皆さん! i have a question! I was wondering if anyone knows any good novels that are Japanese to buy. Preferably with furigana with the kanji in the book. I know there's manga for example, but i already have some books like that. I'm looking towards general japanese novels. Since i'm in the intermediate level of Japanese stage of the game now. Something around that level would be nice. Need a good novel to pass the time on those long bus rides to school and back. Thanks in advance!

Don't get your hopes up, there's almost never any furigana in novels (and there shouldn't be, it's a huge crutch and you shouldn't rely on it ever. In fact, I think you should go actively for novels WITHOUT furigana.)

I recommend Murakami Haruki if you want "real" japanese novels, well written and interesting books. Or you could go for light novels. Those are easier and there's a bigger chance that you will find one with furigana.

that is true, i was thinking of just diving into real Japanese books, full of kanji. Yea i don't mind going for both heavy or light novels. Something is better than nothing. Thanks for the reply back

Anyone know any sites to get good books off of? I would presume amazon.jp or something. Anyone know any other sites that i may buy books off of. Preferably paypal would be good.

ta12121 Wrote:Anyone know any sites to get good books off of? I would presume amazon.jp or something. Anyone know any other sites that i may buy books off of. Preferably paypal would be good.

This has come up before, see eg this thread or this one. My personal answer is bk1.jp. Avoid amazon.jp as their shipping charges are ludicrous.

Other threads about what books to read include this one (includes more discussion of Murakami), plus a bit of a subdiscussion starting here inside the huge Harry Potter thread[/url].

I'm still hoping that people will contribute to http://rtk.wikia.com/wiki/Book_Recommendations :-)

携帯小説 are a pretty easy way to get into reading Japanese lit. They are even more simple than light novels. あたし彼女 is almost cave-man style.

ME AKI

AGE 23

BOYFRIEND YES

Jarvik7 Wrote:携帯小説 are a pretty easy way to get into reading Japanese lit. They are even more simple than light novels. あたし彼女 is almost cave-man style.

ME AKI

AGE 23

BOYFRIEND YES

Do you have any good source for such novels? I like reading short stories since there's less of an investment. When I'm reading a long novel I feel I have to look up a lot of words since missing out on too much in the beginning can make a big difference later in the book.

Just google around for news postings about the top sellers or award winners. Almost all of them can be found for free on the internets. Here are some of the top ones I've come across:

あたし彼女
恋空
赤い糸
雨涙

"Deep Love" by yoshi is the very first keitai shousetsu and the all-time best seller, but I don't know if it's available for free since I got it for 105Y at Bookoff. A number of these were turned into movies and manga, so it's not all fluff...

To get you started, here is あたし彼女 http://blegi.jp/novel/2985/view/46691

Don't sentence mine this unless you want to sound like a clueless slutty idiot (which the narrator is).

Also, there is a book compilation of "twitter 小説" out now. 140 character stories! I'll probably pick it up once it hits bookoff...

Is there a way to just dl the 携帯小説 onto your phone, or do people just view them as webpages like the link that was posted? Just wondering, because I'd rather cut down on my phone internet usage (too damn expensive in Japan).

Edit: あたし彼女 is hilariously bad.

People normally just read them page by page, but there are some pay novel sites where you download the book as a BREW (etc) applet I've heard.

I have an iPhone so I can't use normal keitai applets, so I can't help you with that.

-edit-
Yes, あたし彼女 is awful, but it's you can't stop reading cause you want to see if it gets even worse. train wreck literature? It is intentionally like that though, I guess so you hate the narrator and want her to die. I haven't read the whole book so I don't know where the story goes past page 150 or so though.

It was apparently famous on 2ch for awhile. Someone translated it into normal Japanese instead of airhead gyaru-go, there is a script to translate any url you input into あたし彼女語, etc.

...みたいな

Jarvik7 Wrote:Yes, あたし彼女 is awful, but it's you can't stop reading cause you want to see if it gets even worse. train wreck literature? It is intentionally like that though, I guess so you hate the narrator and want her to die.

Haha, when you put it that way, it's like a really low-brow version of Tanizaki's Naomi. I challenge anyone to read Naomi and not want Naomi to die(though she's not the narrator).

There's some really.. interesting あたし彼女 reviews on Amazon..

