Japanese Light Novel Book Club discussion
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I think I got all of them. ^^;;;
Yes, Merry Christmas everyone and Happy Holidays!
Merry Christmas (searches for a Christmas Manga cover and fails). Take a Reindeer.
And some bathroom reading (you got Hoopla at your library, you can read this):
Selena wrote: "It's a little early, but I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanza, and Happy Holidays. :)
I think I got all of them. ^^;;;"
We passed Festivus for the Rest of Us yesterday, so yup, that's all the ones I know.
Am I the first who the new year came to?Happy new year!
I hope 2017 will be nice for you guys.
Mod
Happy new year!
I hope 2017 will be nice for you guys."
Guess so! I've still got 12 hours here. :)
Happy New Year!
Fanta wrote: "Am I the first who the new year came to?Happy new year!
I hope 2017 will be nice for you guys."
Happy New Year! Mine doesn't start for until tomorrow, but I hope yours is already going well!
Happy new year. Well at least my light novel to reads is growing by leaps and bounds, so that's a good sign for next year. xP
Well, my light novel / novel goal might be lofty, but I put it at 76. If J-Novel Club series keep up their one volume every two month pace, that'll put those at around 54 light novels, though maybe banking on that pace and adding 22 extra novels was a bad idea. xP
I joined the club's reading challenge earlier in the year but I don't think I could read nearly as many as Terrence plans to! I put down 15 since I think it's a goal I can reach. I'm surprised more people haven't joined up or gotten started yet though - it's fun seeing how many novels you can read in a year. :)
When do you guys read a book? When going to school or work? Before a sleep at night? Holidays?Usually, I read a book at holidays. It took about two holidays to finish a book that I recently read. When I read a light novel, it takes two or three hours. I may be able to estimate how many books I can read in a year.
Fanta wrote: "When do you guys read a book? When going to school or work? Before a sleep at night? Holidays?Usually, I read a book at holidays. It took about two holidays to finish a book that I recently read...."
I'm not working yet (though that may change very shortly hopefully, fingers crossed), but I generally read best when no one is in the house, I need the distraction from underperforming sports teams (namely the Celtics+Bruins; the Patriots winning is quite the distraction right now), and when I'm on a deadline (library rental).
I know it's odd, but I kind of like to read aloud sometimes. Helps me process stuff when I'm a bit tired, and helps me hear the characters voices, and it's especially useful in a louder household when it's tough to hear yourself think. I also use Text To Speech apps to read digital books, along with Audio Books. Listening to them read to me, I occasionally do miss some context (especially with the robot voice) but it does make it easier on my eyes. =]
Terrence wrote: "I know it's odd, but I kind of like to read aloud sometimes. Helps me process stuff when I'm a bit tired, and helps me hear the characters voices, ..."That's nice, but I would get embarrassed when I hear my voice acting the characters. XD
Mod
Another thing I do now, thanks to having to walk the puppy when I'm home during the day, is listen to audio recordings on the phone as I walk. That can get dicey though if I don't have headphones and certain scenes come up, especially in light novels. Even having a harmless aquarium focused book like Soul of an Octopus read aloud was a bit dicey with the lines about the suckers. xDFanta wrote: "Terrence wrote: "I know it's odd, but I kind of like to read aloud sometimes. Helps me process stuff when I'm a bit tired, and helps me hear the characters voices, ..."
That's nice, but I would ge..."
Unfortunately, I do too (well get embarrassed at other people hearing me). I watch a lot of video game Let's Plays with voice acting though, so I'm used to hearing people voice certain characters "uniquely" (especially female accents with a dude's voice). xD
I'd love to try reading for something someday (might try a Librivox recording someday). I tend to mix up my voices if I don't talk naturally though and read over multiple periods. Just stick to fake British if all else fails. =P
I read on my commute most days, as well as in my lunch break. Most of my commute is taken up by train rides and it's an hour and a half every day so it's a good time to read or listen to a podcast. :) I also read sometimes when I get home if I'm really into my book or I'm right at the end of a book and want to finish it so I can start something new the following day.Because I normally read in public, I don't read aloud. But even if I did, I can't do fake British because I'm British! There's always the fallback of fake American though. :)
Rose wrote: "Most of my commute is taken up by train rides and it's an hour and a half every day."Awesome. :) Is it common at Britain? Also in Tokyo, Japan, An hour commute by train is possible but I hear an hour and a half not often. Are rents at a city area high?
