I’ll have to use that next time I see a “why do ppl like toxic yuri?” type question. Except that’s not actually why I like the ones I like :sweat_smile
As horror goes, I’m not generally a fan, but I’ve found I like various things with horror incorporated, like 犬夜叉 | L25 , 私を喰べたい、ひとでなし | L21 or 裏世界ピクニック | L33 (actually does that count as plain horror?). One exception is 真月譚 月姫 | L27
Possible there’s other potential exceptions of course. 見える子ちゃん 1 | L23 does seem kinda interesting
That is all very helpful thanks. I will pass on that one
Every time I’ve seen おかえりアリス 1 | L18 I’ve gone “oh that seems kinda interesting”, and then checked the MAL reviews and gone “right, that’s why it wasn’t on my wishlist”
I’d be lying if I said a part of me didn’t want to read it for the sake of reading something messed up tho, hmmm (still decent chance I might drop it where you did, if I do)
犬夜叉: I would give a horror tag that has 25%.
Ah, I meant 裏世界ピクニック specifically
Sorry. Just answered the one that I know about.
I don’t like spicy food or horror, so I guess that makes sense? 
I need to revise this, modern isekai.
Once upon a time 異世界 was a 少女向け subgenre and it was great. I watched fansubbed anime adaptations of ふしぎ遊戯 | L27 & 月の影 影の海 (上) 十二国記 1 | L36 some twenty years ago and enjoyed them greatly. I guess I didn’t even realize isekai was its own genre back then.
I’m really tempted to give these a try in manga and book forms to see if they hold up – probably by nostalgia if nothing else.
I think that it wasn’t really a subgenre back then. My theory about why those early isekai works are generally good is that the author was not setting out specifically to write an isekai – instead they set it like that because it fit the kind of story they wanted to tell. A lot of the modern isekai stuff seems to me (largely from the outside, admittedly) to be writing an isekai with a bunch of the attendant tropes because it happens to be a popular subgenre right now. So there’s a lot more low quality rubbish in the category these days.
This. I do very well with horror I think for the most part. I could barely make it through Corpse Party: Book of Shadows and The House in Fata Morgana was very difficult at times too. (I know we’re talking about books, but these games are my only example of this happening to me)
Yeah, there are some games and even films that much as I might want to watch/ play them, the intense gore is just too much.
I’m in love with Lady Dimitrescu from Resident Evil, but there’s zero chance I will ever play that game 
I have found for some games that watching someone stream the game makes it easier for me, so I was able to watch a playthrough of the Silent Hill remake where I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to play it myself.
Ooh this is fun. Might take me a while to write a good response, though.
Favorite Types of Books
Least Favorite Types of Books
I have played Resident Evil (up to and including 6 iirc) but I have to play it in the day time the monsters in that don’t bother me so much. I haven’t played the most recent one though. Some of that was just too much for me. I’ve watched the films though, liked those.
Silent hill is a no go for me unless I can watch someone else play it. Those things coming out the wall and then being mauled by dogs was not on my list of fears til I played that game again, seen the film and thought it wasn’t too gory for me.
It may be too soon to call it, but I suspect 眼球堂の殺人 might actually be not your type of book 
I think logic puzzles will be taking center stage
I think with a strange, specially designed building on the cover, there was never much doubt about it. But I’m hoping there is still some rich enough characterization and plot, instead of the characters just being generic pawns pushed around on the murder puzzle board?
Surreal Novels - The kind of stories that go slightly off the rails and where reality becomes suspect. I was extremely moved by コインロッカー・ベイビーズ | L43 and following it up with 砂の女 | L45 pretty much cemented my love of crazy stories. Something about the vividness of the descriptions and not knowing what might happen next pulls me into the story.
Intellectually Stimulating Novels - I suppose this is quite a vague category, but I enjoy it when I have to concentrate while reading. Whether it be difficulty of Japanese, philosophical themes, or metaphorical writing, as long as I’m kept engaged I’m happy. One of the books that hit all 3 of those was 羅生門・鼻・芋粥 | L47. Ironically, it may have been too difficult for me at the time to really appreciate.
Heart-Wrenching Novels - While I’m usually a cheerful and optimistic person, there is something about absolutely emotionally devastating stories. The perfect example of this for me is 個人的な体験 | L44. I’ve never felt so enraged, uncomfortable, and sad as when reading this book, but I’m very glad I did.
