Japanese Light Novel Book Club discussion

Announcements for the group will be posted here.

Please don't post here, as this if for mods to post announcements. If you have questions, please ask in another thread.

About the recent poll, "Which Group Read schedule do you prefer?"

I was talking to my fellow mod, Parker, and we realized that there's a large gap between the scheduled end for our first group read in the thread and in the group's bookshelf. This is partially because Light Novels are so short.

So we got to thinking and decided to let you, our members, choose.

The two options we came up with are as follows:

Three Month Blocks:
What we were originally planning. Each read is scheduled for 3 months total. The reading scheduled in the thread itself may not match this. We won't start a new book as a group until the previous ones end.

For example, our current read is set to end on December 31st. The next read will start January 1st and run to March 31st. The one after that from April 1st to June 31st. And so on.

Back-to-Back:
This is the option we're considering changing to. For this one, we'd follow the scheduled reading in the thread and that will be reflected by the group bookshelf. There will be a one week gap between each read to give people a chance to catch up if they get behind. The amount of time it takes to read each book will vary depending on length (about 1-4 months, give or take).

For example, our current read is set to finish November 8th. We'd wait a week before starting our next read on November 16th. We'd follow the reading schedule in the thread for that book, then wait a week after finishing to move on to the next book. The bookshelf would reflect this.

For each group read, we'll have a poll to determine our next read based on your suggestions (switching between LNs and Novels each time). That won't be changing.

One week left for the poll! Please vote so we know how you want our group reads to work!

Voting ends on the 11th! Please place your vote now!

The votes are in!

We'll be going to the Back-to-Back format for our group reads.

I'd like to say thank you to everyone who participated in the pool. We really appreciate it.

Happy reading!

Good afternoon everyone!

By popular demand, the next read--a Japanese novel this time--is Malice: A Mystery. The group voted for a back-to-back schedule, so we'll be starting it November 16th.

Thanks to all for participating!

A poll has been posted to decide our next read. It will be running until December 17th, so get your votes in now!

In other news, it was decided among those reading our current monthly read to pick up the pace a bit as the book is a much quicker read than initially anticipated.

Once again, a poll regarding our group's set up has been posted. This one is regarding polls for choosing our next read. Do you prefer seeing the title or the book cover when you vote?

Please let us know!

Reminding you that there are only a few more days to decide what we read next! Please head over to the poll and vote if you haven't already. :)

Our next light novel is A Certain Magical Index, Vol. 1. We'll be starting January 11th.

The group read for Index has started! You can find the reading schedule and discussion here: https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The poll to decide our next read ends Saturday! Please head over to the poll and vote if you haven't already. :)

Our next Group Read is Another by Yukito Ayatsuji, which leads me to one more question for you guys:

Do we want to only read the first book, or do we want to read both books together?

The reason I ask is that there are essentially two versions of Another here in the US: the print omnibus that contains both books and the Kindle version where both volumes 1 and 2 are separate. Normally I would just stick to the first book, but as there are only two books and you'll be getting both if you get the print edition, I figured I'd ask you guys what you wanted to do.

So I put a pole up. Please check it out!

Voting for our next group read ends Sunday. Please get your votes in now!

Don't forget to vote for our next group read here! It's a super close race right now, and I'd rather not have any ties to deal with, so if you haven't voted already, please do so! :D The poll ends next weekend, so get your votes in now!

I can't wait to see what's chosen as our next group read in September.

Just a reminder to vote for our next group read! There are three days left, so if you haven't already, please vote! It's a super close race, so your vote really does matter!

Hey guys! Reminding you that our next Group Read, Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? Light Novels, Vol. 1, is starting Sunday.

Also reminding you that the poll for the group read after this next one is up and will be ending in a week! Please go here to vote.

The poll for our next group read ends October 3rd! Please go here to vote if you haven't already.

Just reminding you that today is the last day for the tie-breaker poll.

Hi everyone!

I'm sure you all noticed that the poll for our next read is a little different this time.

See, the polls have been getting longer and longer as more and more suggestions come up. We mods talked it over and decided to go with a Queue format for suggestions.

We've decided to take the 7 oldest suggestions and do a "first in first out" format. As books are voted in as our group read, they'll be replaced with the next suggestion on the list.

Why 7? Well, this number isn't set in stone. This was just a number we picked because we thought it was a reasonable number of choices to pick from without limiting you guys too much.

(I'm also sure some of you wonder why I post the polls so far in advance of us needing to pick the next read. This is to give everyone a chance to order the book from their libraries or bookstores so they have enough time for the books to come in, especially in the cases of ties. I like to try to leave a month between the end of the poll and the start of the read for this purpose)

Just a reminder that the poll ends this Saturday, so if you haven't voted yet, please do so. :)

Hi everyone!

There's been a rule change you all need to know about.

I'm sure you all remember rule #2, but for those of you who don't, that's fine because it has been changed.

Originally, it said that you should post in appropriate threads and that you shouldn't make new ones if your topic is already covered.

