Book Review: ‘What You Are Looking For Is in the Library,’ by Michiko Aoyama – The New York Times

Five yearning Tokyo readers get life advice with their borrowed volumes in Michiko Aoyama’s “What You Are Looking For Is in the Library.”
— Read on www.nytimes.com/2023/09/05/books/what-you-are-looking-for-is-in-the-library-michiko-aoyama.html

I just read and reviewed this.

It’s not a common activity: Mother-Daughter Murder Night (Nina Simon)

#MotherDaughterMurderNight #NetGalley

This book has gotten a lot of hype, including being picked for Reese’s book club and receiving a starred review from Library Journal. Based on that, readers may expect a lot from this first novel. In my opinion, it delivers. It is the kind of read where I kept saying that I would return to other things that I had to do when I finished the chapter that I was reading…but then, I just kept on going. All in all, I really enjoyed this one. There are humor, family relationships, a murder…and all of this is well executed in these pages.

Readers meet the three women of the family. Lana has been a real go-getter. A cancer diagnosis has led her to needing some assistance not an easy thing for her. Lana asks her daughter for help and Beth brings her from LA to a quieter community by the water with a slough.

Beth was a teen mother. She is a nurse who lives on the grid but with a homespun lifestyle. She and Lana have a history of not seeing eye to eye. Beth is mom to Jack (Jacqueline), who, when the story opens has been a pretty independent and competent teen. She has led many expeditions on the waters near her house.

What will happen when a body is found? Which of these women will be under suspicion? (Readers find this answer early on.) Who will get involved in finding the truth? Will they succeed? Read this one to find out. Readers will be glad that they did!

Many thanks to NetGalley and William Morrow for this title. All opinions are my now.

Pub date: 05 September 2023

From the Publisher

A Reese's Book Club Pick!
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Editorial Reviews

Review

“Simon’s dazzling debut delivers everything a mystery fan could crave, including a realistically nuanced cast of characters, a vividly evoked coastal California setting, writing imbued with a deliciously desiccated sense of wit, and a perfectly plotted murder with enough red herrings deftly dropped in to confound the most experienced mystery reader. Insightful and frequently funny analysis of family dynamics wrapped up in a cleverly crafted cozy crime novel.” — Library Journal (starred review)

“Three women bond while investigating a homicide in Simon’s spirited debut…. Simon stocks her layered plot with plausibly motivated suspects and convincing red herrings, but it’s her indomitable female characters and their nuanced relationships that give this mystery its spark. Readers will be delighted.” — Publishers Weekly

A blog tour! Main Character Energy by Jamie Varon

I am delighted to introduce you to this title. It is one of many good books on the fall blog tour. Many thanks to the team at HTP for this opportunity.

The cover:

What it’s about:

Poppy Banks would rather be writing mysteries than writing listicles for her dead-end job at Thought Buzz. But after a series of rejections, she’s ready to accept life on the sidelines as a plus-size woman. Her aunt Margot is the one person unwilling to give up on her niece’s dreams and tells her so at their secret yearly lunches.

But all of Poppy’s beliefs about herself are challenged when her beloved aunt dies and leaves her niece a grand surprise—a trip to her villa in the French Riviera. There, she learns her aunt intends to leave her stunning villa and secretive writer’s residency to Poppy—if she can finish her novel in six months.

When the writing countdown begins, Poppy realizes she has more to confront than her writer’s block. Family drama, complicated romances and self-doubt all threaten to throw her off course. In this fun and heartwarming debut, Poppy must decide if she can live up to her aunt’s—and her own—desire to be the main character in her own life.

Reviews:

“This book absolutely dazzled me from the opening scene until the very last page. Highly recommend!” 
—Jenn McKinlay, New York Times bestselling author of Summer Reading
“a sparkling debut” -PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

Try it:

When I met my aunt for the first time, I expected to hate her. After all, she had been the villain in my mom’s story since I was a kid. They hadn’t talked in nearly twenty years and every time I brought her up, my mom would shut me down. I didn’t know what caused their fracture, but my mom’s anger was enough to make me believe that Aunt Margot was the problem.

