What You Are Looking for is in the Library

by Michiko Aoyama

The days go by more happily when you have something to dream about. It’s not always a bad thing to have a dream, with no plan for ever carrying it out.”

Choosing to do something because it excites you is the best reason of all. I just know it.”

When I opened the book, the endpapers were not the inky black of the previous edition, but a startling canary yellow. The text inside appeared to be the same, however. It was a reissue: proof that this book was beloved and still in demand. The knowledge warmed me. Books, too, could be reborn. I thought of who might pick up this book and how they might react to it.

Below the words “river crabs” written prominently in red is a line in smaller black lettering that says, “For deep-frying! For pets!” For pets...? It is natural in the food section to expect that crabs would be sold for consumption, but when suddenly presented with the option of keeping them as a pet, instead, I don’t know what to think. Be eaten or be loved.

Books will always be essential for some people. And bookshops are a place for those people to discover the books that will become important to them. I will never allow bookshops to vanish from this world,”