Hey guys I'm going to buy a huge load of novels/mangas for the summer. Well nothing crazy but a few. Can anyone recommend any novels? (Japanese of course)-(I already know what I want to buy in terms of manga books).
Fuirgana for novels would be a plus but not required lol.

I loved NHKにようこそ. Although I've only read it completely in english, I'm skimming through the original Japanese version - slowly. I'm still a beginner

About a month ago I posted a diary entry on lang-8 asking Japanese friends to suggest novels. Here's the link with the comments: http://lang-8.com/61174/journals/421738/...4%E6%9C%AC

Many of the users there note whether some books are a quick, easy read or not.

Also, it depends on what level of stuff you're looking for. If you want for something you can easily skim through, maybe look in the self improvement section. If you want a good literary challenge, I suggest 安部公房

If you enjoy manga and anime, you might want to buy light novels based on animes you like (if there's any). They usually come with furigana for most stuff.

We were discussing a book called All You Need is Kill elsewhere, and wccrawford mentioned buying an English copy to go with the Japanese copy that definitely no one linked to the txt version of, so I wonder how that went.

I'm currently reading a book called 'Parallel Love Story' (パラレルワールド·ラブストーリー), by Keigo Higashino, and although there's no furigana, the Japanese is fairly forgiving.

Reading 十二国記 by 小野不由美.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Twelve_Kingdoms

Really good series.

On the Way to a Smile takes place between the end of FFVII and before Advent Children. It's not amazing, but the language is fairly simple and it's broken down into several stories, so it could be a good way to test yourself without furigana if you're a fan of the game. You can also find an anime version of the first story if you search for Denzel FFVII or something. There was an unsubbed version on Veoh.

I'm currently reading:

ひとりずもう (biographical essay by さくらももこ of ちびまる子 fame)
恋空 (keitai shousetsu, too melodramatic like all 携帯小説)
仕事の日本語：ＩＴ業務 (textbook about technical Japanese in the IT field)
自動車の仕組み (reference book on automotive mechanics, brushing up for potential new job)
苺ましまろ (manga, waiting for new chapters)
よつばと (manga, waiting for new chapters)
K-ON (manga, waiting for new chapters)
ToLoveる (manga, pretty boring as one would expect from a JumpComics 漫画)
日常 (manga)
日本人の知らない日本語２ (manga essay about JSL)
新しい国語 (Japanese school textbooks, working my way from 小１ to 高３)

Recently finished books:
日本人の知らない日本語１ (manga essay about JSL)
あたし彼女 (keitai shousetsu)
あたし彼女～言葉なんかいらないほどに～ (keitai shousetsu)
横顔 (keitai shousetsu)
仕事の日本語：ビジネスマナー (textbook on business language and etiquette)

The ones I recommend are marked in bold.


It seems like a lot but I switch between them depending on my mood or my location (some are dead trees, some are on my computer, the keitai shousetsu is on my keitai). I also have a stack of 50 or so other books to read. I go to bookoff far too often.

Nuriko Wrote:About a month ago I posted a diary entry on lang-8 asking Japanese friends to suggest novels. Here's the link with the comments: http://lang-8.com/61174/journals/421738/...4%E6%9C%AC

Many of the users there note whether some books are a quick, easy read or not.

Also, it depends on what level of stuff you're looking for. If you want for something you can easily skim through, maybe look in the self improvement section. If you want a good literary challenge, I suggest 安部公房

yea any variety of books will be good for me.

Javizy Wrote:On the Way to a Smile takes place between the end of FFVII and before Advent Children. It's not amazing, but the language is fairly simple and it's broken down into several stories, so it could be a good way to test yourself without furigana if you're a fan of the game. You can also find an anime version of the first story if you search for Denzel FFVII or something. There was an unsubbed version on Veoh.

Thanks, i'm putting that i'm my list of novels to read.

Jarvik7 Wrote:I'm currently reading:

ひとりずもう (biographical essay by さくらももこ of ちびまる子 fame)
恋空 (keitai shousetsu, too melodramatic like all 携帯小説)
仕事の日本語：ＩＴ業務 (textbook about technical Japanese in the IT field)
自動車の仕組み (reference book on automotive mechanics, brushing up for potential new job)
苺ましまろ (manga, waiting for new chapters)
よつばと (manga, waiting for new chapters)
K-ON (manga, waiting for new chapters)
ToLoveる (manga, pretty boring as one would expect from a JumpComics 漫画)
日常 (manga)
日本人の知らない日本語２ (manga essay about JSL)
新しい国語 (Japanese school textbooks, working my way from 小１ to 高３)

Recently finished books:
日本人の知らない日本語１ (manga essay about JSL)
あたし彼女 (keitai shousetsu)
あたし彼女～言葉なんかいらないほどに～ (keitai shousetsu)
横顔 (keitai shousetsu)
仕事の日本語：ビジネスマナー (textbook on business language and etiquette)

The ones I recommend are marked in bold.


It seems like a lot but I switch between them depending on my mood or my location (some are dead trees, some are on my computer, the keitai shousetsu is on my keitai). I also have a stack of 50 or so other books to read. I go to bookoff far too often.

Thanks for the suggestions, quite a lot of books. I don't really mind what type of text actually. Some may be technical while some maybe recreational stuff.

Jarvik7 Wrote:日本人の知らない日本語１ (manga essay about JSL)

I second that. Funny as hell!

Fairly short, fairly undemanding, and worthwhile reading:

キッチン　吉本ばなな After her grandmother's death, a young woman goes to live with a friend and his transgender mother.
インストール　綿谷りさ A lonely middle-school girl has a complicated quasi-friendship with a boy in her class who's obsessed over an idol singer and slowly withdrawing from society.
アフターダーク　村上春樹　Two young people, slightly acquainted, meet in a Denny's late at night, having missed the last train. The story rambles on through various twists, but this is my favorite Murakami because it's not as bleak as his others.
少女七竃と七人の可哀そうな大人　桜庭一樹 In a small town in Hokkaido, a girl struggles with her relationships with the mother who abandoned her and the boy she shouldn't be in love with.

nest0r Wrote:We were discussing a book called All You Need is Kill elsewhere, and wccrawford mentioned buying an English copy to go with the Japanese copy that definitely no one linked to the txt version of, so I wonder how that went.

By the way, apparently they're making it into a Hollywood movie: http://www.animevice.com/news/a-live-act...ovie/4146/

Fillanzea Wrote:Fairly short, fairly undemanding, and worthwhile reading:

キッチン　吉本ばなな After her grandmother's death, a young woman goes to live with a friend and his transgender mother.
インストール　綿谷りさ A lonely middle-school girl has a complicated quasi-friendship with a boy in her class who's obsessed over an idol singer and slowly withdrawing from society.
アフターダーク　村上春樹　Two young people, slightly acquainted, meet in a Denny's late at night, having missed the last train. The story rambles on through various twists, but this is my favorite Murakami because it's not as bleak as his others.
少女七竃と七人の可哀そうな大人　桜庭一樹 In a small town in Hokkaido, a girl struggles with her relationships with the mother who abandoned her and the boy she shouldn't be in love with.

thanks, I've added it to my list of suggestions. I think i'll choose 5 books or so that I think will be interesting for a read.