Japanese Literature discussion

This is the discussion thread for Michiko Aoyama's What You Are Looking for Is in the Library, translated into English by Alison Watts.

What are you looking for?

This is the famous question routinely asked by Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian, Sayuri Komachi. Like most librarians, Komachi has read every book lining her shelves—but she also has the unique ability to read the souls of her library guests. For anyone who walks through her door, Komachi can sense exactly what they’re looking for in life and provide just the book recommendation they never knew they needed to help them find it.

Each visitor comes to her library from a different juncture in their careers and dreams, from the restless sales attendant who feels stuck at her job to the struggling working mother who longs to be a magazine editor. The conversation that they have with Sayuri Komachi—and the surprise book she lends each of them—will have life-altering consequences.

With heartwarming charm and wisdom, What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is a paean to the magic of libraries, friendship and community, perfect for anyone who has ever found themselves at an impasse in their life and in need of a little inspiration.

I just bought this book this past weekend at Barnes and Noble. Didn’t realize we were reading it! Maybe now I’ll be able to participate in the discussions! 😊

I'm usually a lurker here and mostly check out the upcoming releases topics. I was going to buy this book anyway so I think I'll be joining this discussion. :)

Alana wrote: "I'm usually a lurker here and mostly check out the upcoming releases topics. I was going to buy this book anyway so I think I'll be joining this discussion. :)"

Me too Alana. Plus it’s a short book. 300 pages.

I received it a couple of days ago. Will start it promptly on the first of the month.

Since I'm reading a new hardcover for a change, a question for you all...

Do you read with the slipcover on, or do you take it off?
I leave the slipcover on the shelf until I'm done with the book, and then put it back on.

Usually I leave the slipcover on, but it kinda depends on how much the book travels. If it’s just from bedroom to easy chair, then it’s on. If it’s going into the car, it comes off.

I confess, I couldn’t wait and read it as soon as it arrived. *chef’s kiss*

I'm impatiently waiting for my copy to become available at my library. When it arrives, I leave the dust jacket (assume that's the equivalent of slip cover) on, but I'm also very careful about protecting my books, so this is no doubt the neurotic approach.

If it's a library book, you don't have much choice! They heavily tape the dust jackets on so people don't lose them.

Bill wrote: "If it's a library book, you don't have much choice! They heavily tape the dust jackets on so people don't lose them."

Generally, but I've seen more variance in the last couple of years. Don't know why. Could be just errors in intake.

Bill wrote: "Since I'm reading a new hardcover for a change, a question for you all...

Do you read with the slipcover on, or do you take it off?
I leave the slipcover on the shelf until I'm done with the book,..."

Slip covers make the best bookmarks. Just the flaps. Does that make me a bad person?

It's not a matter of good people and bad people. I was just curious.

I currently have three half-read books in my briefcase, two of them paperbacks, all three of them with their dust jackets removed. I just want to them to look pristine when I put them back on the shelf, even if they get a bit scuffed inside.

But on to the book. Our translator is perhaps one of those people who've lived in Japan so long their English has adopted usages from around the world. On the first page we get 'college' (American) and on the second page 'waistcoat' (British). We also get 'How r u doing?' on the second page, and I can't begin to imagine what that was in the original.

The English language publisher admits on the title page to adding the illustrations for the English translation, so I'll try not to read any story elements out of them. E.g. Tomoka isn't a slob unless it says so in the text.

And to add to the horror (insert stock Munch jpeg here) the publisher says on the title page: This product is recyclable. Please recycle.

Oof. Didn’t catch any of that from reading my advanced reader’s copy! 😅

I take the dust jacket off if the book is thick, but use the flaps as a bookmark if it's a very short book.

Basically, I decide by how manageable the book is. I go out of my way to find specific editions with cover art I prefer, so I like to keep my book-books in good condition. My kindle is for beach reads and banging around.

Well, recycle can include putting it in your neighborhood Little Free Library, so that’s not a bad thing.

I really enjoyed the warmth of the stories. A very cozy read. And I liked how they connected from one to the next, earlier characters having cameos as the book went on. It strengthens the sense of community, even if there isn’t much engagement between the new characters and the old.

When we received the What You Are Looking For Is in the Library last month and my darling picked it up first and read it twice before releasing it. We also ordered a copy for a birthday present for a relative who is going to Tokyo this winter.

I have just completed the first chapter, Tomoko, and I am delighted with the lovely, thoughtful, slice-of-life narrative.

‘Thank you,' Tomoko says. '… I learned something important.’
‘Oh?’ Ms Komachi looks at Tomoko, her head on one side. ‘I did nothing. You took what you needed, yourself,’ she says in that laid-back way of hers.

Cat Cafes rule!

- a great book, I have finished a first pass. i will have to read it again this month.
i wish other of her books are translated.

My copy just arrived! I'll be joining as well.

Bill wrote: "Since I'm reading a new hardcover for a change, a question for you all...

Do you read with the slipcover on, or do you take it off?
I leave the slipcover on the shelf until I'm done with the book,..."

I like slipcovers since they add colour to my bookshelves. I take extra care if the book may go to the local library collection, be gifted, or if I plan to take the book out of the house. So sometimes the slipcovers lay empty and lonely on the shelf until their mates return to them.

I've finished the first two stories and enjoyed both of them. They lead us to expect one thing, and then give us something else.

