Edit: If you don't know if the book you've read is an innocent book, please don't post about it here. This thread is only for innocent books. Apart from that, please treat this thread like wiki and submit anything you think might be useful, including alterations to what's already been posted. Scores will be displayed as a mean of all the ratings for that particular book, so even if you agree with the score already displayed it's worth mentioning.

A while ago there was a very interesting thread in which members of the forum innocently discussed some Japanese books. I have found myself possessing a large number of these innocent books, but there're so many that it's very difficult to sift out the ones I'm actually interested in. Even just finding a book in my preferred genres is difficult. I've tried looking elsewhere for recommendations and then checking if I have a copy, but most of time I find that I don't. I figured that there were probably a lot of other people who were working there way through the books that were discussed in that thread, and thought it might be worth making a new thread to discuss which ones we liked/hated.

I'm hoping that whenever people read an innocent book they'll take the time to post about it here in as much detail as they can be bothered. I'll collect everything in the first post and even just telling us the genre of the book would be helpful.

死神の精度　by 伊坂 幸太郎

Score: 8/10 (2)
Genres: Mystery, Fantasy + ? + Short story
Plot: A collection of short stories told from the point of view of a shinigami who's job is to investigate people and decide if they should live or die. To do this he inserts himself in to their lives, and though he inevitably gets somewhat involved in what's happening, the stories are really more about the lives of the people he investigates than they are about him.
Opinions:[Splatted] I really liked this book. There's quite a lot of variety between each story, and the narrator's unusual perspective was always interesting. The only one I didn't like was the 3rd story, but that was because it was closed community murder mystery, which is something I've always found tedious.
{IceCream} I really enjoyed this book! It's funny, it's interesting, it draws you in, it's well written, and although it is made up of different stories, there are links between some of them. Definately would recommend this book, it has appeal beyond it's "genre" really, really.
{Qwarten] The book is quite impressive and not that difficult to read with yomichan. Individual stories are not overly long and as mentioned before they are not as uneven as Kino no Tabi qualitywise.
4th story 恋 愛 で 死 神《Love with Death》comment:
Chiba is a total dunce. A lovable one, though.


世界の終わりとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド by 村上春樹
score: 8/10
genre: fantasy, sort of. Like a dream.
plot: well. There are two seperate worlds described in this book. The first is the ハードボイルド・ワンダーランド world of a guy who has the job of encoding data in his head, and a particular job he's given, and the weirdness surrounding it... a guy who can remove sound from things... skulls of a one horned animal... passages and caves and underground waterfalls, a place that dark creatures inhabit... and a developing mystery in which the world might end. The other story, 世界の終わり is about a guy who enters a strange town, and has to give up his shadow and leave it to die, as he gets a job in a library reading the dreams from the skulls of one horned animals.
opinion: {IceCream} perhaps the plot description sounds a bit weird, but, well, that's because it IS weird. It makes sense in the way that a dream makes sense, and you start making connections between things as you read along. It's a little harder than 伊坂幸太郎's stuff i thought, particularly the 世界の終わり chapters where there's some heavier descriptions. But well worth sticking with, as you often get to another bit and find it's smooth sailing again.

赤い指 by 東野圭吾
score: 5/10
genres: mystery / detective.
plot: It's set over a few days following the murder of a little girl by a teenage boy. The action focuses on the boy's family's reactions, and the detectives searching for the killer.
opinions: {IceCream} It's a very easy read, and entirely suitable for intermediate learners. It's also a light novel, so it's not too long. The story itself is easy to get into, and drags you along, but it's hardly world class writing. If you're looking for a trashy detective novel, it's not too bad though. One thing i did think was interesting was the almost complete absense of the murderer in this book, it's not about him, but his family and their reactions, which makes it slightly more interesting. The problem is, i just couldn't believe in any of the family's characters or motives, which left me a bit annoyed. It's not something i would recommend to a friend, but to a japanese learner who wants to get into reading fiction or something easy to read it's ok.
{Splatted} I'm still only about 40% through this book, but I was really surprised by what IceCream said so I wanted to give my impressions so far. To me the strength of this book is in the characters, particularly those working to cover up the murder. IceCream said she couldn't understand why they acted like they did, but I really felt like the author brought them to life in a way that meant I couldn't help but empathise with them, and at times I've found it quite upsetting (I am pretty pathetic though). Apart from that, I do agree with everything else IceCream said. The writing style is a bit plain, but that's probably why it's so easy to read. It's certainly the easiest book I've read so far and is currently the only one I'm reading away from the computer.

