The Cat Who Saved Books

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Books can’t live your life for you. The reader who forgets to walk on his own two feet is like an old encyclopaedia, his head stuffed with out-to-date information. Unless someone else opens it up, it is nothing but a useless antique. Sosuke Natsukawa It is also a heart-warming story. Don’t be surprised if you end up shedding a tear or two when Rintaro shares his love for books. This love stems from his late Grandfather who owns a bookstore called Natsuki Books.

Claro, tiene sus detallitos. La trama no tiene un gran desarrollo, sus personajes femeninos no están bien construidos y su aporte a la historia es mínimo. Y la librería, me hubiera gustado que fuera otro personaje de esta historia, pero también quedó reducido a unas cuantas descripciones.

The cat? Those cunning jade eyes stay with Rintaro only as long as needed (which occurs before the ending) — until Rintaro comes out of his shell. To do that isn’t so hard as he thought. He doesn’t even need to leave the bookshop. Next Month’s Selection High school student Rintaro Natsuki is grieving over the loss of his grandfather who was his only close family. Rintaro is described and also refers to himself as hikikomori (a Japanese term referring to people who shut themselves away from society, rarely venturing outside to school or work). He believes that he has no true friends , his loneliness being compounded by the death of his grandfather and the impending sale of his grandfather’s second hand bookstore, Natsuki Books, before he has to move to a different town with a distant aunt . He stops attending school , spending all his time in the bookstore, his only visitors being his class president Sayo Yuzuki who visits him to deliver his schoolwork and Ryota Akiba who is senior to him in school and shares Rintaro’s love for books and the bookstore. I liked the overall message - the love of reading and the love of books! Tiger, a talking tabby cat, sends MC high school student, Rintaro, on various adventures to save books; and, Nobody is interested in truth or ethics or philosophy. People are worn out from living. All they want is either to be stimulated or healed. Sosuke Natsukawa

If you find a book easy to read, that means it's all stuff that you already know," "That's why it's easy. If you find it difficult, then that's proof it's something brand new." Es una de esas historias que se vuelve muy especial para mí, demuestra que un libro no tiene que ser complejo o enrevesado para llegarte, para emocionarte. Es un libro muy sencillo, con una narración sencilla y directa y con un toque juvenil, pero que guarda mucha verdad en sus palabras. Es de esos libros que prácticamente puedes subrayar entero, porque todo él en sí mismo es una gran cita. Y es que el libro de Sosuke Natsukawa es una increíble oda a los libros, al amor que los lectores sentimos por ellos, a lo que nos enseña y como crecemos a través de ellos, ayudándonos a desarrollar la más valiosa de las cualidades humanas: la empatía. What's important is the ability to have empathy for another human being--to be able to feel their pain, to walk alongside them in their suffering.’Personally, I do not read many literature classics. This book did make me realise how many historical, prestigious and valuable reads I’m missing out on. Muy del estilo de Momo, El principito o Alicia en el país de las Maravillas, aunque creo que esta tiene menos pretensiones que aquellas. Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners. Now, you might be thinking, That's silly, cats don't read or speak English! Ok yes, I lied about Chloe reading. She doesn't read.. but she does speak. And when that gets ignored, there's the terrible moaning, groaning caterwaul that sounds like a twelve hundred pound cow giving birth. This last is often in the middle of the night and it is your no longer adorable Kitty telling you she is dying of hunger and she can't believe you would treat her so abominably and lie in bed trying to sleep when she is suffering so horribly. Or maybe just needs some attention.

Reading isn’t only for pleasure or entertainment. Sometimes you need to examine the same lines deeply, read the same sentences over again. Sometimes you sit there, head in hands, only progressing at a painstakingly slow pace. And the result of all this hard work and careful study is that suddenly you’re there and your field of vision expands. It’s like finding a great view at the end of a long climbing trail.’

Now here's one thing I did really enjoy: the books. The love for books. Natsuki is a hardcore booklover, so he speaks enthusiastically about how books can be enjoyed slow or fast, how books teach us things, and transport us, and how even though less people are reading, books have no lesser value for it. I mean, he did get pretty preachy at times (apparently it's good to hate books because it means they're teaching you something - I strongly disagree) but overall he's just a giant book nerd like the rest of us and that's something I can get behind.