2022 BIPOC Audiobooks
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How Do You Live?
Bookseller recommendation
“A philosophy text wrapped in the story of a young boy in 1930s Japan, this book remains relevant today, exploring issues of friendship, class, gender, and family. Through Copper’s daily life and letters to him from his uncle, Yoshino examines large questions in a seemingly simple tale of a boy and his friends. The question of how each of us will live our life remains as important today as it was when this book was published 84 years ago - perhaps more so - and I am glad this translation is bringing this book to a wider audience.”
Nancy,
Raven Book Store
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.
GENZABURO YOSHINO was born in 1899 in Tokyo, Japan. After graduating from Tokyo Imperial University (now the University of Tokyo) with a degree in philosophy, he served two years in the army, and later took a job at the Library of Tokyo. The government arrested him for attending socialist meetings in 1931, and he was sentenced to prison for four years, experiences that helped develop his sense of pacifism. On his release, he was commissioned to edit a series of sixteen books for young readers, A Library for Young Japanese Nationals, and the initial concept behind How Do You Live? was the last of these. The resulting effort was first published in 1937, then again as a stand-alone novel after World War II, and quickly became a beloved children’s classic in Japan. Genzaburo died in 1981.
