Where Did March Go?! - My Reading Fail

Jennifer -

March was not a good month for me in terms of reading.

Actually in terms of much Japanese besides translating to be honest...

I started strong in February with 異世界のんびり農家 but it was so boring it demotivated me completely. I decided to dump it and read a book that was 300 pages long and easy to read, ビリギャル. I could get that done in 3 weeks easy!

That is... if I'd actually read anything.

So by the start of February I'd managed to read up to page 50 of ビリギャル and in March... I now realize I read about 15 pages.

I scratch that to more work, night interpreting class finals, going on holiday for a week and saying "I'll make up for it tomorrow."

That was my bad. March was a complete and utter reading fail.

Let's hope April will be MUCH better! (Even though it's already the 10th...)

Here's a picture of my bookshelf to make up for the flails.

Comments

Review - ビリギャル / Biri Gyaru

学年ビリのギャルが1年で偏差値を40上げて慶應大学に現役合格した話 (aka ビリギャル) Jennifer - A new word I learned with this book was ビリ which means "the last" or "at the bottom". This case it's a story about a gyaru (gal) who's at the bottom rank of her school, increases her scores by 40 points in 1 year and gets into Keio University . This is a true story. It's a piece of non-fiction written by the juku teacher who taught Sayaka (our gyaru) and pushed her to get her grades up and get into one of the most prestigious universities in Japan. At the start of the book we meet Sayaka in the moment she meets Tsubota ( 坪田) Sensei. He asks her some simple questions but is amazed by her creative answers. The start of the book looks at the holes in her basic knowledge and understanding of the world. When I say lack of basic knowledge I mean very basic knowledge. Tsubota Sensei asks her to draw a map of Japan and she draws a circle. She doesn't only realize there are

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Daniel - Again I thought I'd try something different and this book caught my eye while I was book shopping over the Winter break. Written by the same author as the 'Ikebukuro West Gate Park' series, this one is about four women living together in a share-house, and follows their attempts at finding love in the heart of Tokyo. I've got maybe a third left to plough through, but I've been really enjoying it so far. Although some aspects have of course been exaggerated for entertainment value, it provides an interesting look into the messy and often shallow world of group and speed dating with some comical episodes and cutting witty quips from our protagonist. The protagonist's constant clashes with the ideologies and expectations of the men surrounding her and her friends throughout the story generate a lot of food for thought on a number of social issues currently plaguing Japan. Being a very grounded slice of life novel, the language doesn't throw

Review - 新世界より / From the New World

Kafka - As I stated in my earlier review of part 1 of 6, From the New World is presented to us as a memoir, a cautionary tale from the 'new world' to an even newer world and an investigation of a past now lost — all at the same time. Now I would also describe it as a rich metaphorical painting of society, but this author's world is filtered through Saki, a more conservative narrator, so the metaphors don't feel as forced as they would be fed to us directly. The unsettling atmosphere that ties this world and Saki's worldview as she becomes forced to challenge it is this novel's best asset. It's the main reason I wasn't able to put the book down for long. However, I do not mean to say that the plot itself isn't full of suspense and intrigue. The plot goes back and forth between mystery and action, and unlike many stories today, very many people die. There are no guarantees. The only ones you can be sure live to see the end are the narrator, an

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