Is "Breaking into Japanese Literature" a good book?

[Tex75455]

Im getting a fairly good grasp of the language through a lot of spoken/listening work, but I am looking to expand my reading abilities which are, sadly, lacking at the moment. I was wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this book for a beginner reader. I was looking at maybe picking up a popular book that I was familiar with translated, like Harry Potter or somethign, but a translation of that was 45 bucks, and I didnt see that as a great investment. So does anyone have any thoughts on "breaking into Japanese Literature"? Has anyone heard of it?

Link to amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Breaking-into-Jap ... 053&sr=1-1

[sei]

Breaking into Japanese Literature is more for Intermediate or Upper Beginners as far as I know, and you mentioned a beginner reader, so not sure how good it'd be to you just yet. On the other hand, if you think you're at the level of reading Harry Potter in Japanese, you could probably deal with this book.

[Tex75455]

Thanks. I geuss my spoken vocabulary is intermediate, and I know and can read in hiragana and katakana. I figured it would be difficult, but I'd push on through and it would get easier the more I worked with it. I just needed something more interesting to focus on. I had bought two text books, but getting myself to sit down and spend time with them has been much more difficult than getting myself to sit down and focus on Rosetta Stone, so I thought getting a book like this would help on getting me more interested in the written form. Thanks again.

[wccrawford]

Getting Japanese books in the US is expensive... There isn't really a way around that.

However, BK1 has HP1 in JP for $20, plus shipping. If you pick the cheap shipping (SAL), you'll probably pay around $30. (With the expensive shipping (EMS) I paid $42.)

[clay]

Have you looked at the Japanese Graded Readers series? The first level (there are four levels) is truly beginner level--maybe a few hundred word vocabulary. The books come with a CD with the stories read.
http://www.thejapanshop.com/home.php?cat=344

We also stock the Breaking into and Exploring Japanese Literature books (here), but as mentioned above it really is for intermediate levels--especially the Exploring Japanese Literature one.

[Tex75455]

Thanks everyone.

[Dustin]

I thought Breaking into Japanese Literature is phenomenal, with a basic understanding of grammar, and some kanji ability, it basically holds your hand through some pretty easy stuff to start.

It has a dictionary for every Kanji compound, on the same page that it appears, furigana, and english translation.

I highly recommend it to someone just starting to get into reading real Japanese material ^^

Get Exploring Japanese Literature as well for after that ^^