About the book, from HarperCollins:

“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. What You Are Looking For Is in the Library is about the magic of libraries and the discovery of connection. This inspirational tale shows how, by listening to our hearts, seizing opportunity and reaching out, we too can fulfill our lifelong dreams. Which book will you recommend?”

About the Author, Michiko Aoyama, and the Translator, Alison Watts:

“Michiko Aoyama was born in 1970 in Aichi Prefecture, Honshu, Japan. After university, she became a reporter for a Japanese newspaper based in Sydney before moving back to Tokyo to work as a magazine editor. What You are Looking for is in the Library was shortlisted for the Japan Booksellers’ Award and became a Japanese bestseller. It is being translated into more than twenty languages. Aoyama lives in Yokohama, Japan.”

Alison Watts: “I had a long career as a commercial translator until one book changed my life: a travel memoir about art student Aya Goda’s journey through China and Tibet in 1989 during the turmoil of Tiananmen. Riveted by this tale, I burned to share it with the English-speaking world. Long story short, my translation was eventually published as TAO: On the Road and on the Run in Outlaw China (Portobello) and I became hooked on literary translation.

Since then I have translated the international bestseller Sweet Bean Paste by Durian Sukegawa, Spark by Naoki Matayoshi (the Japanese publishing phenomenon that was made into a Netflix series), The Aosawa Murders (a New York Times Notable Book of the Year in 2020) and Fish Swimming in Dappled Sunlight by Riku Onda, and The Boy and the Dog by Seishu Hase.

In 2021 I was awarded the Kyoko Selden Memorial Prize for Translation for an excerpt from Durian Sukegawa’s travel memoir A Dosimeter on the Narrow Road to Oku, and in 2024 I won the inaugural Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Prize for my translation of Hase Seishu’s The Boy and the Dog.

I also translate books about sashiko, which is traditional Japanese stitching.”

Why I selected What you are looking for is in the library for the March 2024 Giveaway:

• This gnome LOVES that this book is a celebration of the library and the comfort that books can bring to all people.
• This story is told in a series of vignettes of people who come and mee the same librarian, who listens to what they want… but knows what they need. You should ALWAYS trust your librarian (or bookseller), even when they put a weird suggestion on your TBR.
• This story is so cozy and charming, and I just want to wrap myself up in a big warm blanket and read it. Who DOESN’T want more books like that?
• Each character that we meet throughout this book is typically facing a career turning-point during the time that many might consider “middle age” (or thereabout…).and it’s so refreshing to see these characters use books and stories to help them get “unstuck.”
• Finally, this gnome appreciated that this book features everything that we love and strive to create in Tucson – it’s all about communities connecting with the magic of books to change their lives ❤

And please don’t forget! We are grateful to our friends at Downtown Tucson Partnerships and HSL Properties for helping to sponsor the books we’ll be hiding downtown this month!