"Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" by Satoshi Yagisawa is a beautiful and thought-provoking novel that celebrates the power of books and the joy of human connections. The story follows the daily life of protagonist Shioriko, a young woman who runs a small second-hand bookshop in a quiet town.

Yagisawa's writing is evocative and poetic, with rich descriptions of books and the natural world. The use of a first-person narrative gives readers a personal insight into Shioriko's thoughts and emotions, and her interactions with the people who visit her shop make for a compelling and heartwarming story.

The character of Shioriko is a complex and intriguing protagonist. Her deep love and respect for books, and her desire to share that passion with others, make her a relatable and sympathetic character. The other characters in the book are also well-drawn and interesting, each with their own stories and motivations.

One of the standout aspects of the book is its exploration of the relationship between people and books. The novel celebrates the transformative power of literature, and the way in which books can connect us to each other and to the world around us.

Overall, "Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" is a beautiful and moving novel that will appeal to anyone who loves books and human connections. Yagisawa's writing is lyrical and evocative, and his characters are complex and nuanced. I highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thoughtful and uplifting read.

A charming and cozy read. I enjoyed the stories of the customers and the staff at the bookshop. It made me feel nostalgic and happy!!

Thank you NetGalley for providing me with this ARC in return for an unbiased review.

A sweet, short read that has those cozy book about books vibes. The protagonist, Takako, is down on her luck, freshly dumped and without a job. Her estranged uncle, Satoru, invites her to stay at the family bookshop until she gets herself back on her feet. In her months surrounded by towers of old books, she finds herself a new passion for reading and forms impactful relationships with customers and her family. I really enjoyed the atmospheres of the Jimbocho neighbourhood, the cafes with familiar faces, and the cozy Morisaki bookstore. Book lovers will relate to Takako's discovery of her love of reading and spending endless hours curled around a book.

Takako is at first very quick to judge a person's character, but learns to slow down away from the fast-paced city life and connect with the people around her. I especially loved her quirky uncle, Satoru, and his open and flexible approach to life, It was such a contrast to Takako's more practical nature, and when she accepts him and his love, you see their relationship develop into such a comforting and supportive dynamic. In the first half of the novel, Satoru saves Takako at her lowest and she does so in return in the second half. Truly a positive depiction of familial love.
And some new characters introduced in the second half surprised me with how much I liked them by the end too. This book leaves you with a sense that every person you meet has a whole life of stories, experiences and struggles that you would never know. If only we just took the time to ask and listen, we would understand each other more deeply and see each other with more empathy.

As a translated Japanese to English text, I appreciated that many terms were left untranslated to keep the cultural context. Many famous Japanese authors are mentioned that I would like to read one day too.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a very short read with few plot points but for its length it manages to connect and convey a strong message of hope and love. Reading this in one sitting felt like taking a short vacation from life, just like what Takako had at the Bookshop. A very heart-warming and positive read that I enjoyed thoroughly!

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a delightful story about a bookshop and a found family. This is a very cozy story and I highly recommend.

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

This is an interesting, quirky book.

This book interested me because I've recently read some other contemporary Japanese novels narrated by young women ... and I love bookshops. Unfortunately, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop was not as good as the others.

First: the structure. The book is in two parts. The first part deals with the narrator, Takako, who, after a bad breakup, accepts her eccentric uncle's invitation to move into his used bookshop. Eventually she discovers literature, which had never interested her before. She becomes an obsessive reader and settles into the neighborhood, which is composed entirely of used bookshops, each specializing in a different type of literature. She is healed by the experience and leaves, ready to resume a normal life. Part Two deals with the uncle's estranged wife, Momoko, who suddenly returns after five years away. Takako's story takes a back seat to her attempt to understand her aunt, who is mysterious about her past and just about everything else. The two parts don't have much to do with each other.

Second: the writing. With translated literature it can be hard to determine the blame for poor writing—is it the author's fault or the translator's? But when the writing is consistently trite, you know the failing is the author's. He may have intended that Takako be someone who doesn't express her feelings easily, but other writers have been able to create such characters without sacrificing eloquence. Takako repeatedly says, "I can't put into words exactly," "It was something I couldn't put into words," "I felt something wash over me, a feeling of peace that words can't express." But we read fiction, in part, to discover the characters' feelings—certainly those of a narrator. And when she does express her feelings, she does so in a trite way: discovering literature was opening a door she had never known existed, her feet were floating above the ground, the times changed so quickly it was enough to leave you dizzy, the difficulty of hiking was like the mountain was telling her that it didn't mess around. There's nothing for the reader to discover here.

