by Michiko Aoyama
Hanover Square Press, 2023. 300 pages. Fiction
What are you looking for? So asks Tokyo’s most enigmatic librarian. For Sayuri Komachi is able to sense exactly what each visitor to her library is searching for and provide just the book recommendation to help them find it. A restless retail assistant looks to gain new skills, a mother tries to overcome demotion at work after maternity leave, a conscientious accountant yearns to open an antique store, a recently retired salaryman searches for newfound purpose. In Komachi’s unique book recommendations they will find just what they need to achieve their dreams.
This bestselling collection of cozy short stories is the perfect thing to curl up and read on a stormy winter day. Each story follows a different person who stumbles upon a small library in a Tokyo community center and unknowingly embarks on a journey of self-discovery that leads to small and big life changes. While I do not claim to have the seemingly magical sensibilities of the librarian in these stories, one thing that keeps me excited about libraries is the potential libraries have to make peoples' lives better, as is exhibited in each of these stories. I especially loved that the book that was usually most helpful to each person was a random book that the librarian added on at the end of a list of what they asked for. If you're looking for an uplifting book about everyday people, this is the book for you.
If you like What You Are Looking for Is in the Library, you might also like:
by Matt Haig
Viking, 2020. 288 pages. Science Fiction
At a particularly low point in her life, Nora Seed finds herself faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one when she discovers the Midnight Library: a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of her life in another reality.
by Sara Nisha Adams
William Morrow, 2021. 373 pages. Fiction
Working at the local library, Aleisha reads every book on a secret list she found, which transports her from the painful realities she's facing at home, and decides to pass the list on to a lonely widower desperate to connect with his bookworm granddaughter. Slowly, the shared books create a connection between two lonely souls, as fiction helps them escape their grief and everyday troubles and find joy again.
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