秘密 by 東野圭吾
score: 3/10
genre: i don't even know.
plot: After an accident in which a mother dies, the body of the daughter appears to have taken on the mother's soul, and the daughter has dissapeared. The book focuses on the relationship of the daughter and the father and the problems this weird situation causes.
opinions: {IceCream} Again, it's an easy read, although a little harder than 赤い指. Honestly, i wouldn't recommend this book. The plot was weird, the book seemed to badly need editing since there were many plot lines that went nowhere, some of the scenes with the father and daughter seemed to be just... gratuitously creepy. Oh, and the ending was crap. I have no idea what the overriding theme of this book was supposed to be, and it left me feeling just like, wtf? but not in a good way. Obviously, it's just my opinion though, maybe someone else could find something in it somewhere?

キノの旅　by　時雨沢 恵一
Score: 7/10
Genres: Historical, Sci-Fi, Short story
Plot: A (long) series of short stories about Kino, who rides around on a talking motorbike visiting different countries. The stories are sometimes about the events that happen during Kino's stay, and sometimes they're about exploring the countries' culture or history. The different cultures and people are often quite caricatured. The author regularly takes some aspect of normal human behaviour and exaggerates it to make something weird and interesting. The setting varies, depending on the country, from historical sword and shield era to futuristic robot paradises. There are also a few stories from the perspectives of other characters.
Opinions: {Splatted} (Read two volumes so far) It was hard for me to rate this series because there were some stories that I really enjoyed, but a few dragged awfully (and one I skipped). At it's best it's probably as good as 死神の精度, but the level wasn't so consistently high. It's still pretty reliably entertaining though and I'd definitely recommend it. I really like the weirdness of all the characters, and Kino's personality is great. It reminds me of 死神の精度 in that Kino views almost everything from the perspective of an outsider to whom it doesn't really matter what goes on.

Yeah, we've needed a thread like this for a while, thanks!!! hopefully we can get some good recommendations here.

伊坂幸太郎の「死神の精度」
it's listed above, so i'll just give my opinion.
I really enjoyed this book! It's funny, it's interesting, it draws you in, it's well written, and although it is made up of different stories, there are links between some of them. Definately would recommend this book, it has appeal beyond it's "genre" really, really.

村上春樹の「世界の終わりとハードボイルド・ワンダーランド」
score: 8/10
genre: fantasy, sort of. Like a dream.
plot: well. There are two seperate worlds described in this book. The first is the ハードボイルド・ワンダーランド world of a guy who has the job of encoding data in his head, and a particular job he's given, and the weirdness surrounding it... a guy who can remove sound from things... skulls of a one horned animal... passages and caves and underground waterfalls, a place that dark creatures inhabit... and a developing mystery in which the world might end. The other story, 世界の終わり is about a guy who enters a strange town, and has to give up his shadow and leave it to die, as he gets a job in a library reading the dreams from the skulls of one horned animals.
opinion: perhaps the plot description sounds a bit weird, but, well, that's because it IS weird. It makes sense in the way that a dream makes sense, and you start making connections between things as you read along. It's a little harder than 伊坂幸太郎's stuff i thought, particularly the 世界の終わり chapters where there's some heavier descriptions. But well worth sticking with, as you often get to another bit and find it's smooth sailing again.

