Days At The Morisaki Book is a Japanese language fiction written by Satoshi Yagisawa and translated to English by Eric Ozawa. It follows the journey of Takako and her days spent at her uncle’s bookshop, The Morisaki Bookshop. The bookshop deals in old Japanese books.

“It’s only in secondhand books that you can savor encounters like this, connections that transcend time. And that’s how I learned to love the secondhand bookstore that handled these books, our Morisaki Bookshop. I realized how precious a chance I’d been given, to be part of that little place, where you can feel the quiet flow of time.”

Takako is a twenty-five year old girl who suffers a heartbreak after her boyfriend tells her that he is getting married to someone else. A depressed Takako resigns from her job and is spending her days listlessly in her room when her Uncle Satoru offers her to live rent-free in the room above the bookshop. Takako reluctantly accepts the offer and moves into the room above the bookshop. Her only problem, other than her failed love life is that she doesn’t like reading books. The store is full of old books and at first she finds the smell of old books off-putting. Even her room is stacked with books with only a little space left for her to sleep.

As days pass, Takako realises that she has a lot in common with her uncle and that she likes reading too. Rest of the story deals with Takako learning how to cope and also move forward in life.

“Don’t be afraid to love someone. When you fall in love, I want you to fall in love all the way. Even if it ends in heartache, please don’t live a lonely life without love. I’ve been so worried that because of what happened you’ll give up on falling in love. Love is wonderful. I don’t want you to forget that. Those memories of people you love, they never disappear. They go on warming your heart as long as you live. When you get old like me, you’ll understand.”

Just like Before The Coffee Gets Cold, this one is a light and breezy read and leaves a happy feeling in the end. There are a lot of Japanese literary references which I didn’t quite understand but despite that the book is interesting.

My rating: 4/5

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