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Showing 1 - 9 of 9 items
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
General fiction, Family stories
Human-narrated audio
The story of three women by a writer hailed by Haruki Murakami as Japan's most important contemporary novelist. Challenging every…
preconception about storytelling and prose style, mixing wry humor and riveting emotional depth, Kawakami is today one of Japan's most important and bestselling writers. She exploded onto the cultural scene first as a musician, then as a poet and popular blogger, and is now an award-winning novelist. Breasts & Eggs paints a portrait of contemporary womanhood in Japan and recounts the intimate journeys of three women as they confront oppressive mores and their own uncertainties on the road to finding peace and futures they can truly call their own. It tells the story of three women: the thirty-year-old Natsu, her older sister, Makiko, and Makiko's daughter, Midoriko. Makiko has traveled to Tokyo in search of an affordable breast enhancement procedure. She is accompanied by Midoriko, who has recently grown silent, finding herself unable to voice the vague yet overwhelming pressures associated with growing up. Her silence proves a catalyst for each woman to confront her fears and frustrations. On another hot summer's day ten years later, Natsu, on a journey back to her native city, struggles with her own indeterminate identity as she confronts anxieties about growing old alone and childless
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
Fantasy, General fiction
Human-narrated audio
From the author of international bestseller Before the Coffee Gets Cold, this book follows four new customers who hope to…
travel back in time in a little Japanese café. In a back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. Local legend says that this shop offers something else besides coffee—the chance to travel back in time. With faces both familiar and new, Tales from the Cafe follows the story of four patrons who visit to take advantage of café Funiculi Funicula's time-traveling offer and revisit moments with family, friends and lovers. Each one must face up to the past to move on with their lives. Kawaguchi's wistful and heartwarming new novel once again invites the reader to ask themselves, "What would you change if you could travel back in time?"
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
Multi-cultural fiction, General fiction, Friendship stories
Human-narrated audio
Anime master Hayao Miyazaki's favorite childhood book and a beloved Japanese classic, this uplifting coming-of-age story brings philosophy, history and…
wonder together, available in English for the first time.The streets of Tokyo swarm below fifteen-year-old Copper as he gazes out into the city of his childhood. Struck by the thought of the infinite people whose lives play out alongside his own, he begins to wonder, how do you live? Considering life's biggest questions for the first time after the death of his father, Copper turns to his dear uncle for heart-warming wisdom. As the old man guides the boy on a journey of philosophical discovery, a timeless tale unfolds, offering a poignant reflection on what it means to be human. But when Copper betrays one of his new friends, how will he ask for forgiveness — and how can he forgive himself? How Do You Live? is the inspiring, transformative story of a young man who, like his namesake Copernicus, looks to the stars and uses his discoveries to answer the question of what kind of person he will grow up to be.
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
General fiction, Science fiction
Human-narrated audio
The latest novel in the international bestselling Before the Coffee Gets Cold Series , following four new customers in a…
little Tokyo café where customers can travel back in time. In a small back alley in Tokyo, there is a café that has been serving carefully brewed coffee for more than one hundred years. But this coffee shop offers its customers a unique experience: the chance to travel back in time. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of Café Funiculi Funicula's time-traveling offer. Along with some familiar faces from Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to a daughter, a comedian, a sister and a lover, each with something they wish they had said differently. With his signature heartwarming characters and immersive storytelling, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
Serious and literary fiction, Family stories
Human-narrated audio
The wise and charming international bestseller and hit Japanese movie—about a young woman who loses everything but finds herself—a tale…
of new beginnings, romantic and family relationships, and the comfort that can be found in books. Twenty-five-year-old Takako has enjoyed a relatively easy existence—until the day her boyfriend Hideaki, the man she expected to wed, casually announces he's been cheating on her and is marrying the other woman. Suddenly, Takako's life is in freefall. She loses her job, her friends, and her acquaintances, and spirals into a deep depression. In the depths of her despair, she receives a call from her distant uncle Satoru. An unusual man who has always pursued something of an unconventional life, especially after his wife Momoko left him out of the blue five years earlier, Satoru runs a second-hand bookshop in Jimbocho, Tokyo's famous book district. Takako once looked down upon Satoru's life. Now, she reluctantly accepts his offer of the tiny room above the bookshop rent-free in exchange for helping out at the store. The move is temporary, until she can get back on her feet. But in the months that follow, Takako surprises herself when she develops a passion for Japanese literature, becomes a regular at a local coffee shop where she makes new friends, and eventually meets a young editor from a nearby publishing house who's going through his own messy breakup. But just as she begins to find joy again, Hideaki reappears, forcing Takako to rely once again on her uncle, whose own life has begun to unravel. Together, these seeming opposites work to understand each other and themselves as they continue to share the wisdom they've gained in the bookshop. Translated By Eric Ozawa
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
Friendship stories, Serious and literary fiction
Human-narrated audio
For fans of Before the Coffee Gets Cold, a charming, internationally bestselling Japanese novel about how the perfect book recommendation…
can change a readers' life. 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?