On the first page of the book, Takako says that she'll always remember her days at the Morisaki Bookshop because it was where her real life began, and "if not for those days, the rest of my life would have been bland, monotonous, and lonely." That just might have been a fitting conclusion to Part One, but the second part takes the emphasis away from Takako and centers on Momoko. In the end, I wasn't sure what the author intended.

Thanks to Harper Perennial and NetGalley for a preview copy of this book.

I think this is my second Japanese-to-English translated book and I thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s just something about this book and the way it’s written—soft/comfort/heartwarming vibes—that remind me a lot of Studio Ghibli movies.

This book is about books and falling in love with reading, and also about family and relationships and standing up for yourself. I loved part one, especially seeing Takako’s relationship develop with her uncle. It made me almost cry. And part two started off with me feeling a little sus towards Momoko but as the story develops and we learn more, you really grow to love all the characters and feel for them.

Thank you to HarperCollins for the arc!

This a familiar trope used at the beginning of this novel - a young woman's heart is broken in a failed relationship; she leaves her job and returns home to her family.

The trope ends there as the story that unfolds is heart warming and positive and unique. There are new beginnings for the broken hearted Takako and new beginnings for her Uncle Satoru who takes her in, gives her a job and an upstairs apartment at his family bookstore.

I like that Takako becomes part of her uncle's life in more than one way, helping him with his old bookstore on a street filled with other bookshops. She interacts with Satoru's estranged wife who suddenly returns after five years' absence and helps the wife to heal from whatever has been ailing her psychologically.

It's lovely that Takako herself finds friendship and affection, as well as family, in the small town, and even a new romantic interest. Her uncle's advice to her: Don't be afraid of someone "warming your heart" as long as you live is especially poignant.

An interesting story with a bit of mystery and a lot of heart. I loved the description of the bookstore and neighborhood. Certainly make me want to visit Jimbocho. It was unusual for me to read a book about a bookstore and not recognize the authors mentioned. I'll have to search out some of these well known Japanese authors. Wonderful characters. They felt like folks you might know. I loved seeing them grow into one another. Nice to see inside another culture. I enjoy seeing similarities and differences that make us all unique and yet one.

Takako is 25 years old and just got dumped. When she finds out her boyfriend has been seeing someone else at their work and is engaged to get married to her next year, her life goes into a tailspin. She's depressed, lonely and after quitting her job, a bit aimless. One day her Uncle Satoru calls her. He runs the family used bookstore in Jimbōchō, the book shop district in Tokyo. He could use her help, and with nothing else going on, she finally caves and goes to see what she can make of her life there.

This is a super sweet, simple story about rediscovering oneself, falling in love with books, and the many ways we can connect with other people when we take a second to get to know them on a bit of a deeper level. Takako comes into her new job with many presumptions that get subverted, and along with loyal customers to the bookstore and people she meets at a local coffee shop, she begins to see things a little differently.

There's only a small plot in this slim novel, and ultimately it's more about the vibes and atmosphere of the bookshop which is rendered wonderfully; that's the part I loved most about this book—the sights and smells of the neighborhood came to life off the page. Takako is a likeable main character to follow and goes on her own journey across the book's two parts, realizing in life there's often more than meets the eye. I did want a bit more depth to the story, but for what it was this was a highly enjoyable comforting read that I'd recommend to book lovers everywhere.

A book about how people can help each other through some of their roughest moments. Quirky, heartfelt, and cozy. Loved it.

This quietly charming debut revolves around a 25-year-old who has been living a perfectly adequate life—until it all falls apart, and her long-lost uncle rescues her with a call to come help at his secondhand bookshop and live upstairs. A delightful love letter to books and reading.

This book is like a warm hug on a biting winter day. It’s comforting, it’s cosy, it’s safe. It gives you a place to shelter from the world which, coincidentally, is exactly what the protagonist is doing.

