What You Are Looking for is in the Library

by Michiko Aoyama

But it’s why, whenever I feel happy or glad about something, I count my blessings and think to myself, ‘Now, wasn’t that worth all the effort of being born?’”

“Singles are envious of those who are married, and married couples envy those with children, but people with children are envious of singles. It’s an endless merry-go-round. But isn’t that funny? That each person should be chasing the tail of the person in front of them, when no one is coming first or last. In other words, when it comes to happiness nothing is better or worse—there is no definitive state.”

“Life is one revelation after another. Things don’t always go to plan, no matter what your circumstances. But the flip side is all the unexpected, wonderful things that you could never have imagined happening. Ultimately it’s all for the best that many things don’t turn out the way we hoped. Try not to think of upset plans or schedules as personal failure or bad luck. If you can do that, then you can change, in your own self and in your life overall.”

From big things to little, there are some things we simply cannot force to go to plan, no matter how hard we try.

How uncanny the way what one reads can sometimes synchronize with reality.

If I put myself at the center of everything, does that mean I always see myself as a victim?

“You may say that it was the book, but it’s how you read a book that is most valuable, rather than any power it might have itself.”

Isn’t it a good thing to want more great books in the world? I want to read them too.”

“This didn’t just come to you. It happened because you did something for yourself. You took action and that caused things to change around you.”

I’m a place where Wallace lives on? Is that how you make a place for somebody—one person thinking about another?

Yet each reader can have their own interpretation, which is a good thing.

“You told me that if you only ever look in front, your view will be quite narrow. So whenever I feel stuck or don’t know what to do, I try to broaden my view. Relax my shoulders and walk sideways like a crab.”

It’s the same with books. Readers make their own personal connections to words, irrespective of the writer’s intentions, and each reader gains something unique.”