When I reviewed three Japanese foodie books last week, I had no idea I would be back so soon with another one but here we are.
Over the last few years I have been reading more and more Japanese and Korean fiction, and a large proportion of those have been set in restaurants and cafes. I have also read several books that have been set in bookstores or libraries. So when you find one which is Japanese, foodie and set in a library, of course I am going to have to read it!
Otoha Higuchi really wants to work with books, but working in a large chain bookstore isn't working for her at all. When she is contacted by someone known only as Seven Rainbows offering her a job at a library known only as The Night Library she is at first hesitant. The money isn't great, but it does include board and some food. Whilst her ambitious parents aren't pleased Otaha needs to get out of her current situation so she accepts.
The Night Library isn't really a library in the normal sense of the word, especially seeing as you can't borrow any of the books. It is more a collection of books that have been donated by many authors after their passing. It might include their own books, their research books, the books that they personally loved to read. The people who loved their books might come to the library just to look at the books that their favourite authors loved, or researchers might come to look for specific references. You could call it a book museum.
It is called The Night Library because of the unusual opening hours which are from 7pm to midnight each day.
One mystery about the library is who the owner is. No one has ever met them which the employees do find a bit odd. All instructions for them come via the manager, Mr Sasai.
Otoha's first task in her new role will be to unpack, sort and catalogue all the books as the come in from the various donations. They will then be stamped with an individually designed stamp for each author and then shelved in the library. I did find myself googling to see if the author's that were mentioned were real Japanese authors or made up. I think it is a combination of both
If you have read book like Before the Coffee Gets Cold, you know that often these styles of stories have a fairly standard structure that are almost like connected short stories. This book is far less episodic than most Japanese books I am reading. There is a through story as we follow Otoha as she gets settled into her new role but we also get to hear the stories of the other characters including the manager Mr Sasai, and co-workers Ako and Minami.
Throughout each of the episodes we find out what happens when a new collection arrives, we meet some of the people who come to the library to look at the collections from specific authors for their own reasons, we hear about the team members who has fallen out of love with reading, and about books that start mysteriously appearing in the library but aren't part of the collection. We also meet an author's sister who just wants all their books gone, immediately. Finally, the whole team must deal with the news that the library is going to be closing for a while, but could the owner really be meaning to close it permanently?
I mentioned that this was also a foodie book. That comes in the form of the staff dinners which are prepared by the chef Mr. Kinoshita. He creates menus based on mentions of food in various books.
The episodes each have plenty of food references but specifically
Episode One - Shirobanba Curry
Episode Two - Mamaya's Carrot Rice
Episode Three - Anne of Green Gables Bread and Butter and Cucumbers
Episode Four - Seiko Tanabe's Simmered Sardines and Okara
Final Episode -Yoki Mori's Canned Food Recipes
So much of the food sounded really delicious.
In closing, I thought I would share a quote from Episode Three. As you can see from above, the meal being served is cucumber sandwiches, which the chef was serving with a small bowl of peas. I thought this exchange from page 144 between Otoha and the chef was fun.
"Those are green peas sauteed in butter. I finished them by adding a spoonful of sugar. Do you remember how, when they invited Mrs. Morgan to Green Gables, Anne added too much sugar and spoiled the peas?"
"You've read the books very closely, Mr. Kinoshita. Much more than I have."
"No, just the parts about food. I pored over those to come up with a menu."
As always, he served her coffee after the meal, along with a side dish. Brown, slightly large cubes.
"Mr. Kinoshita, this is ....?"
"Chocolate caramel."
"Really? Anne's chocolate caramel? The kind she always wanted to eat?"
"That's right."
"Ever since I was little I've always been curious about what it tastes like. Whenever I eat Morinaga brand Chocoballs, I wonder if that's how her chocolate caramels tasted."
Otoha took one of the chocolate-colored squares and popped it into her mouth. It melted in her mouth, with a thick aftertaste of both chocolate and caramel. A taste similar to the kind of fresh caramel chocolates that were popular here a while ago, but with a pleasant aroma of milk.
"This is so good!
Otoha then suggests they should market the caramels but the chef is adamant that it is way too much work!
I really enjoyed this novel, which is the first I have read by this author. It looks like they have been quite successful in Japan for a long time, but it seems that this is the first to be translated into English, with a new one coming later this year! I will definitely be reading it!
I am sharing this post with the Japanese Literature Challenge, hosted by Dolce Bellezza, with Foodies Read hosted at Based on a True Story, and the Books in Translation Challenge hosted at Introverted Reader. This also counts for the Bookish Books challenge hosted at Bloggin' Bout Books.
