Easy books that I enjoyed as an adult
intermediate
upper beginner
The title says it all. A list of books I found engaging despite being very low level or for children. If I know whether an audiobook is available, I will make a note.
こぐまのクーク
Book Series
Full furigana. Slice of life. It's for young children but I found it really cute and it's about as easy as books come.
Full furigana. Slice of life. It's for young children but I found it really cute and it's about as easy as books come.
きまぐれロボット
Children's book
Full furigana. The author is know as ショートショートの神様, i.e. the god of extremely short short stories. This is a collection of 1-2 pages long short stories with a science setting.
Full furigana. The author is know as ショートショートの神様, i.e. the god of extremely short short stories. This is a collection of 1-2 pages long short stories with a science setting.
四つ子ぐらし
Book Series
Full furigana. Audiobook available. Slice of life with surprisingly emotional topics at times.
Full furigana. Audiobook available. Slice of life with surprisingly emotional topics at times.
夜カフェ
Book Series
Full furigana. School slice of life with typical teenage and school related topics.
Full furigana. School slice of life with typical teenage and school related topics.
怪談レストラン
Book Series
Partial furigana. (Lower grade kanji are without furigana.) Collection of "horror" stories. (I recommend to skip volume 2. See content warnings.)
Partial furigana. (Lower grade kanji are without furigana.) Collection of "horror" stories. (I recommend to skip volume 2. See content warnings.)
少女マンガじゃない!
Book Series
Full furigana. Fantasy slice of life. I was genuinely laughing while reading this. It makes fun of a lot of shoujo manga tropes.
Full furigana. Fantasy slice of life. I was genuinely laughing while reading this. It makes fun of a lot of shoujo manga tropes.
orange
Book Series
Full furigana. School slice of life with a sad undertone.
3分間ノンストップショートストーリー ラストで君は「まさか! 」と言う
Book Series
Partial furigana. (Lower grade kanji are without furigana.) Short stories with a twist.
Partial furigana. (Lower grade kanji are without furigana.) Short stories with a twist.
夏と花火と私の死体
Novel
Little to no furigana. Horror short story collection.
また、同じ夢を見ていた
Novel
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. A classic first novel in the Japanese learning community. Slightly philosophical slice of life.
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. A classic first novel in the Japanese learning community. Slightly philosophical slice of life.
角川つばさ文庫版 きみにしか聞こえない
Children's book
Full Furigana. Very emotional short story collection.
ももこのよりぬき絵日記
Book Series
Little to no furigana. 1 short page of a slice of life story and a related drawing on the other page.
Little to no furigana. 1 short page of a slice of life story and a related drawing on the other page.
コーヒーが冷めないうちに
Book Series
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. Emotional slice of life. Loosely linked short stories dealing with often sad topics but always hopeful.
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. Emotional slice of life. Loosely linked short stories dealing with often sad topics but always hopeful.
ちょっと今から仕事やめてくる
Book Series
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. Work related slice of life with a sad undertone.
Little to no furigana. Audiobook available. Work related slice of life with a sad undertone.
5分後に恋の結末 ( 5分後に意外な結末 )
Book Series
Little to no furigana. Slice of life. Short stories. There are a lot of books in the various 5分後に series and if you enjoy short stories, there are a lot of different themese to pick from.
Little to no furigana. Slice of life. Short stories. There are a lot of books in the various 5分後に series and if you enjoy short stories, there are a lot of different themese to pick from.
私の夫は冷凍庫に眠っている
Novel
Little to no furigana. Free webnovel. Slice of life murder mystery. This is not great literature, but it's fun and it kept me engaged and I ended up reading it in like 2 days. Since it's originally a webnovel you can read it for free and use yomichan. (The published version is a bit different but it makes not difference to the story overall.)
Little to no furigana. Free webnovel. Slice of life murder mystery. This is not great literature, but it's fun and it kept me engaged and I ended up reading it in like 2 days. Since it's originally a webnovel you can read it for free and use yomichan. (The published version is a bit different but it makes not difference to the story overall.)
旅猫リポート
Novel
Full furigana version available. I cried so much. 😭
天国の犬ものがたり
Book Series
Listened to the audiobook. A series of short story collections with lots of feels. Either a human or a dog always seems to die in the stories.
Listened to the audiobook. A series of short story collections with lots of feels. Either a human or a dog always seems to die in the stories.
華麗なる探偵アリス&ペンギン
Book Series
Listened to the audiobook. very cute.
放課後ミステリクラブ 1金魚の泳ぐプール事件
Book Series
Listened to the audiobook. adult-like mystery but with a child-friendly topic.
天国はまだ遠く
Novel
失敗図鑑 すごい人ほどダメだった!
Children's book
Listened to the audiobook. good intro to non-fiction
きのうの君とみらいの君へ ~思春期の6人の物語~
Children's book
Full furigana. LGBTQ+ themed short story collection about ppl figuring out who they are and their path to self-acceptance.
Full furigana. LGBTQ+ themed short story collection about ppl figuring out who they are and their path to self-acceptance.
レンタルロボット
Children's book
Listened to the audiobook. Japanese children books are different. 😱