Short Stories - As someone who doesn’t need an overarching story, short stories are perfect. In 檸檬 | L47 for example, so many of the short stories were poignant and evoked a sense of nostalgia that was entirely unexpected for 100 year old writing from across the world from where I grew up. Side note: 檸檬忌 is coming up on the 24th so it’s the perfect time to read!
Detective Novels - Especially those that encourage the reader to solve them as the story unfolds. I’m far too lazy for that extra effort and usually the story doesn’t pique my interest. Big asterisk here though because ドグラ・マグラ 上 | L46?? (warning risqué cover) and 黒死館殺人事件 | L50?? were absolutely fantastic. Something more standard like 蜘蛛男 江戸川乱歩ベストセレクション(8) | L40 was just ok looking back.
Historical Novels - This is just a pure skill diff. I don’t have the requisite knowledge to properly enjoy them, and it’s way more difficult to research that than unfamiliar expressions, kanji etc. What saved novels like 金閣寺 | L48 or the 宮本武蔵 | L45 series for me was all of the themes and great writing that came along with the historical references.
Light Novels - I don’t know if this is proper labelling, but I’m talking about many of the fantasy, romance, slice of life, etc. works that sometimes get adapted into manga/animation. I watch a lot of anime and enjoy reading manga at the local onsen, but usually what I’m looking for when reading is quite a different experience.
I would not call myself a historical expert by any means, but I have made efforts in the past year or so to learn more about modern and contemporary history so I can enjoy older literature more. It can be difficult to research specific things, but there are many nonfiction/criticism books about literature specifically that provide an overview and reading a few of those here and there has been of much value for me so far.
A few of the books I’ve read:
Modern Japanese Fiction and Contemporary Japanese Fiction by Mitsuo Nakamura (these are in English and perhaps out of print but there are other books in Japanese with similar titles). These did a huge survey of all the famous literary names from the past century including most of the authors from your post and the historical context they wrote in.
越境者が読んだ近代日本文学―境界をつくるもの、こわすもの | L36?? I am still reading this but it has talked about authors such as 大江健三郎、川端康成, 遠藤周作 and more. I think it is likewise out of print (
look at me suggesting some books that are difficult to get) but there are similar books out there with the same focus.
なぜ働いていると本が読めなくなるのか | L35 Despite what the title makes you think, the first half of this book is a survey of reading and publishing since the start of the Meiji period, and covers the trends in history and how it influenced the books that were written and what people read through the lens of the economy.
「新しい時代」の文学論 I haven’t read this yet actually, but it is sitting on my kindle. This covers post war literature, including 大江健三郎 and 安部公房, up until the 3.11 earthquake (which the author claims is when the start of a new literary period kicked off).
Finally, a lot of modern historical fiction novels that aren’t necessarily the most dense and intellectual but are still fun reads (think 直木賞 winners) can teach a great deal about historical context as well. I’ve noticed they often have explanations about the time period or what items are for built into the text because a modern Japanese reader doesn’t know about things either. These are really helpful for picking things up! Thinking of 小さいおうち | L40 here.
Yes, I find it varies from book to book and to some extent between historical periods. The Warring States period has a lot of “known in pop culture” figures and so books often seem to expect the reader to recognise who it is when one of them makes a cameo appearance in the narrative. On the other hand a lot of the Edo period fiction I’ve read seems to treat the historical period as a known backdrop and setting for their actual story, so you don’t really need to know anything about the real history to enjoy the stories, in the same way that you don’t need to know the history of the American frontier in the 19th century to enjoy a Western.
These seem like wonderful resources! I still feel like I have a mountain of things on my to read list, but these seem like good “meta” books to read in the meantime that might actually help my reading comprehension in the future.
I think part of my problem is that I just didn’t grow up in Japan so I don’t have a standard Japanese history curriculum under my belt. I took 1 course in Japanese history in college, but that was very surface level as we had 2000 years to get through.
Me when 吉川英治 talks about 信長, 家康, and 秀吉: 
Me when 吉川英治 talks about politics surrounding someone called 伊達政宗: 
To be fair he does give a good explanation of who he is, but my ability to understand that explanation was a bit lacking.
