Every Little Thing is a collection of interrelated short stories that begins with a young boy who walks into an insect shop and decides to buy a stag beetle missing a leg, rather than a “normal” six-legged beetle as the shopkeeper recommends. When the boy divulges his reason, the shopkeeper is initially surprised, but gains a new outlook on life and is inspired to do something he would not have considered before.“defected” stag beetle, an incident that serves as a springboard for various other interconnections that ripple through the lives of the book’s characters.
They include a junior high school girl who is secretly ashamed that she lives a much less privileged life than her best friend; a pair of shy high school students trying to improve their image in the eyes of their classmates; a college student who works nights as a bartender and finds herself at a crossroads in life; and a career-driven woman who is beginning to question the professional choices she has made.
In this life-affirming book, there are no characters with unfortunate lives, only characters with unfortunate outlooks. Personal handicaps—such as relative poverty, cripplingly introverted personalities, and physical disabilities—are not obstacles that need to be overcome, but qualities that give each character their unique identity. As each character grows through the pages of this book, you will realize that their stories are interwoven with each other and find yourself delving more deeply into the world of Every Little Thing.
Every Little Thing was first published in May 2007 in Japan. Since then, the book has sold over 400,000 copies. The first story in the book, “The Boy and the Beetles,” was featured in official textbooks for ethics classes in schools, and some college entrance exams featured questions related to Every Little Thing.
As a result, the book was translated into Korean and Chinese and published in South Korea, China, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Macao, and was turned into a stage play that ran in both 2008 and 2009. Both versions starred two of Japan’s top actresses in the lead role.
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About the Author
Ash Omurah is a best-selling fiction writer in Asia and lives in Fuji-City, Shizuoka, Japan. He has published more than 40 books on IT-related topics. In 2004 alone, he managed to place nine books among the top 14 VBA books on Amazon.co.jp, and was introduced on a TV show as “Japan’s top IT writer.” After publishing a business management book and a self-help book (which was also a bestseller), Ash debuted as a fiction writer with Every Little Thing. He has been referred to as “a magician of the unexpected” thanks to his intricately woven plots. You can find Ash on Facebook and on Twitter @ash_omurah 
Sounds like a lovely collection to add to the shelve of short stories :) . I love to pick up a collection every so often to read one short story and think about it...
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