Each centers on someone who borrows a book from the library. In the first, a book the reader didn't request changed her life for the better, even if she didn't make progress towards the goal she set herself. In the second, none of the librarian's recommendations made any impact, but a free publication the reader picked up on the way out of the library impacted his life.

I was hoping to find out more about the mysterious librarian. Hopefully she features more in some of the later stories.

(I put quite a few books in my neighborhood Little Free Library. I thought that was called 'reuse' rather than 'recycle'. 'Recycle' to me sounds like you're going to render it down and make newspaper out of it.)

Bill wrote: "I've finished the first two stories and enjoyed both of them. They lead us to expect one thing, and then give us something else.

Each centers on someone who borrows a book from the library. In the..."

This is really the most lovely book about books I've read in a long time.

The second definition of recycle in the online Oxford dictionary that comes up is to reuse. Of course, I have the ebook, so can’t be easily shared…no one I know actually reads books much, a tragedy in itself. :-(

I like that the librarian is a little mysterious. Just like the librarian at my library…I know virtually nothing about her, and yet we share this interest.

Overall, five journeys from discouragement to hope. None of them has it made yet, but they're on their way. I think completed happy endings would be outside the philosophy of this book.

I was hoping until the end that we would get a chapter on the librarian, perhaps about how she changed jobs to be a librarian. But it was not to be.

I really enjoyed this. I thought it was a delightful love letter to the ability to find oneself through literature.

For myself, I liked not learning much about the librarian. Some of my most formative books appeared in my life as if fated - not always the sorts of books I'd have intended to read, or at the perfect time to impart their lesson. The librarian felt like the hand of fate for me, a mysterious push in the right direction.

I am sorry to deviate from most of the opinions of the group, but I read this book some time ago and found it very "accommodating." Pragonable to Toshikazu Kawaguchi's books or those little stories in the "Chicken Broth for the soul".
Maybe I'm too cynical for this kind of book right now, but I have to say I don't think it brought me anything. FYI, I read it in the Italian translation.

GONZA wrote: "I am sorry to deviate from most of the opinions of the group, but I read this book some time ago and found it very "accommodating." Pragonable to Toshikazu Kawaguchi's books or those little stories..."

Fair enough. I do wonder how much of a difference the translation made. Alison Watts is one of the best known translators of this kind of "feel good" Japanese fiction into English.

I didn't love it, but compared to the other lighter fare this year, this was easily the best for me.

Don't know if there are any Dutchies out here, but earlier this year we made a podcast about this book. Like I said, it's in Dutch, but in summary: we enjoyed this book! You can listen to our podcast here or in your favorite podcast app: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2jTN...

I truly relished this book; it came into my life at just the right moment. Thank you for the recommendation!

I liked this book. I appreciated that the librarian only gave each person a nudge - then they figured out their own paths. It was more about attitude adjustment than radical change. Each person became happier and more able to make good decisions by becoming more self-aware. I also liked the way the lived of the different characters nudged each other. It reminded me of the John Donne poem about how no man is an island unto himself. There was never a moment when all the characters met up, but we saw them all as part of the fabric of society.

I’m on the third story/section now. So far I’m really enjoying these gentle tales. Listening on Audible for this one. At first I thought perhaps too simplistic and cheesy, but since then I’ve fallen into this coziest of rabbit holes and all is good. You can find me too in the library.

Our local, rural, in-person book club read the book for our October meeting (tomorrow!). I was super happy to get Michiko Aoyama’s book into the schedule. My copy went visiting a round of friends months ago and it was a bit difficult to get it back until, i think, the local library ordered a bunch of copies for the book club selection.

15 Oct 2024: just finished rereading this. It was even better on the second reading separated by time from the first. I am to do a short bio of Michiko Aoyama for the book club tonight and there was little in English so I had to work from the .jp sites and use a translation ap to get me close to the meaning. This was an interesting experience. I am looking forward to her book The Healing Hippo Of Sunrise Park which will be released next year. I also hope that her recent story “The Mermaid Ran Away” (or maybe “The Mermaid Escaped”) gets translated also.

Our local, in-person, book club met last night to discuss the book. Most were 3-5 stars on the book. None were j-lit types and the book clubs reads as omnivores.
One group member, didn’t care for the book, found the language too simple, and wondered if was the writer’s style or a result of the translator’s craft.
Since it is the only novel in English translation we have nothing to compare it with.
Of the translator, Alison Watts, I have read part of Sweet Bean Paste. I thought it was translated such that I did not think about the translation, just the story.

I think, in general, for the person who didn’t care for the story, it was too feel good, and their reaction was similar to Gonza’s thoughts above. If something in the five intertwined stories in the novel does not resonate with the reader, it would be thin and not provide much interest. The book is very quiet. There is no real drama or high conflict.

Since I needed to reread it a second time for the discussion, I was looking at what the author might be saying about current social issues in Japanese society with each of the characters. I missed some subtleties one the first read. This time through the book, I liked the story/background revealed of the library assistant, a special needs student where the librarian worked in her previous career. That gave me some hint to how Ms. Komachi may be relating to the people who approach her, with their own special needs, as the librarian. There is a sense of hope that the characters find, hope of self-directed change, of new interests, of new relationships or of building upon / sustaining / deepening existing ones.