If you need a cosy read this winter, What You are Looking for Is in the Library is a faultless choice to devour before spring arrives. It’s filled with fresh, comforting perspectives and a reassuring outlook to take into 2025.  

With the success of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, Japanese fiction is becoming increasingly more popular. If you haven’t already picked up a Japanese Fiction book, try it out. Test the waters. Soak up something heartwarming.  

The best way to describe What You are Looking for Is in the Library is through the art of the journey. Several intertwining stories feature characters visiting the same librarian to seek purpose.  

Aoyama’s characters advocate for small victories. In a big world and an age defined by comparison, small victories are often forgotten rather than championed. Aoyama notes that career envy and the social ladder is ‘an endless merry-go round.’ However instead of submitting to this ideology, Aoyama questions and satirises it. ‘But isn’t that funny?’ she writes, ‘that each person should be chasing the tail in front of them, when no one is coming first or last.’ I’m unsure currently what the future will have in store for me — but maybe that isn’t such a bad thing. Some advice given to one character resonated with me, when she was told, ‘You managed to find employment, you go to work every day and you can feed yourself. That’s a fine achievement.’¹ If I’m tired, stressed, overworked or anxious I’ll reflect on those words – that’s a fine achievement. Even for the smallest things, to make life a little brighter. 

Another of my favourite lines is, ‘If I can draw just one picture that leaves a mark in somebody’s life and is remembered, then I can find a place for me.’ Authors who value creativity and art are the kind of writers whose books I am drawn to; they are the ones that leave a lasting impression on my life.  I value the concept of legacy in creativity as it resonates with my feelings about my own writing. I could write a million short stories or make up a hundred characters, but if I can write one story that someone remembers and cherishes, I can find a place for myself. 

The nature of the dream made me reflect upon New Year’s resolutions. I try not to say one day, or I’ll start in January, or reset in February. Mrs Komachi, the librarian, says, ‘As you continue to say the words “one day,” the dream is not over… it may never come true.’ It drives me to work harder on my own projects and my degree, so that ‘one day is going to become tomorrow.’  

As a short book with simple sentences, ‘What You are Looking for Is in the Library’ is easily digestible — especially alongside the upcoming semester’s workload. The stories are easy to follow, making it a perfect read to tackle a reading slump. The characters’ problems may well reflect your concerns for the future as a university student, so reading it could put your mind at ease. It’s also perfect for those attached to the feeling of never being enough, despite trying. Or for people who feel like giving up. It gives you gratitude from small things that help you to appreciate life. To keep going, like the characters do.  

If you need another reason to pick this up, there’s a library setting. There’s a kind of love in being surrounded by words and opportunities. Cherish the fact that so many people, even fictional ones, can take refuge in the security of words, and that you can too. 

Image Credit: Wikimedia Commons