Summer Reading 2019 — Set Your Personal Reading Goal

Hello, Cho here~ It’s almost summer, and you know what that means — time for summer reading…!

Actually I was thinking of just not bothering this year, since I’m still really busy with a lot of other stuff for the blog, and it always takes a lot of work to get folks to read and discuss any of the summer reading books. But doing nothing at all is no fun, so this is what I came up with:

Set a light novel reading goal for yourself this summer. It can be however many books you’d like. A bunch of old releases of a series you want to catch up on? The new releases for all the series you’re following? Every volume that’s out for an entire series you want to binge-read? The first volume of a dozen different series you want to sample? Every light novel EVER? You decide! And at the end of each month (June, July, and August) check in here and let us know how the reading’s going. You can simply leave a quick comment to the post itself, or you can enjoy your day of dazzling destiny in the post itself if you want to email me a paragraph (or more!) some time beforehand. This can be your big chance to let the “world-wide web” know just how much the stories you’re reading please you. (Or, heaven forbid, how much the stories frustrate you?)

So for now, just let us all know what your goal is. It can be as simple as a number of light novels you’d like to read over the summer. Or you can specifically state all the volumes you want to read, if you already have a to-read list in mind. I’ll go ahead and start with my own goal:

Before I created this website, one of the light novels I read off and on was Kieli, a series I feel is super-underrated in the English LN community. But I never finished all the books, and it’s been a while since I read any of it so I feel like starting from the beginning and reading through the whole series. There are nine volumes total, so I’ll have to read three volumes each month. I can handle that while working on and reading other stuff. And getting the books themselves shouldn’t be an issue since ebooks were released for the full series last year.

That’s my summer reading goal — what’s yours? Good luck meeting your goal, and have fun!

25 thoughts on “Summer Reading 2019 — Set Your Personal Reading Goal”

  1. I’ve been reading a lot of Light Novels since I started my own Podcast about LNs where I try to review as many novels as possible. May has been really hard on me (11 new volumes of which 5 are still unread x,D) so next month I’ll mostly try catching up on any I haven’t finished. Luckily June doesn’t have to many new releases I’m interested in ^^
    One of my main goals for this year was catching up DanMachi before Volume 14 comes out in August. I’m already at Volume 11 so that should be no problem.
    Another goal I set myself was finally finishing HakoMari. I recently bought Volumes 5-7 in Polish, so that’ll be another thing I’d like to do.
    And then there’s Katanagatari. For some reason I haven’t finished reading the first Omnibus and the second ones about to be released so I’ll try to get caught up before the release of the second one.
    For June it’ll be: 7 Volumes + May leftovers
    July: 12 Volumes
    August: 11 Volumes
    Wow, in January I only was at 5 Volumes per month :,D Thankfully I don’t have university in August and July so it’ll be a lot easier.
    It’s actually pretty nice to have a list like this, maybe I should do these things more often lmao.
    Thing is that JNC E-Books are not yet listed for all months, so the list might get bigger.
    Well then, to everyone bothering to read this seamless train of thought, have fun reading!

    1. I don’t read all that much in general, only a few novels a year, since I’m not much of a reading person. So my goal for this summer would be two novels in total. To be precise: I Want to Eat Your Pancreas and 86. The first one has an anime film which I haven’t seen so far and actually never intended to, since the premise of a sick girl sounds pretty generic. But when I heard that the author of the original novel wasn’t satisfied with the adaption (like not at all), it made me curious what the novel could be like. So I’m gonna read it soon. And then there is 86, which I heard good things about (also I like the cover) so I’ll give it a shot.

      1. 86 and Pancreas are both books I’d be interested in hearing more about, Starkirby! Be sure to let us know what you think of them when you finish~
        I did see the Pancreas anime film, and thought it was fine. But if the book’s pretty different, I might have to check that out some time.

    2. 30 books! Good luck SleepyDave, and be sure to let us know what you think of the ones you read each month.
      I’ll vouch for Katanagatari being worth reading, at least~

  2. I feel the same regarding Kieli being underrated. It was the first light novel saga I finished, and I couldn’t love it more. I devoured every book, I loved the characters, and the world. I’m just amazed there isn’t any anime for it, it would deserve one.
    I wish we had more light novels like this, or at least, not being flooded with isekai genre. I don’t hate it though, I like Infinite Dendrogram and the Shield Hero. But a wider variety of genres would be appreciate it :)

    1. A Kieli anime would be wonderful, but also extraordinarily unlikely! I’ll be sure to review the books as I go along this summer.
      I think there is enough variety for LNs out in English to tide most people over, but yes, it seems isekai is here to stay, front and center. The concept has always been fine with me; I mainly just wish authors were a bit more creative about it.

      1. hahaha you are quite right. Such a pity though…
        I’ll look forward to read your kieli review! ^^ I’m happy somebody remembers it exists! haha

        I have to agree with you, we are blessed with more LN than ever. I guess I’m hoping for titles like Biblia Koshoudo no jiken techou, Hyoka, Shinrei Tantei Yakumo, Hakushaku to Yosei, Gosick, Kino no tabi… but we’ve got Full Metal Panic now! :) That’s promising! And 86 looks interesting too, and so many others!

      2. That’s a nice wish list there. I would be over the moon for license rescues of Gosick and Kino, of course. IDK what made things work out for FMP and Crest of the Stars, but hopefully they do well enough for other titles from those years to make a comeback.