I never wanted to go behind my mom’s back and betray her trust, but when Margot contacted me in secret, I knew I had to finally meet my elusive aunt.

It was a shock to me that our first visit felt like a reunion.

I thought she’d be hard-edged and critical like my mom was, but instead, she was warm and effusive. I was pulled into her comforting orbit immediately.

We convened in Malibu on a rainy, moody February afternoon. I was twenty-three years old and hopeful, brash, naive. We ate at a cliff-side restaurant, waves crashing against the rocks below us. I didn’t know this would be the start of an annual tradition where I’d meet her for lunch once a year in February, always at the same place, the same order—a sacred ritual just for us.

“Poppy,” she said, her eyes crinkling, her hands outstretched for me to grab them. She seemed ready to cry and I sat there feeling slightly guarded and guilty. I wasn’t supposed to be here. If my mom knew I was meeting with Margot, she wouldn’t be happy. But curiosity had won out.

“Hi,” I said, and the one question that had plagued me slipped from my lips before I could stop it. “What happened between you and my mom?”

Her face clouded over for just a fraction of a second before she waved me off and said, “That’s neither here nor there. Tell me about you. What do you love, Poppy? What lights you up? Who do you want to be when you grow up?”

There was a magic to Aunt Margot. It was clear immediately. I felt myself open up like a blooming sunflower in her presence. A smile spread across my face, the initial guardedness falling away like petals to the ground.

Looking at Margot was like looking at myself in the future. Long, loosely waved, chestnut-brown hair, hers streaked with natural gray, mine highlighted by caramel coloring. Almond-shaped eyes. Hers, moody gray-blue. Mine, vibrant green. Curvy bodies. Heart-shaped faces, reddened at the cheeks. Full lips tinted a cherry red, and straight teeth.

Where we differed was that she was so at ease in her body. She made me feel stronger, simply because she was so herself. Her body wasn’t an apology. She existed as if everything about her were a celebration. She wasn’t braced for the world, like I felt I was. When she spoke to the servers at our lunches, they were all mesmerized by her. She had the kind of wide-open soul that invited everyone in. She had confidence that radiated outward. I basked in it, like it was sunlight after an endless winter.

I wanted to be as carefree as her.

I still do. She made me feel bold.

“What lights me up? Writing,” I told her, jutting my chin up. “I want to write books.”

Her face beamed into a wide smile. 

“That’s wonderful, Poppy,” she said. “Are you writing now?”

“Yes,” I told her. “I’m working on a novel. A thriller, actually.”

Margot looked delighted.

“I love thrillers, too,” she said. “Who’s your favorite author?”

“PJ Latisse,” I said quickly.

Margot sported a grin and said, “Oh, I love their books.”

“You don’t think it’s silly?” I asked, my voice low. “To want to be an author? My mom thinks I’m wasting my time.”

My relationship with my mom was beginning to deteriorate and maybe that’s why I met Margot—to rebel against my mom and all her rough edges. I was realizing I could have agency over my beliefs about the world and myself. She’d spent my childhood urging me to lose weight, forcing me on various fad diets, hoping I would become thin like her. But my body was unruly then. Still is. It didn’t respond to her shame, but my mind did. And I felt cloaked in it.

My mom believed a thin body, handed over like a sacrifice, made dreams come true. Or at least, a thin body was the initial conduit for a good life. Without it, possibilities limit and dwindle. If I did nothing with my life except lose weight and find some man to marry me, it seemed like that would make my mom the happiest. She had virtually no patience or interest in my dreams or aspirations.

“Silly?” Margot asked, cocking her head to the side. “To follow your dreams? Never.”