東野圭吾の「赤い指」
score: 5/10
genre: mystery / detective.
plot: It's set over a few days following the murder of a little girl by a teenage boy. The action focuses on the boy's family's reactions, and the detectives searching for the killer.
opinion: It's a very easy read, and entirely suitable for intermediate learners. It's also a light novel, so it's not too long. The story itself is easy to get into, and drags you along, but it's hardly world class writing. If you're looking for a trashy detective novel, it's not too bad though. One thing i did think was interesting was the almost complete absense of the murderer in this book, it's not about him, but his family and their reactions, which makes it slightly more interesting. The problem is, i just couldn't believe in any of the family's characters or motives, which left me a bit annoyed. It's not something i would recommend to a friend, but to a japanese learner who wants to get into reading fiction or something easy to read it's ok.

東野圭吾の「秘密」
score: 3/10
genre: i don't even know.
plot: After an accident in which a mother dies, the body of the daughter appears to have taken on the mother's soul, and the daughter has dissapeared. The book focuses on the relationship of the daughter and the father and the problems this weird situation causes.
opinion: Again, it's an easy read, although a little harder than 赤い指. Honestly, i wouldn't recommend this book. The plot was weird, the book seemed to badly need editing since there were many plot lines that went nowhere, some of the scenes with the father and daughter seemed to be just... gratuitously creepy. Oh, and the ending was crap. I have no idea what the overriding theme of this book was supposed to be, and it left me feeling just like, wtf? but not in a good way. Obviously, it's just my opinion though, maybe someone else could find something in it somewhere?

i have a couple more, but i'm supposed to be reading, so i'll do it another day...

Thanks IceCream, I'll add your reviews to the first post. Also, I should probably have mentioned that I was planning on making the score for each book a mean of the ratings everyone gave it, so if you want to give 死神の精度 a score, don't feel like you're stepping on my toes or anything. The same goes for genre tags/plot description/anything else you think should be included.

Could you guys add a difficulty rating too? Because while some of the ratings sound awesome, I think it's less likely that low intermediate/high beginner will be able to read some of these too.

I'm eagerly following this thread also - I have a bunch of books that I don't know what to do with.

would a difficulty rating really help?

there are times in the same book where i'd read and understand perfectly, then the next page would be completely out of my skill set...

i bought some books recently. let's see if i get anywhere with them =)

Difficulty ratings are really hard to do, since they depend on so many factors and the level of the reader is constantly changing. I'll happily add ratings suggested by other people, but I wont be awarding them myself. I will try and give some opinions on difficulty in my reviews though.

New review:

キノの旅　by　時雨沢 恵一
Score: 7/10
Genres: Historical, Sci-Fi, Short story
Plot: A (long) series of short stories about Kino, who rides around on a talking motorbike visiting different countries. The stories are sometimes about the events that happen during Kino's stay, and sometimes they're about exploring the countries' culture or history. The different cultures and people are often quite caricatured. The author regularly takes some aspect of normal human behaviour and exaggerates it to make something weird and interesting. The setting varies, depending on the country, from historical sword and shield era to futuristic robot paradises. There are also a few stories from the perspectives of other characters.
Opinions: {Splatted} (Read two volumes so far) It was hard for me to rate this series because there were some stories that I really enjoyed, but a few dragged awfully (and one I skipped). At it's best it's probably as good as 死神の精度, but the level wasn't so consistently high. It's still pretty reliably entertaining though and I'd definitely recommend it. I really like the weirdness of all the characters, and Kino's personality is great. It reminds me of 死神の精度 in that Kino views almost everything from the perspective of an outsider to whom it doesn't really matter what goes on. The writing style is quite easy to understand but the vocabulary is maybe not so easy.

伊坂幸太郎の「死神の精度」
The book is quite impressive and not that difficult to read with yomichan. Individual stories are not overly long and as mentioned before they are not as uneven as Kino no Tabi qualitywise.

4th story 恋 愛 で 死 神《Love with Death》comment:
Chiba is a total dunce. A lovable one, though.

Thanks Qwarten! I'll add it to the first post.

