Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop series, book 1
(2010) 150 pages

I found this novel while perusing a Japanese bookstore, and the cover caught my attention. The long title also caught my attention, and I decided to give it a read. The book is very short, around 150 pages, but enjoyable and with a quite light plot. This short novel centers around the owner of the Morisaki Bookshop named Satoru. His niece, Takako, and Satoru’s wife Momoko are also central characters in the novel. Takako suffers from a broken and empty relationship with her boyfriend, so her uncle Satoru offers her the chance to go and live with him and work at the bookshop. Takako does not like it at first, and is hesitant to grow fond of her new life, but eventually she falls in love with the bookstore and also a few of the customers there as well. This novel tells the story of the intricate relationships between the characters, and focuses on how the bookstore is the central point in all of their lives and the place where they go when they are lost or want to see each other again, as with Momoko who returns back after 5 years of absence. This novel is a nice short read for anyone interested in exploring Japanese literature. It was very enjoyable, despite being short, and it also inspired me to read the sequel, More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.

More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Days at the Morisaki Bookshop series, book 2
(2011) 176 pages

After reading the first novel, I wanted to read the sequel to get more from the story, since I did feel that the first novel was quite short. I think the second novel is even better than the first novel because it gives more insight into the lives of the characters, and it also delves deeper into some of the central themes that makes this book a little more darker and interesting, which are grief and sadness and how to deal with them. Takako, the niece of the owner of the Morisaki Bookshop, Satoru, finally solved her struggle with her relationship and found a new life for herself within the bookstore. She encounters more day-to-day struggles while working within the bookstore, like with her uncle Satoru who is a little grumpy all the time. The novel is very slice-of-life, and centers around the daily struggles of living that Takako encounters while continuing to work in the bookstore. Spoiler alert: one of the things that I did not like is the fact that Takako gets married to her boyfriend, whom I thought was quite useless and undeserving of her, but as long as she is happy I suppose it’s fine. All in all, this novel is a great sequel, and a rarity in which the sequel is even better than the original novel.