Kay > Status Update

Just finished chapter 7. It's interesting to see some setup for at least one later book.

Also interesting that the plot seems to begin at the very end of chapter 7. I wonder if this is, generally, how books are paced or if this "start the plot one third of the way through the book"-type pacing is particular to this series.

I'll have to pay more attention when I read other things.

I forgot how many intentionally annoying characters are in this book....

30 days in and I just finished chapter 5.

It's likely a combination of this book being more engaging for me and me getting used to reading Harry Potter in Japanese, but I'm genuinely amazed at how much faster I'm reading the second book.

I have, apparently, reached a point where I can become absorbed in a book written in Japanese.

I'm still looking up a ton of words, but I mostly use the dictionary for two things now:

* retroactively confirm I've understood an unknown word from context

* check that I'm reading a kanji correctly

In retrospect, painstakingly looking up each word to read a sentence was really hindering my reading comprehension.

Reading in a second language has me realizing--for the first time--just how many words for things there are.

Take "flowerpot," for example.

Previously, I might have said, "That thing you put flowers in," and a native speaker would get the general idea.

Now I know the word "flowerpot" exists.

It will take me reading/hearing 「植木鉢」 several more times for me to remember it during a conversation, though.

So far, this is miles better than the first book.

I'm reminded that I tried reading the first book (in English) soon after it was released, and couldn't finish it.

It was only several years after a friend introduced me to fanfiction--and the seventh book had been out for a while--that I tried again.

That was a over decade ago.

I'm glad I read the full series once, and I'm glad I'm reading it again in Japanese.

第一章読み終わった！

Remember when it took 34 days for me to finish the first chapter of the first book in this series?

Three days in to book two, I've finished Chapter 1...and I feel like I'm reading at a leisurely pace.

I was wary of diving into the second book, given my feelings about the first, but now I'm really interested to see how my reading experience evolves throughout the series.

I honestly didn't think I was going to want to read the next book so soon after the first, but I genuinely missed my morning コーヒーを飲みながら、ハリー・ポッターを読む routine🤷🏽‍♀️

Good thing there are six whole books before I have to change what I'm doing with my life.