Days at the Morisaki Bookshop: A Love Letter to Books, Tokyo, and Second Chances

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa

Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa is a quiet, tender novel about finding your way when life has left you adrift. Takako, a young woman from Tokyo, quits her office job and comes to live and work in the small second-hand bookstore of her uncle, Satoru, in a small provincial town.

In her life in Tokyo, she was indecisive, reserved, and treated like dirt by her boyfriend. After summoning the courage to confront her boyfriend and tell him the truth, Takako takes a decisive step forward, leaving behind the negativity and moving on with her life.

Her uncle’s wife suddenly reappears with her husband after years of absence. As if nothing had happened. With her aunt Momoko, she heads into the mountains for a weekend. Momoko turns out to have had an abortion years ago and then struggled with life. After the mountain outing, Momolo disappears again as shyly as she has returned. Takako breaks her vow of secrecy and informs her uncle Satoru of the secret his wife is carrying. He searches and finds his wife again, and they become closer than ever.

Secretive as a Murakami. With a fine list of quoted Japanese writers at the back of the book.

If you’ve ever lost yourself in The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin—a novel about a grumpy bookshop owner who rediscovers joy through books—then Days at the Morisaki Bookshop will feel like a kindred spirit. Both books describe bookshops not as places to buy books; they’re places where lives are rebuilt.

Werner Herzog – Every Man For Himself And God Against All

The memoirs of Werner Herzog.

Herzog tells us about his tough youth in Bavaria, factually, as if it were normal. His family is so poor that they can not afford to wear shoes and underwear in summer. He grows up in deep poverty in the almost fairy tale world of the Bavarian mountains—a hard life, his parents somewhat loveless. Herzog brings us from these archaic times into the internet age.

He jumps back to the chaotic times around the Second World War and the weird family situation. His parents are members of the Nazi party. His father is a wild man who married three times—a good-for-nothing, selfish klaploper. Herzog moves around and does not belong anywhere. He lives in the German post-war rubble.

The story jumps back and forth in time and tells about crazy accidents, catastrophes, wounds, illnesses, and crashes. Throughout the book, Herzog speaks about the challenges he takes on without explicitly mentioning them. He seems to have a preference for the risky and weird, which is reflected in the extraordinary topics of his films.

His diary notes under the title Ballad of the Little Soldier are terrible stories about child soldiers. He films people on death row.

Herzog and Kinsky

He has worked on several films with the crazy and genius actor Klaus Kinsky. From the stories, Kinsky emerges even more disturbed than what we already knew about him.

Herzog’s writing style is entertaining. He starts a story, jumps back in time, returns to the story, jumps forward, and so on. Which feels very natural.

Can’t summarize. A relentless man is probably the best summary.

Norwegian Wood the movie and re-reading books

Twin Peaks

Yesterday, I re-watched an episode of Twin Peaks, which remains a fantastic David Lynch classic. Being somewhat low-energy, I scrolled through my Justwatch list to see if any other exciting films were available. There, I found Norwegian Wood.

Recently, I reread Haruki Murakami’s book. I still liked it very much. (I rarely reread a single book, with exceptions being Haruki Murakami, Gerrit Krol, Douglas Coupland, Derek Sivers and Seth Godin)
The movie Norwegian Wood has a very similar atmosphere to the book. The film has the typical Murakami-like alienation from the world.

“Of course.”

“Is that a catchphrase of yours?”

I found this again in “The City and Its Uncertain Walls” (in Dutch – De stad en zijn onvaste muren).

→ The City and Its Uncertain Walls

Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver; of willpower and friends

Book cover of Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver, a modern retelling of David Copperfield set in Appalachia.

I finished Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. A very good book that reminds me of multiple books for multiple reasons.

A modern classic?

Demon Copperhead has a theme and style very much similar to Nick Cave’s The Ass Saw the Angel (alcoholic boy and the atmosphere) and Salingers Catcher in the Rye (a dive into the adolescent mind), for example.

Demon is the son of a junky mother and a father that died when Demon was still young.

The boy ends up in child care and lives with foster parents who are only interested in the allowance that comes with the care. He finds his loving grandmother, who finds a better home for him. The boy is talented in sports and drawing. He has some luck but makes the wrong decisions and ends up addicted to pills himself and with a girlfriend who is addicted to any substance, including heroin.

Will-power and friends try to drag him out of a downward spiral.

My, what a read!

Why This Book Stays With You

It’s not the drama that gets you in this book. It is the quiet, aching truth of it. Kingsolver doesn’t soften the edges. She doesn’t give you a neat ending or easy answers. Instead, she hands you a story that clings, like the scent of rain on dry earth. You don’t just read about Demon’s life, instead you feel the weight of it. It refuses to look away. And neither can you.