The Bookshop Woman is a year in the author's life, during which she left her marriage and started a journey towards getting out of the rut that has set in, in her life. It is a personal as well as professional moving on owing to how she has changed, from when she had started in life after studies. As with time she changes or rather evolves as a person she goes about changing her situation be it personal development, marriage and career wise as well.

I quite enjoyed her journey more so as it's filled with book recommendations, literally as part of the author's personal journey as well. It is akin to witnessing a reality show where people gather around and talk about books foremost.

You will get to see how someone gets comfortable with themselves after experiencing a nugget of restlessness and goes about conquering their fears and reaching a point where they never thought they would. I'd recommend it just for the books mentioned in this if nothing else, which is also worth a read no doubt.

4.5 stars

I throughly enjoyed this one and just found myself gripped by Nanako's story and her journey of meeting new people. I loved that the book had little illustrations of the people she met along the way and found it to be such a nice addition to her story. 

I'm an absolute sucker for books about books so reading about how Nanako would recommend books to people she just met was such a fun and unique reading experience, especially for non-fiction.

I loved that Nanako opened up and took risks in order to bring some excitement to her life, I also like how she powered through after some uncomfortable meetings. I know for a fact if that had been me I would have definitely just given up!

Also can we just take a time to appreciate the fact that at the back of the book there was a list of all the books Nanako recommended and books that are similar to The Bookshop Woman! I think it's such a brilliant idea and I'm definitely interested in looking into some of them!

This was such a fascinating and amazing read that I definitely recommend picking up.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Oh man, this was so good. This book was written for me. I fell in love with Hanada's writing and the main character was so relatable. Stunning!

'The Bookshop Woman' is nonfiction that reads like fiction and really, that's not a compliment. I don't know whether something got lost in translation or whether the people this woman met during her time on this website were just genuinely the worst people in the world - but I was so bored. This is such a dull book. It also dissolves into conversations about sex horrifically quickly. If you're looking - like me - to pick up this book because it promises a 'love story with books', you're going to be disappointed. The book conversation makes up less than 10% of this book and the rest is about the author having an existential and work crisis at the same time and the overly long, sprawling conversations she has with strangers, many of whom appear to just want to fuck her. It's a surface level book that never wants to go deeper than what's on page.

I loved The Bookshop Woman it is a beautifully written thoughtful look at Nanak Hanadas life after her divorce Her desire to find a new path leads her to search out strangers she engages with learns about them then suggest a book she thinks they will enjoy.If you love books this will be a book I will be recommending to you a book that stayed with me even I read the last page.Also the cover is perfect #netgalley #octopus

Thank you to the publisher and NetGalley for this eARC of 'The Bookshop Woman' by Nanako Hanada.

'The Bookshop Woman' is one of those books you get gripped into. Joining a dating site whilst getting a separation from your husband purely to suggest books from strangers? Now that's something different. I loved the writing style so much and the whole story just gripped me. I got to mention the fact that at the end, a memo was left with every single recommended book so you could go and read them yourself. Perfection.

Our protagonist is going through a divorce, and tries to find her new direction by recommending books to people she meets online. We read about her encounters with strangers from online (as mixed a bag as you’d expect) and her bookselling career. Silly me, but I didn’t realise until I finished that this is a non-fiction.

I found the meetings she had to be a little too shallow and I wasn't really getting anything from it? There was a lot of telling but not showing when it comes to this and pretty soon I got bored of the same concept over and over again (to be fair Nanako in the book also said this).

I did like a few topics that were discussed, but overall i was just feeling dissatisfied by this book. I wish it had delved deeper.

The Bookshop Woman is definitely a book to read if you love books, and if you love recommending books to other people. I loved the premise of this book and enjoyed the way Nanako, the author and also the main character in this book, met people through a "dating" app to recommend them books, and how she seems to be challenging herself outside of her comfort zone in order to become less lonely and also to be able to understand people better. I loved this particular message of this book, of trying something new in order to open up a new window.

However, I did have some issues with this book. I just found the meetings she had were a little too shallow and I wasn't really getting anything from it? There was a lot of telling but not showing when it comes to this and pretty soon I got bored of the same concept over and over again (to be fair Nanako in the book also said this). However, I did appreciate one of the aspect in this book which was that some of the men Nanako met in this book just assume that Nanako is interested in a relationship with her rather than just friendship. It was not my favorite to read but I felt like that part is very realistic to the actual world we live in now :). I also appreciate the list of books in the back that Nanako recommended throughout the whole book!

