愛書家クラブ

Jenn - To say the market is saturated in 異世界 narratives is an understatement. There are so many of them in Japan that Kodansha had to ban them from their yearly novel contest in 2017 . But I still love them all the same! When I saw this in the book shop I just really, really wanted to read it. Weirdly enough I love farming narratives. Stories like のうりん and 銀の匙 are great at scratching this itch I sometimes get for farming stories. It might be because I grew up in the rolling countryside of the UK. Or because I went to work on farms in Japan for a few months the first time I ever went to Japan. So there's a lot of nostalgia factor for me. Or just because I'm really weird. Either way, I was really excited to read this book! But then I started reading it and it's... not what I excepted. I'm about 1/3 into the book and the main character is SUCH a Gary-stu. The prologue has the protagonist, a man in his 40s who just died of a crippling illne...

Jenn - I'm currently reading "Back Stage!", a boys love light novel based on the manga series Love Stage! Don't knock boys love until you've tried it. The story is very sweet. The story follows Rei, the manager of a family of famous people while he struggles to get the youngest son to drop his dreams of being a mangaka and join the family business of being famous. This isn't helped by the fact that he's dating the second son Shogo, a famous musician. He struggles with the guilt of being in a relationship with someone he's not only supposed to be working with, but who's adored by screaming fan girls all over the world. This novel is full of interesting vocabulary because it's written for an older audience. This book uses furigana at points because of the complicated kanji the author likes to use. But then drops it as soon as a word is mentioned once in a chapter. I'm collecting the vocabulary and learning it on Memrise [ click h...