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annashiv's review against another edition
5.0
This book is great for anyone who adores cats as I do. My heart nearly melted at most stories, a few almost made me cry but all warmed my heart which is what Chicken soup does, so it's just perfect if that's what you want.
zoefruitcake's review against another edition
3.0
Like most cat lovers I enjoy stories about them, but books like this are best dipped into occasionally to avoid getting heartwarming story fatigue. But as the book was borrowed I had to read rather than dip, and I did get a little tired possibly due to the cultural differences - this book is very American, although I particularly liked a comment from a Russian immigrant who was baffled why Americans paid for kittens in a pet shop yet the pet shelters were overflowing with the same pets.
misspalah's review against another edition
5.0
Book and cats? for me, it is perfect combination. I enjoyed the stories and even cried a little bit whenever The fluff balls in the story didn't make it. A truly light reading that soothe my heart and cheer me up. I'm giving it 5 stars. ;)
aidnoah's review against another edition
3.0
Myeh, there were some stories that rubbed me the wrong way... and there were some that I felt may have belonged in other Chicken Soups, but hey, it was a good read all around.
And... as per usual with Chicken Soup books, the stories about saying goodbye did get me teared up. So bravo, CS, bravo. :)
And... as per usual with Chicken Soup books, the stories about saying goodbye did get me teared up. So bravo, CS, bravo. :)
greenldydragon's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
inspiring
lighthearted
medium-paced
3.0
felinity's review against another edition
4.0
A mixture of cat stories, ideal for a little pickmeup when you need something (and an actual cat isn't within reach).
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
4.0
Ok, admittedly after awhile these all start to run together. I mean the collection of Chicken Soup books is just humongous. But I'm a sucker for anything involving animals, so I decided to delve into this particular collection of short stories.
If you're not familiar with the Chicken Soup series, they are a bunch of books, usually themed that contain lots of short stories that are meant to be uplifting and inspirational. This particular book, for the Cat & Dog Lover's soul, is about animals. But not just cats and dogs, in a little side note in mentions other critters too, although with the extensive amount of books I'm not sure why they just didn't make this one about cats and dogs; but I digress. Some of those stories will rip your heart out, because let's face it, a lot of these stories are about losing a special animal, while others are meant to be inspiring, like those animals that rescue humans from their burning houses. The Cat Who Needed A Night Light was one of these such stories, involving a guy and his heroic cat who saved his life.
There are a wide variety of animals in here, and some really aren't even that remarkable. The majority of the stories actually seemed to deal more with people's feelings about their pets than about the animals themselves. It was about emotions running high when pets were in danger or dying or when the person themself was losing a battle, be it physical or mental. I'm more of an animal lover than a people lover, so I would have to say that I wished the stories were a little more about the pets themselves.
And so many sad tales. I sometimes wonder if the Chicken Soup authors aren't in league with the sellers of tissues, as they seem to make you want to cry in every book. There's always someone or something dying and it gets a little depressing after awhile. A book full of happy stories would be just terrific. And yes I know I can skip the sad ones, but I find it hard not to read a book straight through so I always end up with a tissue in hand reading the rest of the books. And a lot of the stories are faith based, this is a Christian publication after all, but they are not in your face about it, so just about anyone can enjoy these tales. Since it's broken up into short stories you can read this in one sitting, or split it up into as many different reading times as there are stories.
An ok collection. All unique stories when compared with the other books in the series so you won't be rereading too much. And great for animal lovers, regardless of what kind of animal they're fond of.
Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul
Copyright 1999
408 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
If you're not familiar with the Chicken Soup series, they are a bunch of books, usually themed that contain lots of short stories that are meant to be uplifting and inspirational. This particular book, for the Cat & Dog Lover's soul, is about animals. But not just cats and dogs, in a little side note in mentions other critters too, although with the extensive amount of books I'm not sure why they just didn't make this one about cats and dogs; but I digress. Some of those stories will rip your heart out, because let's face it, a lot of these stories are about losing a special animal, while others are meant to be inspiring, like those animals that rescue humans from their burning houses. The Cat Who Needed A Night Light was one of these such stories, involving a guy and his heroic cat who saved his life.
There are a wide variety of animals in here, and some really aren't even that remarkable. The majority of the stories actually seemed to deal more with people's feelings about their pets than about the animals themselves. It was about emotions running high when pets were in danger or dying or when the person themself was losing a battle, be it physical or mental. I'm more of an animal lover than a people lover, so I would have to say that I wished the stories were a little more about the pets themselves.
And so many sad tales. I sometimes wonder if the Chicken Soup authors aren't in league with the sellers of tissues, as they seem to make you want to cry in every book. There's always someone or something dying and it gets a little depressing after awhile. A book full of happy stories would be just terrific. And yes I know I can skip the sad ones, but I find it hard not to read a book straight through so I always end up with a tissue in hand reading the rest of the books. And a lot of the stories are faith based, this is a Christian publication after all, but they are not in your face about it, so just about anyone can enjoy these tales. Since it's broken up into short stories you can read this in one sitting, or split it up into as many different reading times as there are stories.
