I liked the concept of this book however I did feel like I was missing parts of the story. This could be because if the translation.
This book would be great for fans of before the coffee got cold as they both have the same cozy feeling.
I loved how this mentioned the love of books and how the character got through a difficult time by reading books. I could relate to this quite a lot.
Overall I think the writing was a bit simple but I did enjoy it. Thank you Netgalley

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a short, slice of life fiction book by Satoshi Yagisawa, which has been translated into English by Eric Ozawa.
I absolutely love books about books. This was such an easy and enjoyable read, it is definitely not plot-driven by any means but getting to know these characters was a true delight. There is strong themes of family and love, and whilst there is romance, this is not the focus of the storyline. The characters are charming, I really enjoyed the main character Takako and seeing her fall in love with reading and books. Momoki was an interesting character and I thought the book was going to take a darker turn but it was clear after all she had been affected by how her personality had evolved. I thought that the Tokyo setting was very immersive too.
There is a second book in this series which I'm hoping will get the chance for an English translation so I will keep an eye out. I would have probably rated this 3.5 stars if Goodreads allowed half stars but it is definitely deserving of being rounded up to 4 stars overall. I think the book would have benefited from some stronger plot lines and I'm hoping we get this in book #2.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ 4/5

Thank you to NetGalley, Bonnier Books UK and Satoshi Yagisawa for allowing me to read this book in exchange for an honest review.

Review posted to Goodreads and Amazon.

This book is exactly what I needed! This is sunshine and a big old hug in a book.
It’s a warm jumper on a chilly day.

Everyone who knows me will know that if a book has been translated from Japanese and is about heartbreak and love I’m in, if it’s about books or cats then bonus points.
I have been wanting to read this book for what feels like an eternity (bloody book buying bans 😭) so thank goodness I finally gave in and bought it.

After takakos boyfriend breaks up with her in the most devastating way and her life gets thrown into turmoil she gets offered the chance of a lifetime by her uncle and decides to move above the family bookshop rent-free to work out what she wants to do next in life. (Why was I never given this option 🤣)
Whilst staying there she discovers the worlds that books can transport her to and falls in love with reading along with discovering the world that her little bookshop inhabits.
If you’re feeling those winter blues then pick up this little joyous book today.

This is one of those easy to read books which is so beautifully told and with so many layers built into it that you can keep going back to it year after year.

My favourite quotes:
“And yet for all I read, I found book after book that I still wanted to read.”

“Little by little, I felt something wash over me, a feeling of peace that words can’t express. If I had to explain it, I’d say it could only have come from the writer’s fervent love for life.”

This brilliant story is eloquent in its description of how it feels to love books. It has the special kind of comfort that you can only find in a book shop. Takako discovers her love of reading through one novel that kickstarts her joy, I know this experience so it resonated with. Hugely recommend.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a heartwarming and comforting story about the possibility of starting anew at any time, with a delightful emphasis on finding solace in books. An absolute must for the lovers of the many Japanese tales that have been circulating this year. 📚

Devoured in on sitting. A beautiful story interwoven with love, family, friendship and honour. The description of the bookstore felt so real, I felt I was there, I wished I could be there. Loved the characters, loved the story, I didn’t want it to end.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop - Satoshi Yagisawa

After a disastrous end to a relationship and subsequently quitting her job Takako reluctantly moves into a small room over her uncle’s bookshop. For someone (Takako) who does not read literature she finds solace in reading and gets to know people in the nearby community at the local coffee shop. The story is written in two halves the first focuses very much on Takako moving on from her relationship and the second after her uncle is reunited with his long-lost wife Momoko, after her mysterious disappearance some years previously.

This was a quiet pleasant unassuming read which was simply written. The fact that the literary references were not known did not really matter. However it could have done with a little more meat on the bones of the characters for me.

A quaint story. Gets a bit dull in Part II, but overall an enjoyable read. The story and characters are simple, and the themes are a bit of a mixed bag that never fully get you anywhere.

Takako comes to live at her uncle Satoru’s bookshop after a breakup with her boyfriend and resignation from her job. She comes to lick her wounds in peace but finds herself exploring books, making new friends and building an adult relationship with her uncle. She finds herself taking joy, inspiration and hope through her reading.

This time in the bookshop allows her to find a new focus, a new home and a new job.

The second half of the book tells the story of Satoru’s marriage to Momoko who returns after 5 years leaving Satoru wanting answers as to why she left. He hopes Takako can build a relationship with her and find out his answers.

A story of books, relationships, family and community.

An enjoyable, charming read.

This is a translation of a Japanese novel so I was looking forward to reading it as I expected it would be quite a bit different from my usual books.  I've only read one Japanese novel before, Before the Coffee Goes Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi, so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this one. 

It was quite an easy read with a gentle tone although it also seemed to be all on one level emotionally.  It's hard to say how much of that is down to the translation. It was interesting to see the different culture represented in it, lots of mentions of bowing and other etiquette.  The first part was good and focused more on Takako discovering a love of reading.  The second part was very different and focused more on Satako and his wife Momoko.  I enjoyed the part where Takako and Momoko took a trip - the description of the journey, the hotel, and what they did were interesting because of the cultural aspect.  I wasn't sure how to feel about Momoko.  She did seem a bit odd but when her backstory was revealed, it felt as though that was supposed to be an explanation for her character as well as her actions but I wasn't sure it did.  Saturo was an interesting character although I don't think I saw him as quite as odd as a Japanese reader would.  Overall, an interesting and enjoyable read.

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for giving me an advance copy to review.

A wonderful, gentle, life affirming little book. I want to visit Jimbocho, the bookshop district of Tokyo. This book was a real pleasure to read. Easy to read and left me wanting more.