That... doesn't work very well for us, given that we do group reads and buddy reads and general discussions of things...

So... we changed the rule to something that makes more sense.

Rule #2 now reads:
"Please post in the appropriate thread. If the topic you want to discuss doesn't have a thread yet or if your starting your own buddy read thread, create a new thread with a descriptive title (e.g. "Selena's Book Girl Buddy Read" or "Book Girl General Discussion")."

Basically, you can create threads that overlap with other threads if you're doing a buddy read. Just be sure you give it a title that differentiates it from other threads. We don't want a million threads entitled "Book Girl and the Suicidal Mime Buddy Read". ;)

Just a reminder that our poll to pick the next group read is ending this Saturday. If you haven't voted yet, please do so. :)

Didn't think I'd have to say this, but please don't post spam or chain mail in the group. We're all about "Japanese Novels and Light Novels", not "Chain Mail and Spam."

One day left to our poll! If you haven't already, go vote for what you want to read next. :)

Selena wrote: "One day left to our poll! If you haven't already, go vote for what you want to read next. :)"

What happens after the poll is over?

Allison wrote: "Selena wrote: "One day left to our poll! If you haven't already, go vote for what you want to read next. :)"

What happens after the poll is over?"

We see which book wins and that's our next group read.

Also, for future reference, this thread is for mods to post in. If you have questions, post in a different thread please.

One week left to vote in the group read poll. Make sure you get your votes in. :)

Tomorrow's the last day to vote on our next group read. Make sure to get out and vote! :D

Voting ends tomorrow for our next group read. If you haven't voted yet, please do so.

So um... I made a mistake yesterday. Apparently, I can't read Goodreads' time notices. Poll ended yesterday night. Whoops.

Anyway, there was a 4-way tie, so go vote now on that poll. :)

One last thing I want to note: This thread is for mods of the group to post announcements so we don't email spam you all the time. Please do not post here if you are not a group mod, as your post will just be deleted.

I'm sure you guys have noticed, but we now have a group challenge! This challenge is for you guys to read as many Japanese novels and light novels and you want and/or can.

I figured it would be fun to try something new, and if this gets enough participants, maybe I'll try making up smaller challenges throughout the year for you guys. :)

As a reminder to the group, please don't post in Announcements. Announcements is for the mods to give small updates to the group that we don't want to flood your inbox with. :)

All posts in the Announcements not by mods will be deleted.

So the next poll has been posted (a little earlier than usual so I don't forget), and there was something I wanted to say really quickly about it.

The book Autobiography of a Geisha is on the list, even though it's not a novel. Normally these wouldn't be accepted, but I didn't look closely on this one and only now realized that it doesn't fit the bill. I'm making an exception because I messed up, but in the future, no more nonfiction.

Sorry about the mix up.

So we realized that The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is much shorter than we thought... Thus, the poll for our read after TGWLTT is up before we've even started. Sorry for any confusion this may have caused. :)

The poll for what to read next is ending on the 31st. This is a little different than usual, so make sure to get your vote in!

Hi all!

So we had a tie on the last poll, so here's a new poll to make the final decision. :)

Just a reminder tomorrow's the last day for the poll, so get your votes in!

Hey guys!

Something must have gone wrong with the previous invite, so I've extended the polling period by a week and re-sent the voting invite. If you already received an invite and voted, sorry about that. There weren't a lot of votes, so I'm figuring most people didn't know it was there.

Just in case, here's another link so I know you all can find it in case the invite failed again. :)

Last day to vote for our next group read! Get your votes in.

Jumped the gun on the poll for our next read. Sorry about that guys!

I realized just after I sent the invites that some of the suggestions (the Alice in the Country of Diamonds specifically) might not be available in the US anymore. I need to go back through the suggestions again and reorganize.

Again, sorry about that. I'll review the next grouping in the next few days and try to get the poll back up soon.

The poll is back up, and one of the options has changed. I've also extended how long the poll will be running, so you'll have a little more time to get your votes in.

Sorry for the confusion, everyone!

Last day to get your votes in for our next group read!

Due to some craziness, I forgot to send out the invites for the poll (whoops!) I've sent out all the invites and extended it to end on the 16th, so get your votes in!

Last day to vote for our next group read. Get your votes in.

The poll for our next group read is a little later than usual, and so it will be running through Sunday, February 17th. Make sure you all get your votes in.

Sorry for the delay!

Just a reminder that our next group read poll ends TOMORROW (not tonight) and that you should get your votes in if you haven't already.

Last day to vote for your next group read. Make sure you get your votes in!

Also, we've reopened mod applications if you would like to join the moderator crew for the group! Check out the thread and if you're interested, shoot me a PM for consideration!

Tie breaker poll is up through next week Wednesday, so make sure to get your votes in!

I would like to remind everyone that this thread is for the mods to make announcements to the group. Please do not comment in this thread if you are not a moderator for the group. :)