Specs
Reviews
(3.86/5)Very good candidate for your first “novel” in Japanese. The chapters are short, don't depend on each other, and written in a very clear, straightforward, simple style.
Furthermore, the vocabulary is quite restricted and repeated very often... perhaps too often. It was getting quite repetitive by the end of the book which diminished my entertainment rating. The repetition in the structure, setup, and lexical fields of the stories is the part of why it is so approachable for beginners though.
Cute and funny short story collection about wacky scientists and their strange inventions. Most end with either a punchline or a Twilight Zone-esque twist and there's usually a good moral. Reminded me a bit of Silverstein's "Where the Sidewalk Ends".
As far as language learning value, the book is excellent. Since the stories are short, you don't get burnt out trying to finish a chapter which can happen in larger books. The trickiest aspect for me is that some words I'm used to seeing in Kanji a
きまぐれロボット is a collection of 27 ultra short comical sci-fi stories by Hoshi Shinichi, a highly influential science fiction author active from the 50s through the 80s, whose stories remain popular even today.
I think this book is close to ideal for language learning purposes. The author has a simple writing style, not at all literary or flowery, and he tends to reuse the same common words instead of lots of synonyms. Each story is very short (only 4 pages), so you if you can get through one per
A great first novel after reading manga
A classic collection of “short-short stories” that are each roughly 4 pages long. They’re generally sci-fi themed, so some vocabulary may be unfamiliar at first, but is generally repeated enough for you to get accustomed to it. E.g. 宇宙人(うちゅうじん / alien)
Each story has a twist or moral at the end, so it’s a fun puzzle trying to make sure you’ve followed correctly. Highly recommend it!