“Kinyō-dō,” or “The Friday Bookshop,” is a cozy little bookshop-with-coffee shop located on the footbridge of a rustic train station north of Tokyo. According to an urban myth circulating among certain netizens, it’s a bookshop where you can find the book you want to read: the book you need at that particular moment, even if you don’t know it yourself. When college student Fumiya visits the bookshop as a last-ditch effort to find a book for his bedridden father, he is disappointed to see that it’s just a small commonplace store. But he soon discovers that it not only includes a coffee shop where the food menu changes daily on the chef’s whim but also a vast underground vault lined with bookshelves, lovingly converted from an old abandoned subway platform. The bookshop is run by a quirky trio—Makino, the perky, impulsive shop manager; Yasu, the mouthy but big-hearted owner; and Sugawa, the reticent, graceful bartender chef—who have been close friends ever since their Friday Book Club in senior high school. Through colorful interactions with people at the bookshop, Fumiya slowly overcomes his insecurities and grows as a person. With his imposter syndrome as the son of a hugely successful bookstore CEO, Fumiya believes he isn’t qualified enough to read or offer opinions about books. As he works part-time at The Friday Bookshop, Fumiya comes to embrace reading as the ultimate personal experience, in which every reader is free to respond differently. For him, books become a means to connect with other people and to navigate through the twists and turns of life.

The novel consists of four chapters, each focusing on a different visitor (or visitors) and the book that becomes entwined with their lives. The featured books, which range widely in genre, are real books, so the novel can also give you ideas for what to read next. Another highlight is the enticing dishes that Sugawa rustles up, inspired by each book.

The novel’s premise is similar to Michiko Aoyama’s What You Are Looking for is in the Library (trans. Alison Watts), but this novel develops its story in a more organic, dynamic way, weaving in quotes and ideas from the featured books. Plus, a light-touch zaniness to the characters and the setting, which calls to mind Tomihiko Morimi’s Tatami Galaxy (trans. Emily Balistrieri), adds extra spice to The Friday Bookshop. To borrow the author’s words, this novel is the kind of fantasy that shares the same ground as daily life: a peculiar yet homely story that feels close enough to touch. The novel first appeared as a serial in the magazine Rentier. The first volume keeps possibilities open for a sequel, and it became a popular series with seasonal subtitles (Vol. 2: “Summer and Soda”; Vol. 3: “Autumn and Creamy Stew”; Vol. 4: “Vanilla in Winter,” all published between 2016–18).