Days at the Morisaki Bookshop

Satoshi Yagisawa was born in Chiba, Japan, in 1977. Days at the Morisaki Bookshop, his debut novel, was originally published in 2009 and won the Chiyoda Literature Prize.

"Ozawa's translation gracefully captures the author's whimsical and tender voice. Yagisawa has the right touch for lifting a reader's mood." - Publishers Weekly

"The unadorned simplicity of Takako's voice is anything but subtle, but it's somehow winning in its guilelessness . . . . Days at the Morisaki Bookshop draws a strong connection between the empathy unleashed by great literature and Takako's growing sense of self-confidence and well-being." - NPR

"The book's vibe makes it pleasant company for an afternoon in the park with a snack." - Los Angeles Times

"Yagisawa's prose is clean and direct even as he describes the Morisaki Bookshop and the city that surrounds it with extraordinary care and detail. The characters are also compelling, but it is really the setting and the atmosphere that stand out in this novel. Readers will want to linger in this world. They will want more when this concise tale ends." - Booklist

"Ozawa's translation preserves the drollness and buoyancy of Takako's first-person narrative of small pleasures and mysteries. A familiar romance about books and bookstores, told with heart and humor." - Kirkus Reviews

"A slender book, but one rich in experience, exactly like the tiny, crammed Morisaki bookshop itself." - New York Journal of Books

"Steeped in the ambience of a used bookstore as it is in the culture of reading." - Yahoo News

"Thought-provoking, sincere, and honest." - The Uncorked Librarian