Mod
What podcasts do you listen to? Lately, I've been listening to a lot of "Oh No! Ross and Carrie," but I also loved "The Black Tapes" (eagerly awaiting season 3 on that one!).
Fanta, my one-way commute time is actually about 1 hour but I only spend 45 minutes on the train. So my time spent commuting is actually 2 hours daily, with 1.5 hours spent on the train. I would say my commute is uncommon but certainly not rare. Property and rent prices here are very high so a lot of people have to live in cheaper areas and commute longer distances. I work in Winchester, one of the most expensive places to live in Britain, but I live in a (relatively) nearby city. :) The good thing about my commute compared to a Tokyo commute is that our trains are not nearly as packed! Although the Tokyo railway is otherwise basically better in every way - I visited during last year's hanami and loved it. :)Selena, my favourite podcasts so far have been "Welcome to Night Vale", "Alice Isn't Dead", "Serial", "Hardcore History" and "The Myths and Legends Podcast". I also really enjoy "The F Plus" but that's more of an acquired taste! I've been meaning to listen to "The Black Tapes", as well as " Limetown" and "The Message" which I read were similar. I'll have to give it a listen once I'm caught up with Night Vale. :)
Mod
What's Hardcore History? That sounds like it'd be really interesting. :)
Hardcore History is a series of history documentaries/lectures by an amateur historian. They're fairly long and detailed for a podcast and make for good listening. I really enjoyed the wrath of the khans set and am currently halfway through blueprint for armageddon but I've had to take a break as the subject is pretty chilling.
I've got a question about the group challenge: can we count Japanese light novels/novels that have been fan-translated? My gut feeling is yes but I thought I'd check first.
Mod
Anything you read that you think counts, counts.
There's a fan translation rule in the group, but that refers to sharing sources and that kind of thing for legal issues. I don't care too much how you guys read things so long as you don't use the group to share illegal copies.
Selena wrote: "Rose wrote: "I've got a question about the group challenge: can we count Japanese light novels/novels that have been fan-translated? My gut feeling is yes but I thought I'd check first."Anything ..."
Hmmm, what about Non Fiction Japanese works? I guess those shouldn't count. I've been reading this off and on. It has some manga, but it's mostly just pages of text about what to do in a zombie apocalypse based off movies and games. Obviously that's somewhat fictitious, but it gets very informative about the movies and history of voodoo and such.
That and short story collections I don't know what to do with.
But I suppose if it's up to us, we can count them? I think I will for now just to motivate myself to finish these. =]
Mod
Your challenge, your rules. :) It's not like there's a prize or something for completing your challenge first.
I'm pretty laid back about challenges, if you can't tell. ;)
Since it has short stories, I would include it! I'm planning on including Another Episode S / 0 which is half-light novel and half-manga as well.I'm glad fan-translations are okay - I was planning on reading the English fan-translated Jojo's Bizarre Adventure light novels. I've been a Jojo fan for donkeys years but I never got round to reading Over Heaven and I think now would be a good time to re-read Purple Haze Feedback as well. :)
I'm going to write here because I saw it at the other thread. Cliffhangers are more often seen for me at U.S. TV drama. I watched NCIS, White Collar, and Hawaii Five O on the TV before and was surprised at that each season's last story ended quite suddenly for example when a main character was arrested or a new enemy appeared. It's not often in Japanese TV drama, which usually ends with a problem completely solved or revenge done, etc. I guess the way is established at U.S. while not at Japan. Also Japanese books tend to completely end as far as I'm concerned.
Mod
I think it's a matter of different story-telling styles for TV series in Japan vs. the US.
In the US, every episode is pretty much a variation on the same theme (every episode of every crime drama ever is "bad guy does something bad, good guys hunt down the bad guy for 45 minutes, bad guy is caught in the last 5 minutes"). They have to come up with SOME way to get us to watch the next season, even though it's going to be the exact same thing we've seen a million times already, and because American shows are often written pretty much season-by-season. Because a show could be planned for 2 seasons, but if more are demanded, more seasons will be made.
Japanese shows seem to have an overarching plot for a full season, and if the plan is one season, that show's going to be just one season. So, a little more effort goes into the planning, I think. ;)
Mod
https://youtu.be/VZMsZ7HGar4
A quick analysis of the game Toukiden 2's story line of "insiders" and "outsiders."
