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 
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I keep buying manga…
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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?
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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
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I think I have a pretty serious case, doctor…
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 
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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?
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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:
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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)
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.
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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.
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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.
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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!
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I definitely have a booklog problem as between my English and JP stuff I have around 1,000 unread books. They pile up over the summer when work is busy and as much as I try to get the number down, it never seems to decrease? I do try to read a lot daily, it just doesn’t always stick…
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I was kinda “afraid” looking into this thread, thinking the few unread series i have at home (that I’ll def start/finish next year!) were bad, but now I’m feeling really good about myself… thanks!
And of course! I’m gonna read all those books next year! (unless my bookclub activities wont let me ^^).
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As a fellow book lover owning many physical and digital books, I will play devils advocate and say that I prefer to never purge physical copies of seminal works (subjective). In todays world, a physical copy is worth its weight in gold. While I love digital copies for travel, a license to a digital work leaves your rights to the whims of a corporation.
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I swear I haven’t bought over 200 Japanese games and VNs I have never touched on Steam and/or a mysterious shelf of 50+ volumes of unread manga.
Additionally, I definitely wouldn’t be the type of person to be 1/3 of the way through reading “Tobira: Gateway to Advanced Japanese” a month before taking N1 despite being in possession of it for the past 3 years…
If I did happen to be like that guy I would at least know better than to be shopping for more reading material on my days off! 
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I have a similar problem (suitcase full of 50lbs of books coming back from Japan, 3 years in a row. Thanks Bookoff)
But the thing is, the more you read, the faster you get.
Find things you like that challenge you just enough. I know sticking with it is hard, but consistency will always be key.
If you’re having to stop to look up words too often, it can kill motivation and feel like you’re not getting better, so finding the right reading level is difficult but helpful. And also finding topics you enjoy that make the struggle worth it.
Reading is tricky, because everything ar the N5-N4 level can feel boring and like you’re just reading things that kids read (and usually that actually is the case)
But, I remember at the start of the N3 level, I finally felt like I could actually read things, but it was so slow going and frustrating. It killed my motivation when I would have to make flash cards every manga panel.
As I got into N2, things got a lot faster and I was able to find more specialized topics. That N3 wall of frustration feels insurmountable, but it pays off. Read more, find things you enjoy, take breaks, and sometimes give yourself permission to not know things and keep going, just getting the gist of it. Not everything has to feel like a lesson, sometimes we have to remind ourselves to have fun.
Give yourself permission to be bad at something and just read for the sake of reading sometimes. Enjoy the pictures, read what you can, and you’ll still improve in ways that’ll help you progress.
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I simultaneously aspire to that sort of library and also fear the day I get that bad, so my kudos to you!
As it is I think my girlfriend is going to either laugh her ass off or murder me when I bring these all home eventually.
Congrats!!
I massively prefer physical copies over digital, honestly. Even if looking up kanji is a lot slower without some of the add-ons folks use, it’s so much easier for me to focus on a physical copy, not to mention the satisfaction of seeing myself progress through it.
It’s okay, I definitely don’t know a lady with 500+ physical manga who keeps a wishlist and shops at bookoff any time she happens to be downtown, although they both sound like kindred souls for sure 
Definitely this - and it doesn’t just apply to books, honestly. I’ve also found that going to karaoke with some of my other foreigner friends winds up being really good practice, too. The lyrics almost always include furigana, but trying to sing along forces you to read quickly and without stopping to worry about whether you misread something, and then it has the additional input of the sounds too.
And ditto on motivation being important! Finding the right balance of Not Too Difficult To Tackle but also Interesting Enough To Push Through can take some time.
And sometimes you’re like me, where you read something that miiiiiight be a little higher than your reading level because you think the stuff at your reading level is boring. Oops.
As for my actual reading progress today, I’ve gotten through most of a chapter in volume 3 of ウァニタスの手記 (about 30ish pages I think?) so far. I’ll do some more reading after lunch, though, so I might be able to finish the remainder of the volume before I get off work.
Edit: Nearly forgot, I had a super encouraging moment with the Vanitas chapter, where one of the characters used the work 地下納骨堂, which the furigana identified as カタコンブ.
I was curious how the kanji themselves read, though - since I recognized/knew all but the middle one - so I looked up the possible readings for the middle one, and actually managed to correctly predict the reading for the whole word! Very pleased with myself for that, even if it’s maybe a bit silly 
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I bestow upon thee this badge, please wear it well
Editing to add so I don’t plug up this post with more replies just from me:
I met my 10 page goal!! I don’t have to go the farm!!!
For the moment I’m just going to take it easy and try for another 10 pages next week.
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