Book collector rehab (actually reading what you own accountability thread)

[cafelatte]

Hello friends. Are you, like me, a compulsive textbook collector? Do you secretly harbour hopes that owning is as good as studying? That if you put a book under your pillow, you will absorb knowledge by osmosis?

I have many textbooks. And I’m too afraid to sell any of them in case I need them. Strangely, I never need them. But like, what if I did?

I also recently completed my collection of all 16 volumes of Yotsuba. I have read 1.5 volumes of Yotsuba. My buying pace is much more aspirational than my reality…

So in response to this I’m hoping to start an accountability thread for myself and other people like me. Let’s set a goal - either to read or declutter or both - and check back in periodically. Hopefully talking about it will keep our motivation to do it.

Im going to start small with the goal of reading 10 manga pages a week. I’m currently on page 85 of Yotsuba volume 2. I’ll check back in on Friday and if I’m not at page 95 by then I will have to be sent away to live on a farm, exiled like so many family pets before me.

Anyway, let me know. Do you have too many books? Are you using them? Are they just aspirational wall decorations? What are your goals? Let’s study!

[semckinny]

I also have books I need to read and way too many textbooks… Tell me why I have the SKM N3 Grammar AND SouMatome N3 Grammar AND Try N3!
I’m trying to get through the Try! book in the next few weeks, and I also have a short story side by side English Japanese book I want to get through as well. I should be able to finish the short story I’m currently on this week… I will go take a long walk in the woods if I fail but otherwise I will keep you posted

[obscureniche]

@cafelatte

Do you have too many books?

[cafelatte]

Straight to jail

[homa]

“Gentlemen, m’lady, you will always remember this as the day that you almost caught Captain Jack Obscureniche!”

[cafelatte]

I… I also own SKM N3 and Try! N3… are we brothers in arms
Let me know how you get on with the Try! book please! I kind of gave up on it because of the lack of exercises in it (I previously used the n4 one which had exercises for every grammar point, but the n3 one leaves out exercises for less vital grammar points). But now I’ve successfully passed n3 I wonder if I should go back to it as a revision book

[lunchbox1]

I keep buying manga…

[cafelatte]

a deadly disease… mangabuyingitis. What have you bought recently? Do you buy stuff you can read or stuff you want to be able to read in the future?

[Neon_Kitsune]

@cafelatte

Do you have too many books?

No.

@cafelatte

Are you using them?

Uh…sure. Of course!

Anyway… I’ll leave this here.

[homa]

Ok I didn’t relate myself to this thread before seeing this Wikipedia page
But as for Japanese I only have Little Prince and また、同じ夢を見ていた
Maybe 5 volumes of Frieren as well

[Ayara012]

I think I have a pretty serious case, doctor…

Summary

I am, genuinely, trying to read through them -however, my buying pace far outpaces my reading pace. Far, far outpaces.

That said, I’m on volume 27 of 名探偵コナン and volume 3 of ヴァニタスの手記.

I’m not counting the danmei novels because those are English editions, although I do have the first volume or two of the Japanese version of the manhua squirreled away in there.

I don’t have a specific per-day goal, since I prioritize my reviews on top of actual work stuff, but maybe I’ll pop in with progress reports.

Also, something encouraging I noticed: I thought I was just extremely slow at reading in Japanese, but it turns out that when I’m not reading really really dense murder trick explanations, I do go noticeably faster! A sloth’s pace instead of a snail’s, perhaps

[cafelatte]

I must bow to the master
Volume 27 of any series in Japanese is pretty damn amazing. How long do you reckon it takes you to complete a single volume?

[Ayara012]

Well, in the interest of full disclosure, I have read Detective Conan in English previously, albeit a couple years ago. It’s part of why I chose it as my first series to practice with - it’s one of my long-term favorites, so I already know the broad strokes of the story and can fill in if I’m confused by an explanation here or there. Plus, the interest helps with motivation…a little bit, lol.

I don’t often read one volume all in one shot, but like I said, I have come to realize that some series go faster than others just because of how much talking vs action there might be.

I’d say a Conan volume can take me like…ehhh, maybe 2 and a half or 3 hours? I’m guesstimating a bit. There’s a lot of stopping to look up kanji, and also I eventually start feeling like my brain is frying.

Case Study of Vanitas has definitely moved a bit quicker, maybe an hour and a half? Maybe more. These are just my best guesstimates, because I’m usually reading them in a chunk here or there.

I’m pretty bad at staying on top of my actual reading, though, so even this much has been over 2~3 years

Example pages, for reference on density:

Summary

Text-light pages:

Text-heavy pages:

Conan has a lot more text-heavy pages than text-light pages, for sure.
Also, sorry for iffy photo quality, they’re just quick pics with my phone.

[Special_Guest]

I live in the promise land, meaning which means I have easy access to book-off. Meaning whenever I go into the city, Ill do all my anki on the way to, and be left with nothing to do on the ride home. So Ill buy several cheap manga or books, get through the like 3 or 4 pages I can harbor in the 30 minute bus ride, and then never read it again with the idea ill bring it to work to read in my down time( which Im currently spending going through genki 2 WB)

@cafelatte

I also recently completed my collection of all 16 volumes of Yotsuba.

Congrats on the full collection! It took me a few months because I could never find book 1 or 15. I actually book Book 1 brand new and finally found volume 15 a month ago. Now read because those books are hella funny.

[nminer]

This is my issue too. Importing Japanese books/manga to my home country is prohibitively expensive, so whenever I’m in Japan I go a bit nuts at Book Off and obsessively collect free magazines (like the JR travel magazines) that I usually read through once and then refuse to get rid of just in case I decide to do a trip to Iwate to visit creepy places/go yokai hunting (yes this was an actual article they ran earlier this year ).

Currently on volume 3 of Apothecary Diaries, volume 4 of 7th Time Loop, volume 26 of Magic Tree House, and slowly working my way through バースディー・ガール、コンビニ人間、and 魔女の宅急便. I tried reading the first volume of Apothecary Diaries light novel, but it’s a bit above my level right now so put that on hold with plans to go back to it after finishing more of the manga.

Ironically, I think I read less when I’m in Japan because I read and listen to Japanese all day at work/when I’m out on the weekends, so when I have free time at home I usually pick up an English book to give my brain a bit of a break.

[Special_Guest]

@nminer

Ironically, I think I read less when I’m in Japan because I read and listen to Japanese all day at work/when I’m out on the weekends

This is exactly my issue with living here. I spend 8-10 hours a day already listening to and studying japanese that when I get home, I dont wanna spend the next 4 hours actively listening or reading Japanese. Im TIRED.

Started going to the gym though so now Im actively watching Hajime no Ippo again for active listening. Maybe Ill bring a manga and read on the treadmill. Really lean into the performative male stereotype.

[Ayara012]

Book-off is simultaneously my best friend and my worst enemy - nearly everything on the shelf in my pictures is from that wonderful little liminal space they call a secondhand book store.

I definitely run into the same issue with not wanting to read or deal with more Japanese once I get home from work, but thankfully I do wind up with downtime during work pretty often, so that’s usually when I do some reading…assuming I don’t distract myself with something else, which happens more often than I’d like. It’s pretty hard to work up the motivation otherwise though.

Edit: oh, I totally forgot to mention in my previous post - I’ve also read the first 7 volumes of 傷モノの花嫁!