I loved this book, an easy read, really charming and relaxing but also quite inspirational. I think, for myself at least, it can be easy to get quite stuck in routines, or a small circle of people to talk to, and I would love to grow rhe confidence to do something like this 😊. It reminded me that we can do something different, meet strangers and make more friends at any stage.

This is a gentle sweet read about a woman who loves books but whose life has ended up in something of a rut. She’s unsure what she wants anymore, her job has become about selling novelties rather than books and her marriage is crumbling. Having moved out, she joins a meet-up app and documents her 30 min conversations with strangers. Through these meetings, she regains her confidence and makes some new friends who give her the courage/belief to start living the life she wants to.

Running through this is an ode to books, bookshops and the power of reading. Our narrator recommends books to those she meets and manages to turn this passion into something more. An uplifting story you’ll finish in a couple of sittings. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

At the heart of it, this is probably very profound if you sit and think about the reading experience, but on the surface it is such a seamlessly light read, that it balances the two with grace. I loved the experience of reading THE BOOKSHOP WOMAN, and the way it interwove a woman's story that is so much about human connection and opening yourself up to the world while trying to make sense of yourself and your life with a love of reading. As a former bookseller who loved little else than tailoring the perfect list of recommendations for people (and I will still, to this day, throw recommendations out sans the payslip aspect of it all), this spoke to me as a person.
Delightful, light and touching.

This was SO GOOD!

I love books about books, I am a huge fan of Japanese literature and I love a good memoir, so The Bookshop Woman felt like it was tailor-made for me! It's such a beautiful ode to the power of books and their ability to bring people together and help us when we're not sure where to go and/or what to do with our lives.

In The Bookshop Woman, we meet Nanako, who has worked as a bookseller for quite a few years but has been feeling really down with both her personal and professional life. To meet new people, she decides to join a meet-up site where people meet for 30 minutes for all sorts of reasons (e.g., romance, sharing ideas, building a network). She says on her profile that she's able to give anyone she meets a perfect recommendation for a book, and the result of that is that she ends up meeting a wide range of people and getting new perspective on her own life and the variety of individuals out there.

I'd say this fits the healing "fiction" kind of genre, but it's even better because it's not fiction, it's based on Nanako Hanada's own experiences. It had been quite a while since I'd read a memoir and this felt like the perfect book to get me back to this genre. Some memoirs read "like fiction", if that makes sense, in the best possible way because the writing feels smooth and fluid, and this was the perfect example of a book like that. Of course, part of the credit here goes to the translator, Cat Anderson, for making that come across in English.

Thank you very much to Brazen and NetGalley for the e-ARC!

Nanako is breaking up with her husband and living in a tiny flat; she works in a weird shop which is part-novelties and part-books, staffed by life's slightly odder people; she's always fitted in there but recently wanted a bit more. She joins a website called PerfectStrangers where you can meet a stranger for half an hour in public, and documents the people she meets, quickly deciding her schtick will be recommending a book to them. There's a sweet little line drawing of each main person she meets.

Soon she's expanding her friendship group, hanging out playing games and taking part in a recommending marathon with booksellers. We get her rules for matching books to people and enjoy meeting in the main nice people, some of whom she befriends properly.

There's a chapter-by-chapter bibliography (with a note of which books are available in English translation), a recommended reading list by Nanako and a list of books recommended by the publisher, Brazen (I've read none of the former and two of the latter) which makes it a lovely and friendly resource as well as an interesting read in itself.

A book about books is a lovely kind of book - Nanako Hanada captures her midlife worries, doubts, and frustrations in this succinct and thoughtful memoir, and I was honoured to follow her on a journey of self discovery.

Having separated from her husband, Nanako finds herself temporarily homeless and questioning her next steps. Feeling lonely and lost, she signs up for a friend finding app - and so begins her adventure.

What starts as an attempt to stand out quickly becomes an important part of her life: recommending the perfect book to a perfect stranger. Her choices are well considered and give her a sense of pride and purpose, but as she continues to meet a wide ranger of people she realises she can use books as a way to communicate what words struggle to capture.

I love how this book considers so many different issues, from the "lifeless" quality of modern book reviews to the impossibility of knowing a person based solely on their social media or first impressions. Nanako experiences such a wide range of interactions during her time on PerfectStrangers (both good and very very bad), but each teaches her something about people, the world, or herself.

