t quite a what to read next request (since I’m still working away at Flying Witch 2), but I was wondering what I should read that is a) full prose but b) still below the level of 魔女の宅急便. I think Kiki’s is still pretty above my current level, but not sure what to read below it to ‘work my way up’ to Kiki’s (aside from graded readers).

Based on the levels, I was thinking 季節を何周も巡ると思っていた。 | L20?? if the JPN library has it (since I can’t get it digitally), or maybe some kid’s books like にゃんにゃん探偵団 | L17, 動物と話せる少女リリアーネはじめてのものがたり しあわせの黒いねこ | L17, or the マジックツリーハウス (series) | L20. I’m a bit wary of kid-focused language (I find this one of the most irritating things about reading at this level) but if it will get me more confident with the language and not tired after a few pages, I’m willing to go through it.

I feel like I want to be reading a manga + a prose at the same time. I find it easy enough to make a decision on the manga, but prose is a bit more difficult to gauge. So any help would be appreciated!

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I recommend https://learnnatively.com/book/e64ff658e3/! Yes, I know, I said in the comment right above yours that it’s something I would have enjoyed more as a kid, but that’s just because it is a kids book after all. Overall I really do think it’s a great book for getting used to prose. In my review I rated it 5/5 for language learning and 3/5 for entertainment.

Personally I think it’s about the same level as https://learnnatively.com/book/ec98c0404c/ even thought it has a higher grading. Here’s the difficulty comparison from the ふらいんぐうぃっち page:

So even though it says level 24, I’d say it’s easier than that.

It’s a great stepping stone from manga to novels imo. Reasons I recommend it:

  • lots of simple grammar
  • they reuse quite a bit of vocab throughout the story
  • iirc there’s not a lot of slang / super casual speech (e.g., no ねー instead of ない), so it’s not too hard to parse
  • the characters are just starting middle school and that’s likely the target audience as well, so it’s not like you’re reading a little kid’s book
  • it was my first prose book and it was great for me (in other words, I’m biased)

There’s lots of reviews on the first book’s page if you’re curious about other people’s thoughts on it. And there was a book club for it too (on the Wanikani forums), so there’s sure to be people happy to answer any questions you have while reading :slight_smile:

(disclaimer: it’s the only prose book I’ve read so far, so maybe there are better choices out there. based on the bit of Kiki I’ve read though, 夜カフェ is definitely easier)

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Also, as a follow up to my poll: I’m really enjoying 寄生獣 so far! Great pick everyone!

And I’m thinking I’ll read 魔女の宅急便 too even though it didn’t win the poll just because I’m only reading two books right now and I’d like to practice reading more prose, so might as well

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