Is the day after tomorrow the Easter? Do you guys do something at the day? Are some parties or events held?
Fanta wrote: "Is the day after tomorrow the Easter? Do you guys do something at the day? Are some parties or events held?"yep, coloring boiled eggs and hiding them for the Easter egg hunt. getting pictures with the Easter bunny. going to church (for those who do, but not me ^_-), usually i go to my aunt and uncle's in town. a ham is often the centerpiece of the meal.
Alex G wrote: "yep, coloring boiled eggs and hiding them for the Easter egg hunt."The event sounds enjoyable. :) Is it for kids or even adults? I would like to treasure hunt too.
Fanta wrote: "Alex G wrote: "yep, coloring boiled eggs and hiding them for the Easter egg hunt."The event sounds enjoyable. :) Is it for kids or even adults? I would like to treasure hunt too."
Ha ha. Well the hunt is intended for kids but like most things for kids adults tend to like them as well. ^_- the aunts and uncles, including myself, usually hover around the kids and give them subtle hints. And take lots of photos.
Mod
I'll be stuffing myself silly with food. :-) That's my family's tradition anyway lol
Good friends, family, and food.
Here in the UK we get two bank holiday days connected to Easter weekend so a lot of people travel but I'm just kicking back and relaxing, hehe.
Rose wrote: "Here in the UK we get two bank holiday days connected to Easter weekend so a lot of people travel but I'm just kicking back and relaxing, hehe."Elegantly drinking tea like your photo? :)
Selena wrote: "I'll be stuffing myself silly with food. :-)"
Don't overdo it!
Fanta wrote: "Elegantly drinking tea like your photo? :)"Not quite like my icon - Yang Wenli's "tea" is made with a good amount of brandy in it, after all!
I do like tea, though. :) This morning I was sat in the sun drinking chilled lemon and green tea and it was lovely and refreshing.
Mod
I noticed something very odd though while watching... and I'm wondering if I'm just smarter than the average person in a horror game or something. Thus, I pose this question to you guys:
There was just a helicopter crash. A woman was in that crash, and now she's complaining about stomach pains. What's your first thought?
My first thought was internal bleeding. The character in Outlast II's reaction was (view spoiler)
Haha, from a logical/real life perspective, your suggestion definitely makes the most sense (along with less obvious external wounds, bruising etc). However, (view spoiler) so my first reaction was the same as the Outlast character's... :V
My first thought is the same as Selena's.After seeing the spoiler, for some reason I remember a little famous question in Japanese Internet.
Q: There was a family of three. One day the husband was killed by a traffic accident, and his funeral was held, where the wife fell in love with a man who attended. Several days later, she killed her child. Why?
I'd like to hear you guys' answer. :)
Mod
@ Fanta: The practical part of my says she went insane or was in an accident herself with the kid. The riddle/puzzle-lover in me is trying to figure out what's the trick to a trick question. :p
@Selena: Haha, too true!@Fanta: Hmm... I'm going to say "the man who attended" was the ghost of her husband and she decided (or was possessed by him) to murder-suicide to have the family together in the afterlife.
To be honest, I'm being a little confused about you two's answers and very interested in.Japanese people usually would answer the same reply to the question, and that's why the trick of the question makes sense.
The explanation would be difficult. But again, I'm really being interested.
What's the answer to the question? It could be that something was lost in translation, or perhaps there's a cultural difference that caused us to answer in a different way than you expected.
Rose wrote: "It could be that something was lost in translation, or perhaps there's a cultural difference ..."I think you're right both reasons. Actually I meant her child is very young like 5 years old or younger, or an infant. Did you guys think about an older?
Mod
I wasn't too far off. I was thinking a kid under 8.
So what's the answer. I really want to know :)
Before the answer, I think I need to introduce about raising a child in Japan. Babysitters are not common in Japan, and one of a parent (usually mother) is supposed to devote her/his time and life to children while they're very young.So Many Japanese would answer to the question that the reason of her killing is that the child is a nuisance for her new love.
But actually the question is a test that founds out if you're a psychopath. It is said that a psychopath would answer to the question, "because she can see the man again at another funeral."
... That's the trick of the question. I'm worried about if it makes sense for you guys.
Ah, that does make sense and the idea that she might get rid of her child so that she could attract a new man did cross my mind. I think I was looking too hard for a twist in the question. :)
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Japanese Light Novel Book Club
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