Learn Hardcore Japanese: yasumi no aida ni uti de nihongo no syousetu wo yomitai desu. - During the break, I want to read Japanese novels at home.

〜間 (without に) emphasizes the entire span of time.
- 休みの間、本を読んでいました。
  → I was reading a book *throughout the break.*
〜間に (with に) emphasizes "at some point during that span" (not necessarily the whole time).
- 休みの間に、本を読みたいです。
  → I want to read a book *at some point during the break.*

In your sentence, 休みの間に … 読みたいです, it suggests “at some (unspecified) time during the break, I want to read,” not “for the entire break I want to be reading.”

Could we say 休みのときに or 休み中に instead of 休みの間に? Are they the same?

They are close in meaning but with slight nuances:

休みの間に
- Focuses on the whole span of the break, and your action happens at some point during that span.
休みのときに
- More like “when I’m on break” / “when I have a day off.”
- A bit more point-like or situation-like than a long continuous interval.
休み中に
- Literally “in the middle of the break / while the break is ongoing.”
- Very similar to 休みの間に, often interchangeable in everyday speech.

In your sentence, you could say:

休みのときにうちで日本語の小説を読みたいです。
休み中にうちで日本語の小説を読みたいです。

All are natural; 〜の間に and 〜中に feel a bit more “span-of-time” oriented.

Why is the particle で used after うち and not に?

で marks the place where an action happens.

うちで日本語の小説を読みたいです。
→ I want to read Japanese novels *at home.* (home is the place of the action)

Compare:

に is for:
- existence/being somewhere:
  - うちにいます。 → I am at home.
- destination/goal:
  - うちに帰ります。 → I will return home.

So:

うちで読む = read at home (location of action)
うちにいる = be at home (location of existence)
うちに行く = go to home (destination)

What is the difference between うち and いえ when talking about “home”?

Both can refer to “home,” but they have different typical uses:

うち
- Often means “my home / my place / our household.”
- More personal and can also mean “our family/our group” in some contexts.
- Very common in everyday speech when talking about your own home:
  - うちで勉強します。 → I study at home (my home).
いえ (家)
- More like the building/house as a physical object.
- Used for any house in general, not just your own:
  - 大きい家ですね。 → That’s a big house.
- Can still mean one’s home, but うち is more casual and common for “my home” in conversation.

In your sentence うちで, it naturally sounds like “at my home.”

In 日本語の小説, what does の do? Could we say 日本語小説 instead?

Here, の links 日本語 (Japanese language) to 小説 (novel), so:

日本語の小説 = “novels written in Japanese.”

You can also sometimes see 日本語小説 (without の), but:

日本語の小説
- Very common and neutral; sounds natural in everyday speech.
日本語小説
- Feels more like a fixed compound word or a category label (e.g., in a bookstore section).
- More compact, slightly more formal or written-style.

So in ordinary sentences, 日本語の小説 is the safest, most natural choice.

Why is 小説 marked with を and not が or は?

を marks the direct object of a verb—what the action is done to.

Verb: 読む (to read)
Object: 小説 (novel(s))
→ 小説を読む = to read a novel/novels.

If you used:

小説が: you’d be marking 小説 as the subject, which doesn’t fit with 読む in the normal “I read X” pattern.
小説は: you’d be making 小説 the topic, like “As for novels, I want to read (them).” That’s possible in some contexts, but the basic neutral form is 小説を読む.

So, 小説を読みたいです is the standard “I want to read novels.”

How does 読みたいです work grammatically? Is たい a verb or an adjective?

たい behaves like an i-adjective, not like a normal verb.

Formation:

Take the ます-stem of a verb (remove ます from the polite form):
- 読みます → 読み
Add たい:
- 読みたい → “want to read”

Properties:

Conjugates like an i-adjective:
- 読みたい (want to read)
- 読みたくない (don’t want to read)
- 読みたかった (wanted to read), etc.
To make it polite, add です:
- 読みたいです = I want to read (polite).

So 読みたいです literally is “(I) am want-to-read,” but naturally translated as “I want to read.”

Why is there no explicit subject like “I” in this sentence? How do we know it means “I want to read”?

Japanese often omits the subject when it’s clear from context.

In this pattern:

〜たいです almost always expresses the speaker’s own desire, unless context clearly shifts it.
So, if someone says 読みたいです, it is understood as “I want to read.”

You could add a subject:

私は休みの間にうちで日本語の小説を読みたいです。 But it’s usually unnecessary unless you want to emphasize I (as opposed to someone else).

How flexible is the word order in this sentence? Can we move うちで or 日本語の小説 to other positions?

Japanese word order is relatively flexible as long as:

The verb comes at the end, and
You keep each particle with its word (e.g., うちで, 小説を).

For example, these are all grammatical and natural:

休みの間にうちで日本語の小説を読みたいです。 (original)
休みの間に日本語の小説をうちで読みたいです。
うちで休みの間に日本語の小説を読みたいです。

They differ only subtly in emphasis. The original is probably the most neutral. What you should not do is break set phrases like 日本語の小説 or separate a noun from its particle.

Does 小説 here mean one novel or several novels? How does Japanese show plural for nouns like this?

小説 by itself is number-neutral. It can mean:

“a novel,”
“the novel” (in context), or
“novels” (plural),

depending on the situation and context.

In your sentence:

日本語の小説を読みたいです。
→ Could be understood as I want to read *a Japanese novel or I want to read **Japanese novels.*

If you really need to be explicit, you can add words:

一冊の日本語の小説を読みたいです。 → I want to read one Japanese novel.
何冊か日本語の小説を読みたいです。 → I want to read several Japanese novels.

But in normal conversation, 小説 without extra marking is perfectly natural and usually clear enough.