Last week, I decided to pick up Conversations With Friends to change it up from all the YA I’d been reading. I still am not the biggest fan of literary fiction. Even as I relate directly to YA characters less, I still love the immediacy of the writing style so much. I definitely enjoyed this one more than her second more popular book, Normal People. Overall, I am happy my friend recommended this one to me. I loved that it featured a bi main character and also discussed endometriosis and getting diagnosed because it’s a condition I deal with daily but have never seen it reflected in books! QOTD: Which genres do you tend to read outside of YA? #normalpeople #conversationswithfriends #bookstagram #literaryfiction #bookreview #bookblogger #bookworm #librarybook #libraryhaul #librarylove https://www.instagram.com/p/CQTpWv6LMUx/?utm_medium=tumblr

It’s my birthday month, but I mayyyyy be going a little overboard with my book purchases…actually nah, I’m fully okay with this amazing book haul 🥳

The details are what make the book . . . #McCallCo #bookbinding #bookbinder #blankbook #journal #journaling #bookworm #bookporn #bookbindingporn #grimoire #leatherbound #leatherboundbook #bibliophile https://www.instagram.com/p/CQTnoIlLPsW/?utm_medium=tumblr

19/06/21

Finished the first volume of 本好きの下剋上 司書になるためには手段を選んでいられません yesterday!

感想

I was initially only going to test out reading the first volume since the series is overwhelmingly long (26 parts!), but I quickly realized that it's a pretty good book to practice reading words I already know. Natural SRS, hurrah!

Of course, there are still plenty of words to mine, but if you read my overview last month, I wrote that at the very least I don't have to look up too many words compared to the other stuff I've read, so it's pretty relaxing and I can just concentrate on reading and enjoying the story.

I'm a self-professed bookworm and this book, with its title alone, caught my eye. I've always loved to collect and read books, and would absolutely choose the library or the bookstore over most social interactions, and if I can, whoever's with me is immediately required to check the book selection, too! 笑

The protagonist, マイン, however, is on another level. She does not only throw a tantrum when she could not get her hands on a book, but she's dedicating all of her energy on making all of the materials to make one herself. If that isn't dedication, I don't know what is.

I've heard some mixed reviews about this character; how she is especially whiney in the first volume which turns a lot of people off. But you gotta hand it to her. This poor girl who's only dream is to be a librarian (aside from getting buried and dying under a heap of books), wastes away and gets transported to a bookless world, into a pitifully weak and feverish body, and she constantly has to deal with the inconveniences of an undeveloped world. Of course she's going to complain!

This 異世界 is quite interesting, since it doesn't exactly rely on world-building, but more on showing what common modern things are not available yet. Sometimes, I can't help but think that it can be kind of historically inaccurate, but then I think again and remember that, of course it won't be accurate to real world history: it's literally a different world! 笑

Her effort to take the first steps on making paper and writing materials is very admirable, and I'm excited to see where else it will take her.

STATS

Ah yes, the most interesting part of the process, stats and graphs time! I love making these little edits and graphs at the end of every good reading session. It really reminds me of how far I've come, and shows me exactly where I can improve my approach in immersion. Also, it's a great amount of proof that, yes, I absolutely can read and listen to Japanese media by just, well, reading and listening to media!

I also listened to the audiobook equivalent of 本好き, and it was so fun to listen to since the voice acting was really good, and because I read it first, it was just as comprehensible. Definitely will be doing the same with the next volumes, and with other novels as well!

Total Characters: 161,544

Total Time Read: 18:23:04

Ave. Chars per Hour: 8,807

TIME SPENT READING & SPEED

(Includes everything including the あとがき, because why not)

I was consistently reading anywhere between 20 minutes and an hour (average 38 minutes), which just shows you that the shorter chapters of light novels are easier to consume especially while using the timebox method, and that this particular book (and potentially the rest of the series) is very comprehensible material for me, and is great reading practice to solidify previously mined words. Still intensively reading as always - looking up every word I don't know the meaning or reading of, including the occasional grammar point.

This Characters per Hour graph is shiny and new! I have been holding off from posting it until I finished another book. Was finally able to gather the data I needed (number of characters per chapter/time spent reading) to make it. It was tedious, but the result was worth it since it very clearly shows improvement with every new book I start and finish.

My legend is arranged by start order, my first couple of finishes being NHKにようこそ! and　ノルウェイの森. If I had known back then that I was improving every step of the way, I wouldn't have felt as bad as I did for taking 9 hours to read a 75,000 character chapter (which by the way, is a pretty normal chunk of time for a beginner to consume such an amount). But also, please ignore anything above 10k/hour from the first two books, as I am sure I switched my Yomichan to an English-Japanese dictionary setup instead of the normal J-J-J-E dictionary setup that I use now, since at the time I desperately wanted a book finish, and so the speed I was reading in seems quite unbelievable.

Still, judging from this graph, my speed seems to have settled at around an 8k starting point to a 10k-ish ending point. Not terrible, but definitely indicates that I need to read more, as a better ability to remember readings and meanings on the fly means better comprehension and eventually, better speed.

-☆-

That's all for this update. I'll be either looking into finishing the other books I've put on hold or maybe I'll pick up the next volume of 本好きor a different book instead.

Catch you all later!

I WANT A GHOST BFF PLEASE AND THANKYOU.

Çok şey bilmenize gerek yok.

Sevginin fedakarlığın emeğin ne demek olduğunu bilen insanların kıymetini bilin yeter.

Sevgi SABIR ister 💜💗💛❤️

— much loved book, pouring my heart into its pages

Did y’all have a book you read in school (whether you were 6 or 16 or 20) that really stuck with you?

Blood isn't love.

Magnus Bane, City of Lost Souls

started Dune on Thursday! i'm enjoying it so far; the expansive world building is super interesting. although i don't usually read sci-fi, this is a good way to break up my reading monotony.

“You’re the fiction I crave in a world full of pitiful reality.”

— e.s

[19.06.21]

I just started this, it sounds incredible and the cover is beautiful.

When Heathcliff dug up Catherine's skeleton to feel close to her i really be feeling that