There is an inexplicable comfort in reading a book that talks about books. It makes you travel down memory lane to revisit your journey as a reader and a book lover. You are gripped by a fuzzy familiarity and nostalgia. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a bibliophile’s delight and reaffirms the reader’s faith in the life-changing power of books. Originally published in Japanese, it won the Chiyoda Literary Prize in 2008 and was a commercial success. The book was later adapted into a film.

The books you read often open up little windows for some light to shine through. It makes you see the brighter side of life, and as Yagisawa reminds us of Motojiro’s Kajii’s words: “The act of seeing is no small thing. To see something is to be possessed by it. Sometimes it carries off a part of you, sometimes it’s your whole soul.”

Quotes from the book that make you ponder :

“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.”

“It’s funny. No matter where you go, or how many books you read, you still know nothing, you haven’t seen anything. And that’s life.”

“I wanted to see the whole world for myself. I wanted to see the whole range of possibilities. 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.”

Comment down below if you read Japanese Books or you want to read Japanese fiction. Let me know your thoughts on Days at the Morisaki Bookshop.