“Mom says dreams don’t pay the bills.” I shrugged. “But I have to try, don’t I?”

“You always have to try,” Margot said with a sharp nod of her head. “It’s your life, not hers, after all.”

“Hmm,” I said, nodding. For years, I’d been writing at night, during stolen time. I’d been reading my whole life and books were my first love. All I’d ever wanted was to be a writer.

“Remember this, Poppy. For some people, it works out,” Margot said with authority. “You don’t know if it will for you until you try. If you love it, don’t give up on it. Ever. No matter what anyone says.”

“Okay,” I said, smiling, feeling supported and buoyed for the first time ever.

“Something I always say: at the very least, do it for the plot. Do it for the story. Be bold in life, mostly because not being bold is boring as hell.” Margot tipped her head back in glittery laughter and I felt my chest expand in hope.

“The last thing I’d ever want to be is boring,” I replied.

“Good.” Margot nodded firmly, then clapped. “Now, tell me all about what I’ve missed for the last twenty-three years of your life. Don’t skimp on a single detail!” Margot’s hands framed her jaw and she rested on her elbows, waiting with undisguised glee.

This Margot was the villain in my mom’s story? But, she was lovely. I spent the rest of the lunch catching her up, and she listened with rapt interest. It was the most seen and heard I’d felt in a long time.

And so, when she asked if we could meet again the next year, I said yes. And it became our annual tradition. I secreted the visits away from my mom and never told her about any of them. I kept that first lunch—and future lunches—with Margot in my pocket like a precious stone I could rub my fingers on for luck, support, and the unconditional love I longed for.
From MAIN CHARACTER ENERGY by Jamie Varon. Copyright Jamie Varon. Copyright © 2023 by Jamie Varon. Published by Park Row, an imprint of HarperCollins.

The author:

Author Bio: 

Jamie Varon is an author, branding expert, course creator, and graphic designer living in Calabasas, California. Her nonfiction book Radically Content was published in 2022 with Quarto and is currently being adapted into a feature film with Camilu Productions LTD. Main Character Energy is her debut novel.

The links:

Buy Links:

HarperCollins.com: https://www.harpercollins.com/products/main-character-energy-jamie-varon?variant=40992983482402 

BookShop.org: https://bookshop.org/p/books/main-character-energy-original-jamie-varon/19278298?ean=9780778334200 

Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/main-character-energy-jamie-varon/1142651724? 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/0778334201  

Books-A-Million: https://www.booksamillion.com/p/9780778334200?AID=10747236&PID=7310909 

Social Links:

Author Website: https://www.jamievaron.com/ 

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamievaron/ 

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jamievaron 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/jamievaron 

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/21746179.Jamie_Varon 

The book:

Main Character Energy 

Author: Jamie Varon

ISBN: 9780778334200

Park Row Books Paperback Original 

Publication Date: September 5, 2023

: What You are Looking for is in the Library

Michiko Aoyama

An e book bargain for 14 April 2024

#WhatYouAreLookingForIsintheLibrary #NetGalley

I am a great fan of books about books. A favorite of mine is The Little Paris Bookshop by Nina George, and I recently read Days at the Morisaki Bookshop. Aoyama’s lovely title shares with the others a love of books and reading, an acknowledgment of how books open worlds to readers, and an understanding of how self-knowledge and growth are fostered through reading. A bit like, Wait Until the Coffee Gets Cold, What You are Looking for consists of a series of vignettes about people who are at a crossroads. When they meet a very particular librarian, they may not understand why she gives them certain recommendations (a small felted frying pan, the suggestion of a children’s book when the reader was asking for books on Excel) but readers can trust that all will become clear and that the books’ borrowers will benefit. This book is one that reads in a deceptively simple manner. There is much to think about as well in these pages, however, especially about the meaning of work. This book would make a delightful gift for a book lover. It looks very nice in its hardcover version. Many thanks to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this title. All opinions are my own.

From the Publisher

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