my current level is about N3 now, and I find it hard to find appropriate reading material for it, though I find it best to learn through reading. Full novels are still too hard for me, and it takes ages to work through one page, yet NHK easy news is too easy by now. Online I've found like two books with short stories for intermediate learners, and that's it
So I wondered if anyone else knows any resources or websites that I've missed.
Natively is a book-reading community for Japanese language learners that lets you choose books based on your skill level. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds like what you are asking for.
Haven't had enough time to look at it, but a ton of free novels here: https://syosetu.com/
Not sure if it grades them by difficulty, but we'll hopefully start to have a lot of data on books/etc once our new reading tool goes live. (Speaking of, it might be worthwhile automatically parsing some of those ahead of time to get difficulty levels and suggest books to users).
Natively is a book-reading community for Japanese language learners that lets you choose books based on your skill level. I haven’t tried it yet, but it sounds like what you are asking for.
Haven't had enough time to look at it, but a ton of free novels here: https://syosetu.com/
Not sure if it grades them by difficulty, but we'll hopefully start to have a lot of data on books/etc once our new reading tool goes live. (Speaking of, it might be worthwhile automatically parsing some of those ahead of time to get difficulty levels and suggest books to users).
Oh, interesting, I'd never heard of this site! I will check it out!
To add to what others have said, I reccomend BookWalker. When it comes to manga they frequently have volumes for free as promos but if you're willing to spend a little money there's lots and lots of novels. I run it in-browser and can copy/paste new words into a dictionary. That said, it's aimed at the Japanese market so you'll need to use the book "preview" to see how hard the writing is.
The first novel I read was 幽霊物語 by 赤川次郎 and his stuff in general seems pretty accessable so defo give that a go. Thanks to the person who suggested Natively, that's new to me!
To add to what others have said, I reccomend BookWalker. When it comes to manga they frequently have volumes for free as promos but if you're willing to spend a little money there's lots and lots of novels. I run it in-browser and can copy/paste new words into a dictionary. That said, it's aimed at the Japanese market so you'll need to use the book "preview" to see how hard the writing is.
The first novel I read was 幽霊物語 by 赤川次郎 and his stuff in general seems pretty accessable so defo give that a go. Thanks to the person who suggested Natively, that's new to me!
I've been reading the 5分後に意外な結末 books lately. They're a Gakken series, so written to get kids engaged with learning (in this case, reading). The ５秒後に意外な結末 books have been my favourite lately--they're shorter than the 5min ones with just 2 page stories (100 per book), the introduction to the story on one page, and the twist ending over the page. Considering they're written with Japanese primary and middle school students in mind, the language is likely accessible for intermediate and above, they're quite short, and the stories are fun (I've enjoyed the yellow one the most so far). You can preview 2 of the books on their website (you may be able to get it through Bookwalker too, but I like the physical books :P): 学研「5分後に意外な結末」シリーズ | Gakken (gakken-ep.jp)
I've been reading the 5分後に意外な結末 books lately. They're a Gakken series, so written to get kids engaged with learning (in this case, reading). The ５秒後に意外な結末 books have been my favourite lately--they're shorter than the 5min ones with just 2 page stories (100 per book), the introduction to the story on one page, and the twist ending over the page. Considering they're written with Japanese primary and middle school students in mind, the language is likely accessible for intermediate and above, they're quite short, and the stories are fun (I've enjoyed the yellow one the most so far). You can preview 2 of the books on their website (you may be able to get it through Bookwalker too, but I like the physical books :P): 学研「5分後に意外な結末」シリーズ | Gakken (gakken-ep.jp)
Thanks for the recommendation! Where do you read those? Are they available online?
I bought the physical books from our "local" Kinokuniya in Sydney (I'm Aussie) but some of the jpn ebook sites like ebookjapan should also have them. I checked BookWalker and it's only for domestic sale there.
I will check it out!