The book is split into two parts: the first focuses on Takako and how her uncle helps her find herself again. The second part then focuses on Takako helping her uncle and his wife sort through their issues. The change in dynamic - Satoru first being the caregiver, then Takako transitioning into this role - was interesting and maybe not entirely unexpected. The relationship between niece and uncle was quite endearing. They’ve got each others’ backs, supporting and encouraging one another to face their fears. I really enjoyed this relationship because it felt real, it felt supportive, it felt like family.

Satoru’s general attitude to life is positive, he seems to embrace things with his arms wide open. His laidback approach results in him sharing some pretty profound thoughts throughout the story. This balanced out Takako's more practical approach to things. They two characters were a balsam for each other, soothing each others' wounds and encouraging each of them to face their own fears.

Satoshi Yagisawa and Eric Ozawa have created an absolute masterpiece in the English translation. Yagisawa’s creative use of language is evocative and relatable, Ozawa has, in turn, paid the same care and attention to getting the meaning across in English. I adore the descriptions of people and places throughout the book. They’re creative, unique, and amusing - the author and translator have gone for a subtle approach to humour which I really enjoy.

Takako, at one point, describes her uncle as “as flexible and indecisive as a jellyfish.” In just a few simple words, I had an almost complete picture of Satoru in my head from the instant we met him. As the story went on, Yagisawa’s descriptions confirmed that Takako’s initial assessment of Satoru was correct.

Yagisawa has captured a very particular feeling that bookworms around the world can connect with: Finally finding the book that “gets” you, a book that you read and it instantly becomes part of you, it nestles into your heart and soul, and stays with you forever.

3.5, rated up

The writing style or translation took a little while for me to get accustomed to, and I’m so glad that I kept at it because I wound up adoring this story.

I read this over a stormy weekend and it was just the thing - Days at the Morisaki Bookshop turned out to be a lovely story that was an enjoyable read, if rather rushed in places, and some points not really satisfactorily explained or tied up.

I really enjoyed the descriptions of the mountain trip Momoko invited Takako and Momoko made to their inn. Uncle Saturo and the bookshop were wonderful.

A short and lovely novel about a woman whose life is turned upside down after her boyfriend breaks up with her and she quits her job where she soon after resides above her uncle's used bookshop on a street of used bookshops. Endearing and lovely.

A book of family and friendship. This was a great short read. Nothing ground breaking or life changing, but feel good nonetheless. Plus, you know me, center any book around books and I’m in, no questions asked.

Having not read many translated books before, I felt a bias creeping in - as if I should rate this higher than what I truly felt. But I managed to keep everything in check, and give this a solid 3 stars. That is not to take away from the book at all - 3 in this situation is good. Will I remember it enough to recommend? Maybe or maybe not.

**I received this advance copy free from Harper Perennial via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.**

This was a great, quiet, very affirming short novel about family, emotional healing, and the power of books. There were parts that dragged slightly for me, but overall this was a very uplifting novel (but not in a smarmy or religious way).

A gentle book telling the story of a young woman's becoming part of a family and community. After a breakup with her boyfriend leaves her jobless and isolated, the narrator joins her uncle at the family's second-hand bookshop. As she begins to heal, as she lives above the shop and works there in the mornings, she makes friends and becomes more a part of the neighborhood.

After moving out & starting a new job, she is called back to the bookshop when her uncle's estranged wife, Momoko, returns. The friendship between the women rives the rest of the story.

The book was charming and beautifully written, with a gentle and movig story, I loved it.

I really loved this book, it was very cozy. I liked the interactions between the characters and would love to visit a place like this in real life!

A bestseller in Japan, winner of a literary prize, and made into a movie, I was not moved by this novel. Perhaps it was the translation, but I did not find it particularly endearing. A 25 year old woman quits her job and her life after being dumped by her boyfriend, with whom she worked, is depressed and takes to sleeping all day. Her uncle, with whom she was once close as a child, but has neither seen nor talked to in years, invites her to stay at his used-book bookshop and she does. Alas, for me, nothing about this novel was deep enough. I found it simplistic and superficial. What was interesting was to learn about this part of Japan filled with bookstores and I would have loved to know about those stores, those booksellers, to be in those shops, rather than with the whiny girl.

Thanks to Netgalley and Harper Perennial for the ARC.