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
Family stories, Animal stories, Short stories
Human-narrated audio
In this delightful and touching follow-up to the internationally bestselling Travelling Cat Chronicles, seven felines teach their humans about love,…
loss, and the art of facing the inevitable—the perfect gift for every cat lover.Already a bestseller in Japan, The Goodbye Cat is a collection of simple yet charming, funny, and often very moving tales (tails?) woven by seven wise felines and their humans.Against the backdrop of Japan's changing seasons, we meet Spin, a kitten rescued from the recycling bin, whose playful nature and simple needs teach an anxious father how to parent his own human baby; a colony of wild cats on a holiday island who show a young boy not to stand in nature’s way; a cat whose undying devotion to their charismatic but uncaring father enriches a family; and an elderly cat who hatches a plan to pass into the next world as a spirit so that he and his owner may be in each other’s lives for ever.Bursting with love and warmth, The Goodbye Cat exquisitely explores the cycle of life and how, in different ways, the steadiness and devotion of a well-loved cat never lets us down. A joyous celebration of the wondrousness of cats and why we choose to share our lives with them.
DAISY audio (CD), DAISY audio (Direct to player), DAISY audio (Zip)
General fiction
Human-narrated audio
The Korean smash hit available for the first time in English, a slice-of-life novel for readers of Matt Haig's The…
Midnight Library and Gabrielle Zevin's The Storied Life of AJ Fikry. Yeongju is burned out. With her high-flying career, demanding marriage, and busy life in Seoul, she knows she should feel successful, but all she feels is drained. Yet an abandoned dream nags at her, and in a leap of faith, she leaves her old life behind. Quitting her job and divorcing her husband, Yeongju moves to a small residential neighborhood outside the city, where she opens the Hyunam-dong Bookshop. For the first few months, all Yeongju does is cry, deterring visitors. But the long hours in the shop give her time to mull over what makes a good bookseller and store, and as she starts to read hungrily, host author events, and develop her own bookselling philosophy, she begins to ease into her new setting. Surrounded by friends, writers, and the books that connect them all, she finds her new story as the Hyunam-dong Bookshop transforms into an inviting space for lost souls to rest, heal, and remember that it's never too late to scrap the plot and start again
Braille (Contracted), Electronic braille (Contracted)
General fiction, Serious and literary fiction, Science fiction, Fantasy
Human-transcribed braille
"On the hillside of Mount Hakodate in northern Japan, Cafe Donna Donna is fabled for its dazzling views of Hakodate…
port. But that's not all. Like the charming Tokyo cafe Funiculi Funicula, Cafe Donna Donna offers its customers the extraordinary experience of travelling through time. From the author of Before the Coffee Gets Cold and Tales from the Cafe comes another story of four new customers, each of whom is hoping to take advantage of the cafe's time-travelling offer. Among some familiar faces from Toshikazu Kawaguchi's previous novels, readers will also be introduced to: a daughter who begrudges her deceased parents for leaving her orphaned; a comedian who aches for his beloved and their shared dreams; a younger sister whose grief has become all-consuming; a young man who realizes his love for his childhood friend too late. Translated from Japanese by Geoffrey Trousselot and featuring signature heart-warming characters and wistful storytelling, in Before Your Memory Fades, Kawaguchi once again invites the reader to ask themselves: what would you change if you could travel back in time?" -- Provided by publisher