Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Book Title: Days at the Morisaki Bookshop
Author: Satoshi Yagisawa
Rating: 4.8/5

Reading this book feels like watching a feel-good movie, you keep on smiling most of the time.

“Young people today, they don’t read books anymore. They just play computer games. It’s hopeless. And even if they do read books, it’s just manga or these shallow little stories on their cell phones. Even my son, he’s almost thirty and he still just plays video games all the time. Is that okay? You think so? Absolutely not. They’re only seeing the surface of things. And if you don’t want to be a shallow person, then you should try reading some of the wonderful books in this place.”

At first, I thought this was one of those stories where you get a lot of life lessons but end up not liking the main character (aherm Midnight Library), but together with the lead, you grow as you turn each page.

The book lessons do not just end with Takako but also with her uncle Satoru and aunt Momoku. The main message of the story is to face your problem head-on and not hide from it. Cliché as it is, but it is so beautifully executed that personally, after reading the book, I have faced some things that I have been deflecting for a while, and it gets me into a good disposition and helps me a lot.

“Your life is yours. It doesn’t belong to anyone else. I wanted to know what it would mean to live life on my own terms.”

As a reader, I love how Days at the Morisaki Bookshop sensationalizes the rhythms of reading. From reading in your bedroom to reading on the counter to reading at a café with a good ambiance, just imagining these things makes me happy.

“No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life. We live our lives trying to find our way.”

Another thrilling part for me is learning that there is an area in Jimbocho that is truly a bookworm’s haven with hundreds of bookstores. As per the Chiyoda site, “Most of the bookshops sell antique and rare books, however, they also offer a variety of other print media, such as old maps, old movie posters, and movie scripts. Furthermore, some bookstores are specialized in one genre, such as manga (comic) books, architecture-related books, and art books and exhibition catalogs.” I haven’t been to Japan, and aside from the goal of climbing Mount Fuji, visiting Jimbocho is on my second list.

“No matter where I went, no matter who I was with, if I could be honest with myself, then that was where I belonged.”

Life is a difficult thing to figure out. It has a lot of ups and downs and puzzles. But when there are books like this, it makes that search even more enjoyable.

About the Book
The first part is about 25-year-old Takako who has been deeply affected by a breakup (she was dumped by her boyfriend). She found a temporary home at the Morisaki Bookshop, owned by his uncle Satoru, who offered her a room on the second floor rent-free in exchange for some help in the bookshop. Along the way, it shows how the uncle and niece, who used to be close, have lost touch with each other and rekindled their relationship.

The second part is how the philosophical uncle Satoru faces the love of his life, Aunty Momoku who has been away for so many years and now is back as if nothing happened, and how the couple revive their unspoken broken marriage.

I highly recommend this book if you are looking for an easy-to-read story with grounded life lessons that are easy to digest.

Have you read the book? I love to hear what you think!