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lovely_lisa's review against another edition
adventurous
inspiring
mysterious
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
3.25
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
mandkips's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death of parent, Grief, and Death
coolra's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
5.0
Content Warnings
Minor: Death and Death of parent
ts_anne13's review against another edition
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
relaxing
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death and Grief
Moderate: Death of parent
tinymatriarch's review against another edition
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
0.5
This might be the worst book I’ve read in a long time… It’s supposed to be a book for book lovers but all it does is come off as pretentious! I’m still giving it a 0.5 star cause of the cat and the cover art. That’s it.
Note to self (and to everyone else) : never buy a book without reading the reviews before hand.
I bought this book cause of the cover and the concept seemed nice but damn was I wrong… Imma go on a rant about it though because this book made me so mad!
This book does have a nice concept but at the same time it brings forward the old narrative that “people don’t read books anymore [insert boomer tears here]” and goes on justifying it by saying people don’t read stuff like Proust or the complete works of Shakespeare anymore?? like ok yeah my dude, cause maybe people just read other things??? It’s not cause people don’t wanna read some dusty books about philosophy that suddenly books are dying?? Every classics reference made me so enraged to the point I wanted to drop it and never pick it up again. I truly finished this book out of spite….
It also briefly mentions that maybe people don’t read anymore cause of capitalism… but then goes on blaming it on people instead of taking that opportunity to criticize the actual system.
Towards the end, it also says something like “we should appreciate books that are difficult to read because they teach us something new” and that made me wanna chuck it across the room. A book isn’t good cause it’s hard to read! And it’s okay to want to read easy stuff! Reading is supposed to be exciting and fun, not a horrendous task you put yourself through to learn new things.
It does have this nice happy ending saying that books are all about learning to care for each other but uuuugh this doesn’t cover for the pretentious attitude.
And don’t even get me started on the main character! Who still loves self proclaimed antisocial boys who make no effort to communicate and care about people around them and need to go on special adventures to learn empathy??? This isn’t 2010 anymore and antisocial tumblr boys aren’t main character material. As for the women characters, it’s like the author didn’t even try: they just seem weak, deprived of personality (being “tactless” isn’t a personality trait) and just overall badly written.
I think the translation of this book wasn’t great and probably made things worse. The sentences were choppy and didn’t flow, but I understand that Japanese is a difficile language to translate so I’ll be lenient on that.
Moral of the story:
- stop pretending people don’t read anymore, saying books are dying or whatever makes you sound entitled.
- if you unironically quote Nietzsche and call yourself antisocial, I need you to know you sound like an incel and I will punch you.
Note to self (and to everyone else) : never buy a book without reading the reviews before hand.
I bought this book cause of the cover and the concept seemed nice but damn was I wrong… Imma go on a rant about it though because this book made me so mad!
This book does have a nice concept but at the same time it brings forward the old narrative that “people don’t read books anymore [insert boomer tears here]” and goes on justifying it by saying people don’t read stuff like Proust or the complete works of Shakespeare anymore?? like ok yeah my dude, cause maybe people just read other things??? It’s not cause people don’t wanna read some dusty books about philosophy that suddenly books are dying?? Every classics reference made me so enraged to the point I wanted to drop it and never pick it up again. I truly finished this book out of spite….
It also briefly mentions that maybe people don’t read anymore cause of capitalism… but then goes on blaming it on people instead of taking that opportunity to criticize the actual system.
Towards the end, it also says something like “we should appreciate books that are difficult to read because they teach us something new” and that made me wanna chuck it across the room. A book isn’t good cause it’s hard to read! And it’s okay to want to read easy stuff! Reading is supposed to be exciting and fun, not a horrendous task you put yourself through to learn new things.
It does have this nice happy ending saying that books are all about learning to care for each other but uuuugh this doesn’t cover for the pretentious attitude.
And don’t even get me started on the main character! Who still loves self proclaimed antisocial boys who make no effort to communicate and care about people around them and need to go on special adventures to learn empathy??? This isn’t 2010 anymore and antisocial tumblr boys aren’t main character material. As for the women characters, it’s like the author didn’t even try: they just seem weak, deprived of personality (being “tactless” isn’t a personality trait) and just overall badly written.
I think the translation of this book wasn’t great and probably made things worse. The sentences were choppy and didn’t flow, but I understand that Japanese is a difficile language to translate so I’ll be lenient on that.
Moral of the story:
- stop pretending people don’t read anymore, saying books are dying or whatever makes you sound entitled.
- if you unironically quote Nietzsche and call yourself antisocial, I need you to know you sound like an incel and I will punch you.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
spookily's review against another edition
adventurous
hopeful
lighthearted
mysterious
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent
aardwyrm's review against another edition
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
In keeping with the tone of the book, it's rather like Mary Bennett decided to attempt whimsy. There are some reasonable and even clever ideas in there, but the whole thing is wound through with an overgrowth of "kids these days don't read" and "the world today is vaguely terrible, compared to some sort of past probably" and so very hung up on staid, famous classics that it starts to feel like a joke. For a book about the right way to care about books, it sure seems to like the idea of books more than the actuality.
