Namahanka na gakusha is an essay collection by Motoyuki Shibata, known as a translator and scholar of American literature. It moves lightly among literature, scholarship, translation, and reading, turning partial knowledge and digression into intellectual pleasure rather than academic stiffness.

Just outside the posture of the proper scholar, the pleasure of reading literature comes alive.

Hon no okuchi yogoshi desu ga is an essay collection by Tatsuro Dekune, who was also an antiquarian bookseller. It ranges freely over books and secondhand volumes, capturing their smell, provenance, and the habits of readers with warmth and stylish observation.

From the shelves of used books, small stories of reading and daily life spill out one after another.