Thank you to the publisher and Netgalley UK for providing me with an advanced copy. All opinions are my own.

I loved this book. A great cast of characters and a gentle storyline of love, heartbreak, betrayal and finding yourself.. Right at the beginning we meet 25 year old Takako as she is breaking up with her boyfriend of 12 months who casually informs her that is getting married next year. And not to her. Suffering from abject heartbreak, she leaves her job, because he works for the same firm, and her flat. Takako moves in with her uncle who owns a second hand book shop. In exchange for helping out in the shop, she gets to stay in the tiny flat above the shop. At first she hates the smell of the musty old books and when not working sleeps and sleeps her way through the weeks. Eventually her Uncle Saturo gets her to leave her bed and join him his local coffee shop. And here we meet a gorgeous cast of characters. We see Takako learn to love both the books and reading, making friends with the locals and slowly come back to life.

This is a lovely gentle book that I will return to over and over again. A thoroughly enjoyable book set in the Morisaki Bookshop in Jimboku district of Tokyo. An area full of bookshops.

A simple tale of relationships and connections, all-encompassing building a love of books and reading.
Takako is a young woman floundering after discovering her boyfriend is marrying someone else.
She responds to a request from her uncle to come to his second-hand bookshop to stay and help out for a while as she gets to grips with her life again.
Translated fiction is always a chance you take. This was an interesting story, but I felt it was sometimes a little disjointed. Still, a short, entertaining read.
Many thanks to NetGalley and Bonnier Books for an ARC.

I always jump at the chance to read books by Japanese authors. I generally love the touch of magical realism that can often been found in the storylines. Unfortunately this novel didn’t live up to my expectations. I still quite enjoyed it but I felt that something was maybe lost in the translation.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a beautifully written and heartwarming novel that will stay with you long after you finish reading it. It is a perfect book for anyone who loves books, Japan, or simply a good story about finding your place in the world.

Takako is a flawed but sympathetic protagonist, and her journey of self-discovery is both heartwarming and inspiring. And the setting of the bookstore is simply magical and atmospheric. Yagisawa does a wonderful job of capturing the unique feeling of a used bookstore, with its dusty shelves, creaky floorboards, and the smell of old paper.

Overall, Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a delightful and heartwarming novel that I highly recommend.

Set in the district of Jimbocho, Tokyo, the Hay- on-Wye (UK) of Japan, I couldn’t wait to get my teeth into this book. And the thought of living in a bookshop sounded like heaven.
Following a traumatic break up with her partner, Tamoko is saved from despair by her similarly estranged Uncle Satoru. He runs the family owned Morisaki Bookshop and offers Tamoko a rent free room.
Slowly she begins to read seriously and the books save her from despair.
But for me, given the experiences of the characters, the whole is less than the sum of the parts.
The bookshops are fabulous, the Kanda Used Book Festival is wonderful; and so is the visit to the shrine in the mountains. But the style is bland, with little nuance; the characters are flat and there is little exploration or insight into them. Things just happen. Maybe I’m just not familiar enough with Japanese style of characterisation. In which case, I’m sorry.
Expected much more from this ‘international sensation’.

Thank you to Bonnier Books UK and Netgalley for providing a DRC of "Days at the Morisaki Bookshop" in exchange for my honest and voluntary review.

This hug of a book ticked every box and honestly felt written for me - set in Japan, a love letter to books and bookshops, and completely and utterly cosy. I practically inhaled this, and it has just left me feeling warm, happy, and nostalgic for the year i spent living in Japan.

This is a story of two halves. The first focuses on Takako, a young woman who discovers she is the 'other woman' in her relationship and so, feeling broken hearted and lost takes up the offer of her uncle, Satoru, to live on the second floor of his second hand bookshop to help him out and figure out what she wants to do next.
The second half adds Momoko, her estranged aunt, who returns suddenly into their lives and who Takako is tasked with getting to know more and to try and uncover why she has returned.

I just can't coherently begin to explain why I loved this so much. I have a jumble of feelings about the story, which is just a lovely trip through the lives of our characters, following the seasons changing over a couple of years and how they change with it.

It's also just so classically Japanese. The translation is perfect and portrays in English exactly how people act, think, and live. The setting, whilst being in a suburb of Tokyo (Jimbocho), could have been the town I lived in. I could picture everything and relate to my own experiences over there. When Momoko and Takako visited a shrine in the mountains, I saw the shrines in my prefecture. The coffee shop owner was the owner of a café I used to go to regularly, and Takako herself reminded me so much of the younger teachers I worked with.

This book is also COSY. It is a flowing, beautiful prose following these characters without anything too intense or dramatic, which I wanted and needed. Even the most dramatic scenes - Satoru taking Takako to her ex-boyfriend's house to get him to apologise, for example, is written in a languid, humorous, and easygoing manner.

Can you tell I just loved it?! Overall, if you want a comfort blanket of a book, read this, and if you have an interest in Japan, read this, and if you love books, you really should read this.

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop is a very sweet story and I thoroughly enjoyed my visit.

Heartwarming and thought-provoking, an ode to the magic of a good bookshop.

This book was beautiful!
It’s a lovely story the ultimately examines lives in some of its varied forms.
The writing was gorgeous and the characters wonderful!
I can’t recommend this enough!
*** Thanks to NetGalley and the publisher ***

This is a short but sweet book. Set in and around Tokyo, it is based more on a couple of characters rather than the bookshop as I expected. The main characters, a young woman and her uncle have a strong bond although she was not aware of it for years.

The story begins when her relationship breaks up and she leaves her job before becoming depressed and tells the story of her recovery.

I listened to the audio book and the narrator was perfect for the story.

Thank you to Netgalley and the publishers for the ARC