But the surreal landscapes and talking cat are rather good, andI kinda like that the Bible manifests as a mean old lady who is actually a cosmic horror at one point . The dull main character and his dull girlfriend wandering around changing hearts and minds with platitudes don't matter nearly so much as the charming weirdness.
But the surreal landscapes and talking cat are rather good, and
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Death, and Death of parent
laurareads87's review against another edition
adventurous
reflective
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.75
The Cat Who Saved Books follows Rintaro, a young boy who has recently lost his grandfather; he is in the process of closing the second-hand bookshop his father operated and in which he'd spent many many hours reading... until a talking tabby cat named Tiger turns up and whisks him away on a series of adventures.
I find this book very hard to rate. There are quite a few things I appreciate about it: it's whimsical + Tiger's quite funny, and I feel like Rintaro's grief is depicted in a nuanced, respectful way. I also feel like the book asks some valuable questions -- about how to address the use of old texts to promote harmful ideologies, about what happens to a book when it is abridged beyond recognition, about the value of books that aren't bestsellers or popular / the value of books beyond the money they make for publishers -- while leaving room for the reader to consider how these questions play out in their own life.
One thing about this book didn't really work for me though. I recognize that I may be missing some context here as a non-Japanese reader, but I found myself frustrated that all of the books mentioned and celebrated in this book are Western classics. I don't think the intention of the text was to suggest that this canon -- which is not even a little bit diverse -- is somehow inherently better than other books, but I could definitely see a reader reaching that conclusion, which I think would be unfortunate.
I find this book very hard to rate. There are quite a few things I appreciate about it: it's whimsical + Tiger's quite funny, and I feel like Rintaro's grief is depicted in a nuanced, respectful way. I also feel like the book asks some valuable questions -- about how to address the use of old texts to promote harmful ideologies, about what happens to a book when it is abridged beyond recognition, about the value of books that aren't bestsellers or popular / the value of books beyond the money they make for publishers -- while leaving room for the reader to consider how these questions play out in their own life.
One thing about this book didn't really work for me though. I recognize that I may be missing some context here as a non-Japanese reader, but I found myself frustrated that all of the books mentioned and celebrated in this book are Western classics. I don't think the intention of the text was to suggest that this canon -- which is not even a little bit diverse -- is somehow inherently better than other books, but I could definitely see a reader reaching that conclusion, which I think would be unfortunate.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief and Death of parent
Moderate: Kidnapping
wlreed312's review
hopeful
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Rintaro Natsuki is preparing to leave the bookshop his grandfather owned and move in with his aunt after his grandfather's passing, when a talking cat walks into the shop and demands Rintaro's help in saving books from disrespectful owners. In their quest, Rintaro grapples with the loss of his grandfather while learning more about himself.
This is a book I heard about from the tiktok account of a book store owner in New York (Queens, I believe, but that might be wrong) that recommends work almost exclusively by BIPOC authors (it's BookPapi, his content is great if you want to get more recs for lesser known diverse authors) and it sounded so whimsical and charming I immediately checked to see if my library had a copy. I listened to the audiobook, which I enjoyed greatly. I really liked Rintaro as a character, and thought his journey was very sweet.
Where it lost a bit of the shine for me was how it talked about people reading old versus newer books, and what kinds of book are more worthy of reading. In one of the world, there is a conversation about people not reading "seriously" anymore (or reading "frivolously") and the more I think about it the more it bugs me. Yes, I think people should read books that are challenging and make them think outside the box, but sometimes you want or need something a little lighter. And shaming someone for what they read is never the best policy. There is probably some nuance I didn't get because of cultural differences, or possibly translation, but it was a bit off-putting.
Overall, though, this was a lovely story about grief, the love of books, and finding your place in the world.
This is a book I heard about from the tiktok account of a book store owner in New York (Queens, I believe, but that might be wrong) that recommends work almost exclusively by BIPOC authors (it's BookPapi, his content is great if you want to get more recs for lesser known diverse authors) and it sounded so whimsical and charming I immediately checked to see if my library had a copy. I listened to the audiobook, which I enjoyed greatly. I really liked Rintaro as a character, and thought his journey was very sweet.
Where it lost a bit of the shine for me was how it talked about people reading old versus newer books, and what kinds of book are more worthy of reading. In one of the world, there is a conversation about people not reading "seriously" anymore (or reading "frivolously") and the more I think about it the more it bugs me. Yes, I think people should read books that are challenging and make them think outside the box, but sometimes you want or need something a little lighter. And shaming someone for what they read is never the best policy. There is probably some nuance I didn't get because of cultural differences, or possibly translation, but it was a bit off-putting.
Overall, though, this was a lovely story about grief, the love of books, and finding your place in the world.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death of parent
lookingforlittlelibraries's review
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Death and Death of parent