This is one of the most useful tools for learning Japanese I have encountered. It gives you native-level essays along with line-by-line translations, vocabulary, and grammar explanations in order to conquer each one. The essays themselves are varied in their topics, but that also means they're varied in terms of how interesting they are. The difficulty of some essays also seem to vary as well; a few I could "grasp" and a few definitely felt like a slog to finish and, even then, I still feel like
Wonderful book.
As others have said, this is a great book to look with a look into Japanese culture. I'm around an N2 level for reading and the book was doable. There were a few pages and conversations that I struggled with, however overall I didn't really have any issues.