I’m currently reading Densha Otoko (Train man) novel.
The book originated inside a thread on 2Channel which is a forum in Japan. This thread was meant for single men on the forum and the writer, later on called Densha Otoko (which mean train man, however Otoko is actually worse than Otaku), wrote that he saved some women on the train from a drunk man who was herassing them. He received two thank you gifts from the women, from which one of them was sent by a young girl. He actually meets the girl again and has dinner with her and that’s the actual start of a long story of “coming to age” for an otaku.
I must say the book is very readable if you are used to read forums, and lucky enough I’m quite an expert in that. ^_^
I do find some translations very annoying, like for instance otaku gets translated into “techie” or “geek” which does not cover it at all. Ah well, you can’t have everything and lucky enough I already watched the J-Drama.
