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Summary A collection of ten very short stories at what the author calls a pre-intermediate level:
I got this on Audible, so the text is a PDF that came as a supplement to the audio. Judging from the Amazon book preview, though, I think both versions present the content for every story in the same way:
Most of the stories involve realistic situations like work colleagues talking or an exchange student staying with a host family, though there are a few with supernatural elements such as monsters and talking animals.
What I like I really appreciated having the line-by-line translation for every story, because that meant I didn't have to flip back and forth between the Japanese version and the English version. The translations are just that--translations, without extra notes or explanations--but since the grammar is very straightforward I didn't feel like it was lacking in any way.
The stories are nice and short! Great for giving your brain an easier time.
The audio is definitely beginner-friendly. The reader reads very slowly and clearly, and she reads all of the content out loud for each story including the vocab list, the questions, and the line-by-line translations.
What I didn't like Personally I would have liked a version of the stories read at native speaking speed. I played the audio at 2x and the stories still felt a little slower than what I'm used to hearing on audiobooks. That said, this is material aimed towards the beginner end of the spectrum so it's really not a big deal.
Highly recommend this for anyone dipping their toes into reading for the first time. I wish I had found it sooner!