An ok collection. All unique stories when compared with the other books in the series so you won't be rereading too much. And great for animal lovers, regardless of what kind of animal they're fond of.
Chicken Soup for the Cat & Dog Lover's Soul
Copyright 1999
408 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
kairosdreaming's review against another edition
4.0
I'm a cat person. I currently have two of my own and could only wish for more. So, on this streak of Chicken Soup books that I've been reading lately, it only seemed appropriate to read the Cat Lover's Soul book.
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is filled with the normal short stories of the Chicken Soup series. They are broken down into different chapters titled, "On Love", "Celebrating the Bond", "A Furry RX", "Cat-Egorically Wonderful", "Cats as Teachers", "Farewell, My Love", "Rescue Me!", and "One of the Family." Each of these chapters has several short stories relating to the themes and of course, they are all about cats. There are stories of adopting special cats, cats alerting their owners to danger or illness, and many other things. I especially liked the story "The Call of the Lobster" about a cat who talks to a special toy, because one of my mom's cats does the same thing with a fuzzy ball she carries around. I knew she was strange, but at least she's not alone in her strangeness. There were other stories I didn't like though, like the one about a lady who rescued a cat with FIV and then after treating it at the vet let it roam with her other cats (yes FIV can be contained and treated, but it can be infectious and it seemed an unnecessary risk to her other cats).
I'm of the opinion that all cats are pretty wonderful. It's the owners that I sometimes don't care for. There are a lot of people out there that are just cruel to animals (including a story in this book where four teenage boys are practicing target shooting on a cat) and it hurts to read about people like that. Granted, there are just as many if not more wonderful people in this book who adopt cats and take care of them, so it does have that redeeming quality to it. But really, it's the cats that make this book worthwhile and it showcases them.
I will admit that there were quite a few stories in here that made me laugh or cry. The cat getting its head stuck in the garbage disposer (it was rescued successfully) made me giggle. But, despite there being a specific chapter for cat death "Farewell, My Love", kitty death was rampant through this book. I'm fairly convinced that the people at Chicken Soup aren't happy unless there's a death of a person, animal, plant, whatever, every ten pages or so in their books. Not sure what's so inspiring about that, but they've sold a lot of books so it much be working. I just wish there was more life than death in these books, especially this one since I appreciate my kitties being alive and don't want to think about their eventual deaths right now. Still, they had a lot of good stories in this book.
Overall this is one of the better Chicken Soup books. As a cat lover, I did enjoy it and read it in one sitting.
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul
Copyright 2005
378 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul is filled with the normal short stories of the Chicken Soup series. They are broken down into different chapters titled, "On Love", "Celebrating the Bond", "A Furry RX", "Cat-Egorically Wonderful", "Cats as Teachers", "Farewell, My Love", "Rescue Me!", and "One of the Family." Each of these chapters has several short stories relating to the themes and of course, they are all about cats. There are stories of adopting special cats, cats alerting their owners to danger or illness, and many other things. I especially liked the story "The Call of the Lobster" about a cat who talks to a special toy, because one of my mom's cats does the same thing with a fuzzy ball she carries around. I knew she was strange, but at least she's not alone in her strangeness. There were other stories I didn't like though, like the one about a lady who rescued a cat with FIV and then after treating it at the vet let it roam with her other cats (yes FIV can be contained and treated, but it can be infectious and it seemed an unnecessary risk to her other cats).
I'm of the opinion that all cats are pretty wonderful. It's the owners that I sometimes don't care for. There are a lot of people out there that are just cruel to animals (including a story in this book where four teenage boys are practicing target shooting on a cat) and it hurts to read about people like that. Granted, there are just as many if not more wonderful people in this book who adopt cats and take care of them, so it does have that redeeming quality to it. But really, it's the cats that make this book worthwhile and it showcases them.
I will admit that there were quite a few stories in here that made me laugh or cry. The cat getting its head stuck in the garbage disposer (it was rescued successfully) made me giggle. But, despite there being a specific chapter for cat death "Farewell, My Love", kitty death was rampant through this book. I'm fairly convinced that the people at Chicken Soup aren't happy unless there's a death of a person, animal, plant, whatever, every ten pages or so in their books. Not sure what's so inspiring about that, but they've sold a lot of books so it much be working. I just wish there was more life than death in these books, especially this one since I appreciate my kitties being alive and don't want to think about their eventual deaths right now. Still, they had a lot of good stories in this book.
Overall this is one of the better Chicken Soup books. As a cat lover, I did enjoy it and read it in one sitting.
Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul
Copyright 2005
378 pages
Review by M. Reynard 2013
More of my reviews can be found at www.ifithaswords.blogspot.com
cheryl6of8's review against another edition
4.0
Hard to give a solid review of a Chicken Soup book, because it contains so many different things. I laughed, I cried, I snuggled my kitty. I learned about amazing things that cats have done and ways that they have brought joy and love to people who know them. My mother gave me this book for Christmas because she knew I would like it and I did -- good job mom. Kitty was pretty sure I should be spending my time loving her, playing with her, and attending to her every wish and whim instead of reading the book -- but she thinks that about every book, so don't go by her opinion.