  3. I’ve got a really big backlog in general, but I’d like to accomplish at least three things over the summer season:

    1. Read Parts/Books 1 – 3 of Bakemonogatari
    2. Read SAO: Gun Gale Online
    3. Finally try Book Girl

    I’m a teacher in Japan, so I’ll still be at work, but I’ll have plenty of time to read at my desk in the hot, humid afternoon. What better way to stay cool than with a good book!

    1. Sounds like a good plan! Hope you enjoy Book Girl. Be sure to start with “Suicidal Mime” for the first one.
      I remember summer while teaching in Japan. I was always sure to have a fan with me, and a cold drink from the vending machine. The office was always hot and humid. I could handle the heat just fine — it was the stuffy air that got to me (just no air flow at all). Had to walk outside from time to time so I could breathe for a bit, ha ha.

      1. I’m definitely all set up for the summer. It’s my third here, and they’re only getting hotter: well, really, more humid. The heat isn’t the hard part, as you said. The lack of air flow and the stagnant, noon heat does a number on me. Thankfully, with my cool towel, a nice cooltech cushion, drinks galore, and books, I’ll survive until the heat breaks in late September, haha!

        Also, thank you: I wasn’t sure which book was the first, but I’ll be adding it to my growing Summer Reading pile!

  4. Oh cool. Aside from stuff that might get released during summer which I’ll read as soon as it gets released, I’ve got quite a few books planned. I’ll list only Japanese literature.

    1. “Your Taste on My Tongue” which is a horror “LN” from Shueisha’s horror label. It’s about an old dying man retelling the story of his life — what happened to him before and after he was transported to the world he is in now, where people engage in endocannibalism — to his wife and old friend. Isekai unlike any Isekai out there.
    2. Skirt no Naka no Himitsu (The Secret Under My Skirt), it is a light novel that I started reading a while back but forgot about after 100 pages. Gotta get back to it. It’s about a boy crossdressing in secret and his eccentric classmate who helps him come out as a crossdresser, and more…
    3. Read “Know” and “Babylon” sci-fi mystery novels from Mado Nozaki. Maybe even a light novel by him. Mado Nozaki is a rising star in Japan and I’ve been trying to get his works licensed for years. I’m resorting to the last option, fan-tling some of “know” to get people interested in it, and try to establish a fandom for Mado Nozaki. That way it would become a less risky investment for a company like JNC.
    4. Finish 1 more Sugaru Miaki novel. Reading his novels takes me at least half a year because I put off reading the depressing ending for months. Perhaps I’ll read his sci-fi novel “Your Story”.
    5. Read a few more books in Higashino’s Detective Galileo series.
    6. “Iriya no Sora, Ufo no Natsu,” although chances are I’ll read the VN port instead. A friend of mine really praises the author’s prose which is rare for LNs.
    7. Reread Crest of the Stars with JNC’s release. (Volume 1 probably)
    8. Possibly read Book Girl LN series. At least a few books.
    9. Read “No. 6” BL adventure novel series as I’ve been in BL mood for a while. Possibly all 9 books.

    That’s mostly it. I’ll probably read some other standalone Japanese novels, that being said, I don’t think I can through this whole list in summer…

    1. Wow, you’ve got a lot of good books in mind! I really want to read CRest of the Stars too, and I always remind myself that I should pick up a copy of No. 6 and try reading it in Japanese as its aimed at a younger audience, and might be more in my league than most light novels with more specialized Japanese.

      Skirt no Naka also sounds like it could be a really interesting coming of age story! Definitely adding it to my ever-growing book list!

      1. I’d definitely recommend reading Crest of the Stars, furthermore in English unless you’re really good in Japanese. Hard sci-fi is the last thing you want to read in a language you’re not proficient in.
        No. 6 isn’t really aimed at a younger audience than light novels, and considering it’s a fantasy novel I doubt it’d be any easier than light novels. Perhaps I’m wrong though.
        You could try Skirt no Naka. It’s a slice of life type of story so the vocab isn’t particularly hard.

      2. I’m pretty solid in Japanese, but to be honest, reading is one of the hardest skills for me. It’s something I’m quite adamanat about increasing my proficiency in though, so I’ll defintiely try Skirt no Naka!

        Also, thanks for the rec: I think I’ll be using my next credit on CotS thanks to you!

        Happy reading!!

    2. A huge undertaking here, and they all sound like interesting reads. Regardless of how many you get to, be sure to let us know how you like them!
      I actually remember seeing the covers for Know and Babylon, and wondering what those books were like. I’d be sure to check out your translation, if you do decide to give that a shot.

  7. I’ve been reading about 10-15 Light Novels a month this year, but for summer I actually want to slow down a little as I’ll be outdoors more. So 7-8 a month. I have a blacklog of 100 Light Novels I own but haven’t read, so my goal is to get that group down to about 80 by the end of August. I’m trying not to buy too many new ones, so it should be doable.

    Right now I’m reading Reincarnated as a Sword 1, Invaders of the Rokujouma 11, Hero and Elf Bride open a Pizza Parlour and Devil is a Part-TImer 3. I’ve finished Saving 80,000 Gold 1, Classroom of the Elite 2 and Paying to Win in a VRMMO 5 thus far this month.

    I have that giant Spice and Wolf hardcover so I’m going to try to read volume 2 out of that. I love the look of the volume but am not sure how readable the book actually is (too big).

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