I’m a language learner and a big fan of crime fiction, and I created this blog to talk about these two main hobbies of mine.
I am learning languages for the main purpose of reading books and playing video games. I’ve been learning Japanese for several years, and this is my most comfortable language when it comes to reading. I’m still struggling with Korean, and I started learning Chinese only recently.
I mainly post about reading detective novels in my target languages and I try to post book reviews of the books I read.
My blog used to be called insidethatjapanesebook.com, but I migrated from wordpress com to org, and a lot of things have changed. I grouped my older posts in the “learning Japanese” section.
Monthly reading goals
I like having reading goals even though I don’t care too much if I don’t complete them. These are just books it would be great to read this month.
Currently reading
Get in touch
The best way to get in touch is through Mastodon (or you can leave a comment on any post here). I have social anxiety and I have never been very active on social media. Mastodon is the only platform I use at the moment, I post updates of the books I read and things I learn.
Latest posts
November recap
Highlights of November were Arcane season 2 and the Genshin concert. Also managed to get some reading done, but not...
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Life and books update
I’ve spent more time cycling, learning Chinese and playing Genshin Impact than reading in the last couple of months.
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New reading project: pre-war Japanese…
My new (long time) reading project is to explore pre-war Japanese detective fiction!
Read MoreLong term reading goals
Some of my long term projects are:
– Read all the available winners of the Mystery Writers of Japan Award.
– Explore the bibliography of authors who won the MWJA
– Read the anthology of Japanese detective fiction called 日本探偵小説全集 (12 volumes).
– Read all the short stories shortlisted for the Mystery Writers of Taiwan Award.
I post regular updates of my readings here.
Reading updates
Learning Chinese with Genshin Impact
I started playing Genshin at the end of 2022, and I love this game. The Chinese voice-over made me fall in love with Chinese, and this is how I started learning the language. Learning Chinese is so closely associated with Genshin, that I wanted to have a place where I could post about the things I learn while playing the game, a bit like a mini blog.
I wanted a place where I can talk about the game and things I learn in Chinese thanks to it, so I have an account just for that.
The illustrations on this blog are drawn by me and are, for the most part, inspired by Genshin.