(Also, trying to read this gives me a headache. That's probably a good thing though)

Jarvik7 Wrote:It was apparently famous on 2ch for awhile. Someone translated it into normal Japanese instead of airhead gyaru-go, there is a script to translate any url you input into あたし彼女語, etc.

...みたいな

link please??? lol.

oh for keitai shousetsu you're probably better off reading the 1star reviews on amazon than actually reading the keitai shousetsu. i've nver herad of a good keitai shousetsu lol

LOL the first review for kanojoatashi on amazon is so funny.

オレ
Sleipnir
歳？
２３
まぁ今年で２４
彼女？
まぁ
当たり前に
いる
てか
いない訳ないじゃん
みたいな
彼女は
普通
てか
オレが付き合って
あげてる
みたいな

thanks for recommendations everyone. Yea amazon.jp has some crazy prices for shipping, which i don't need. Especially for something that will cost like 30$ or something or depending on the book.

Wait a minute, THIS is a keitai shousetsu? From what I heard, it was supposed to be really short stories. I mean, very short, but still actual stories. Not just a bunch of random words.

Jarvik7 Wrote:To get you started, here is あたし彼女 http://blegi.jp/novel/2985/view/46691

Reading that makes me want to kill people.

I can't
imagine
reading a
book
in English
that goes
entirely like
this
for pages
and
pages
and
pages
I
would just
burn
it

This is the 携帯小説 we've heard so much about? This is newspeak.

Kobo Abe (安部公房). I haven't read his works in Japanese, but I can only assume it'd be better. If you like Kafka, then you're in for a treat.

Tobberoth Wrote:Wait a minute, THIS is a keitai shousetsu? From what I heard, it was supposed to be really short stories. I mean, very short, but still actual stories. Not just a bunch of random words.

I'm positive that this garbage is not representative of Keitai Novels.

Jarvik7 Wrote:"Deep Love" by yoshi is the very first keitai shousetsu and the all-time best seller, but I don't know if it's available for free since I got it for 105Y at Bookoff. A number of these were turned into movies and manga, so it's not all fluff...

To get you started, here is あたし彼女 http://blegi.jp/novel/2985/view/46691

Is there something you'd like to tell us, Jarvik?

kazelee Wrote:

Jarvik7 Wrote:"Deep Love" by yoshi is the very first keitai shousetsu and the all-time best seller, but I don't know if it's available for free since I got it for 105Y at Bookoff. A number of these were turned into movies and manga, so it's not all fluff...

To get you started, here is あたし彼女 http://blegi.jp/novel/2985/view/46691

Is there something you'd like to tell us, Jarvik?

Jarvik is actually a 15 year old Japanese girl whose latest keitai novel was turned into a film and sold a million copies. Jarvik also writes and draws yaoi manga and sells them at conventions.

not bad. i could read everything it said here http://blegi.jp/novel/2985/view/46691
But yea, unno if it's my type of novel lol.
But getting one from different types of contexts wouldn't hurt. I'm thinking of getting like around 2-3 books or so to read. I'm already reading manga pretty easily, but it seriously has small writing at times.

@Tobb: keitai shousetsu aren't short stories (usually), they are just stories written in a particular style: generally short sentences with simple grammar. あたし彼女 is an extreme example of it. Here is a more typical example: http://ip.tosp.co.jp/BK/TosBK100.asp?I=h...PA=210&SSL=

Wow I had no idea about Twitter 小説! Do you mind providing a link to the Twitter 小説 book you're talking about, Jarvik?

Also, I googled it so here's a link to an interesting article shedding some light on Twitter 小説: http://www.lifehacker.jp/2009/11/091106h...ter_2.html

Jarvik7 Wrote:@Tobb: keitai shousetsu aren't short stories (usually), they are just stories written in a particular style: generally short sentences with simple grammar. あたし彼女 is an extreme example of it. Here is a more typical example: http://ip.tosp.co.jp/BK/TosBK100.asp?I=h...PA=210&SSL=

Now that is more like it!

EDIT: Read a bit of it, I like it. Unlike the previous one which hurt to read, this one is actually interesting. It being short and easy makes you want to keep reading it, while the sentences actually being sentences means you actually get some form of semblance out of it all. I might actually read all of this.