The Bookshop Woman

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!

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.

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!

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

I loved this book. It reads like fiction, the way the writing just flows and carries you through.
Hanada is in a bit of a rut and decides to meet more people. They then start to recommend books to those they've met online.
I would really like to read a lot of the books recommended but they aren't available in English.
The feeling that came across was of that connection between people. Especially between readers, discussing books, making recommendations. Beautiful

This was such a surprise of a book, a delight, I loved it.
A love story to books, bookselling, reading , this book made my heart sing. I loved the writing, the protagonist Nanako, the Tokyo setting and the eclectic cast of secondary characters.
Quietly wise ,humourous and heart warming, this is a book I will buy as a gift to a fellow book lover.
A gorgeous read.