Splatted Wrote:Thanks IceCream, I'll add your reviews to the first post. Also, I should probably have mentioned that I was planning on making the score for each book a mean of the ratings everyone gave it, so if you want to give 死神の精度 a score, don't feel like you're stepping on my toes or anything. The same goes for genre tags/plot description/anything else you think should be included.

actually, i would have put down the same score as you did for it, 8

hahah it's interesting about 赤い指, because we seem to have similar tastes in other stuff. i just kept thinking, like, the mother kept going on about the boy's future as if he had just stolen something from the corner shop and was getting prosecuted for it or something. I was kinda like, um, yeah, he's got no future... neither has the girl he killed. It's not like it was an accident or something, and he doesn't even show any apparent remorse. I dunno, i think there's just some point where they should have gone, well, my son's obv a psycho and needs some kind of help. And the father was soooo weak. Perhaps it's more like, i enjoyed reading the book, but didn't like it. After reading another 1.5 books by him, i just kinda get the impression that 東野圭吾 himself is probably kinda a dark and creepy man...

IceCream Wrote:actually, i would have put down the same score as you did for it, 8

I'll pretend you did then, since I'm going to display mean scores if we ever get any conflicting ratings.

IceCream Wrote:hahah it's interesting about 赤い指, because we seem to have similar tastes in other stuff.

Yeah, that's why I was so surprised by your reaction. Before I started reading I was expecting a standard detective novel, but it doesn't seem to be about the solving/covering up of the crime so much as it is about the people involved and how they cope with the situation. I guess it's really a story about how a parent reacts to discovering their child has done something unforgivable.

IceCream Wrote:I just kept thinking, like, the mother kept going on about the boy's future as if he had just stolen something from the corner shop and was getting prosecuted for it or something. I was kinda like, um, yeah, he's got no future... neither has the girl he killed. It's not like it was an accident or something, and he doesn't even show any apparent remorse. I dunno, i think there's just some point where they should have gone, well, my son's obv a psycho and needs some kind of help.

Obviously we wouldn't want him to get away with it, but I can imagine a mother wouldn't be able to stop caring about him as soon as she discovers he's an evil psycho. It's like if he'd died it would take some time to really sink in, except in this case she can keep on pretending as long as she wants. And when she's defending the boy to her husband I think it's mostly to convince him not to go to the police, and that she's also partly trying to convince herself that their son's not evil.

I also think both parents are secretly motivated by what would happen to them if the murder became public knowledge. It would completely destroy their lives as well, which makes the mothers threat of suicide and willingness to turn herself in much easier to understand.

Edit: I think guilt might also be a strong motivator for the mother. She must feel that her son's actions reflect her failures as a mother, but by threatening to commit suicide or take his place she's saving him, and thus playing the role of a good mother and assuaging her guilt.

IceCream Wrote:And the father was soooo weak.

Yeah, I really hated him before we even knew about the murder. XD When I said the characters were strong I definitely didn't mean they were likable.

IceCream Wrote:Perhaps it's more like, i enjoyed reading the book, but didn't like it.

I kinda know what you mean. It draws you in but you hate everything that happens. There's also something about 東野圭吾's writing style which just makes me go "...meh" even when when the story's making me go "WTF!"

IceCream Wrote:After reading another 1.5 books by him, i just kinda get the impression that 東野圭吾 himself is probably kinda a dark and creepy man...

lol I got the same impression. Even the good guys just seem a little off to me.

Hmm, this has become quite a long post. I seem to have a lot of strong opinions despite not particularly liking or disliking the book...

P.s. I've just finished Spice and Wolf so expect a review soon.

P.p.s. I'm still only oart way through 赤い指, so no spoilers please.

Very interesting thread. Spot on assessment of キノ IMO.

Any opinions on DRRR?