I also LOVE the list of recommendations at the back. Instead of needing to go back through searching for each title, they are all gathered at the end along with additional suggestions.

The Bookshop Woman was totally unexpected and led me to realize certain truths about my own self as I followed Nanako questioning what was most important to her. This is a short read, but one that has much to offer. If you're a lover of books, going through changes in life, or worried about making friends this would be a great title to check out!

I enjoyed this book where the author met with different people thanks to an app just to meet people and recommend books. No other motive! I enjoyed seeing that everything turned put for better after her marriage broke down.

Books about Books! I'm here for it!! And this was a really enjoyable read, following the experiences of a woman in Japan who immerses herself in finding new friends through books after her marriage breaks up.

The author has always loved reading and books, and that is where her career has taken her, through various bookshops in Japan. After splitting with her husband she starts using an App, Perfect Strangers, to find new people to talk to and share that love of books and she has a wonderful gift of being able to recommend books to people. And that's her hook so prepare for lots of book recommendations, which are handily collated at the end of the book which I found very handy!

I loved the variety of people she met along the way through the app, and it also opened up her eyes to different experiences and people wanting different things from life who also shared their own advice to her. The connection she found with these people gave her back her confidence which is a wonderful gift in itself! It was really easy to read and had a lovely feel to it

An ode to the love of books: the story of a woman who uses a dating site to suggest a book for each person to read, pretty much my dream job. It reminded me a lot the book, also Japanese, about the person who was paid to do nothing except company (Shoji Morimoto: Rental person who does nothing), although the meetings had different purposes. Very enjoyable and especially remarkable is the final summary where all the books mentioned in the book are listed.

Un ode all'amore per i libri: la storia di una donna che usa un sito di incontri per suggerire a ciascuno un libro da leggere, praticamente il lavoro dei miei sogni. Mi ha ricordato molto il libro, sempre giapponese, della persona che veniva pagata per non fare niente a parte compagnia (Shoji Morimoto: Rental person who does nothing), anche se gli incontri avevano scopi diversi. Molto piacevole e soprattutto notevole é il riassunto finale dove sono elencati tutti i libri di cui si parla nel libro.

I received a complimentary digital advanced review copy from the publisher, in exchange for a honest review.

I enjoyed this memoir about a women trying to figure out what to do with her life when her marriage ends and her job has changed. I initially found it a little slow going, with some of the descriptions of the meetups feeling a little shallow, but I got more absorbed as I got into it and I really enjoyed the latter half a lot more.

I also really loved that there's a section at the end that lists every book recommended throughout each chapter!

I love translated books, particularly Japanese and Korean fiction, but I hadn't read a translated non-fiction, so was looking forward to seeing how it stood up to fiction.

In the book, Nanako discusses a site called PerfectStrangers, where you meet people to chat. So it's like a dating site in the sense that you scroll through profiles, but it's like "interested in talking to someone about books", and I think that's a fabulous idea. I don't know if it's an international thing, but it should be. It sounds great, to meet people, to learn, and to stave off loneliness.

She is very honest, which is what I want from a memoir piece of writing. You never know if an author is being fully truthful about their own lives, but this came across as very honest and very free, which made it a pleasure to read.

It also has some very good author and book recommendations, and I'm all for books that lead you to more books! She clearly has a passion for books and reading; that comes across very clearly and it's wonderful.

She's got the right length; any longer and I think it might have got a bit repetitive and drawn out, but this keeps it neat.

I would say the first part is more about the books and her meeting people, whereas the second half is more personal about her, her past, her marriage etc. which gives you two nice and distinct sections.

My main initial issue was that it felt like reading a list - at least to begin with. Sort of, "the first person I met was Mr X and we talked about this. Mr Y was next. Then I saw Mr Z. We discussed this. He introduced me to Mr A" etc. It's not a criticism as such, as I have no idea what it is like to write a memoir, especially in its translated form, but it would have been nicer for it to flow slightly more.

It's not the best non-fiction book, or book about books, that I've read, but it is interesting, well written, and thought provoking, and offers some interesting reading ideas. But it didn't linger in the memory. Once I'd finished it, I sort of forgot about it.

Rating: 2.5 Stars

I‘m sad to say this book wasn‘t for me.. It felt a little like it never quite got out of the rough draft stage. The characters felt a bit flat, and the whole thing just didn't pull me in like I hoped.

I'm left wishing it had been more polished. It's sad because there was potential there, but it just didn't hit the mark for me.