I enjoyed the first two volumes of this series very much, and so I pre-ordered this one - and it's just arrived! It's set in a bookstore that buys and re-sells secondhand manga - rather like some of the local secondhand paperback stores - and the stories are all about people reconnecting with themselves, their friends, or their hopes via a shared love of reading. There are references to real-world series (often with extensive writeups at the end of the book), and charming artwork.

One of these stories has to do with a fellow who tries to pick up a woman by pretending to love the horror manga she adores; turns out the stuff terrifies him, but he begins to discover that there's more to them than the fear factor. (The Drifting Classroom is one of the series mentioned; it's insanely dark!)

A nice little moment from another story has someone wondering what to read, and the bookstore's Shiba suggests that she close her eyes and run her hand along the shelves of manga until she feels like picking one. Could be a method for coping with those TBR shelves!

People meeting on the way to the library, getting to know each other over manga recommendations - and one story that's pure BookCrossing in nature: someone who travels the world, always carrying one book with him, explaining that whenever he bumps into other Japanese travelers they swap whatever manga they have on hand! [There's even more about long-time traveling books in that one. "The pages are dogeared from the countless travelers who have read this book. It must have been too the farthest corners of the earth."]

There's even a story about people who don't return books on time; the fellow who goes out to retrieve them meets with a variety of responses - and some very amusing coincidences!

Volumes I've registered so far:

Volume 1
Volume 2
Volume 3
Volume 4

I'm adding this book to MaryZee's Bookish bookbox, which I plan to hand off to eponine38 on Friday. Hope someone enjoys the book!

This book came home in my Bookish bookbox yesterday. Although I've read a few graphic novels, I don't think I've ever even seen manga before. I looked these over enough to figure out how it works (I think), but I still think I'll give it a pass. Thanks for sharing, GoryD! This book will be vacationing in Maryland until I send this box out again, hopefully in the fall.

Sadly, MaryZee passed suddenly in September 2012. MaryZee's daughter is now ready to rehome her mom's books and I was willing to collect and redistribute them to keep her literary legacy alive.

I received these manga in a box of books from MaryZee. This manga had great drawings but the story line just didn't pull me in. I'm placing these in my Little Free Library together as a set of three.

5/25/2019 - These didn't get picked up from the LFL. I'm going to bring these as a package to the next BC in DC meetup and see if there are other takers.