I was bored one day and watched the first episode of the anime. It drew me in pretty quickly and had a lot of interesting aspects. A couple of days later when I had watched the entire series and re-listened to about half I went out and found the original light novels. I made it through the first chapter, but even though I knew what was going on from the show the writing seemed pretty opaque. I've been distracted by other acquisitions since then.

Does the going get easier? Is there enough interesting extra content that makes it worth wading through?

Is DRRR Durarara? I didn't even know that was a light novel series but it sounds interesting. I watched the first two episodes of the anime a little while ago and thought it was pretty good, so I might have a go at the light novels if I have them. What do you mean by opaque? Hard to understand? Overly descriptive and slow paced?

Right, it just drags a little. I have a feeling that like in the show the narration style is going to change for each character though.

Edit: I had a few minutes at work with nothing pressing so I gave it another shot. It really isn't that hard to read, though there are plenty of big words with no furigana. I guess I was just too tired to start something new the other day.

Excerpt:
今、自分の身に起きている事態は理解できた。正直言ってまでユメを見ているような不安的な感覚はあるが、本体的な恐怖が彼の意思をすんでのところで覚醒（かくせい）させ続ける。だが－－－理由が解らない（わからない）。この『影』が何者であり、どうして自分がこんな目に遭わなければならないというのか。

etc. where （なになに）represents furigana.

Ooh, that does seem readable! I'm bored of the book I'm reading right now so I'll give it a go.

Edit: I can't find it, is it definitely an innocent book? I don't have all of them but I think I have the full list so I should have been able to confirm it was discussed in the previous thread. It is possible I just did a bad job of searching for it though.

あぁー、ごめん

I only looked at a the first set of innocent books I ran across. They were too hard to sort through and didn't have any decent reviews/guides so I didn't look any further.

I used other completely innocent means to obtain a digital copy of the first nine volumes in a format amiable to use with Perfect Viewer on my Galaxy Tab instead.

I do miss the ability to use Rikaisama and auto-import into Anki though...

狐で騙された当たり前じゃん？

Has anyone run across a "slice of life" innocent book? Something that isn't too sci-fi (as long as it's just a background, and not a main focus it's okay) and describes daily life of characters, a down-to-earth book? Thanks

Lindley Wrote:Has anyone run across a "slice of life" innocent book? Something that isn't too sci-fi (as long as it's just a background, and not a main focus it's okay) and describes daily life of characters, a down-to-earth book? Thanks

I liked ゴールデンタイム by 竹宮ゆゆこ.
Not innocent, but available in txt.

Lindley Wrote:Has anyone run across a "slice of life" innocent book? Something that isn't too sci-fi (as long as it's just a background, and not a main focus it's okay) and describes daily life of characters, a down-to-earth book? Thanks

とらドラ is fairly slice of life, and the whole series is "innocent". It's by the same person as ゴールデンタイム.

Ivanov, Bokusenou - Thank you! Both look interesting, that should last me for a while.

Sorry to zombie this thread, but I wanted to post about a book I started reading recently.

池袋ウエストゲートパーク

I've only read like 15 to 20 pages of it, but I really like the writing style. It really draws you in.

If you liked the drama I'd really recommend it.

It's also pretty easy!

Can anyone recommend/ just mention some good innocent fantasy or sci fi books (translated into Japanese)? No links or anything like that necessary, I'd just like to know what to bother looking for. I found Dune, and a couple of Heinlein books (no Starship Troopers though) on a list, but that's about it. Not really in the mood for Dune, especially not in Japanese.

Is there anything by Terry Goodkind, George RR Romero (A Song of Ice...), Orson Scott Card (Ender's Game would be great), Bradbury, mabye Max Brooks' WWZ now that it's a big deal? Or something along these lines.

Anything by Vonnegut (I know he's not sci-fi/fantasy) or Huxley would also be great.

I enjoyed All You Need Is Kill.

In Japanese?

Most people I have heard recommend it read it in English. I tried it in Japanese and to be honest I struggled...

Splatted Wrote:I enjoyed All You Need Is Kill.

Thanks for the suggestion, I'll give it a shot.