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A review by twiinklex
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sōsuke Natsukawa
4.0
3.5⭐️
✨ "Books have souls... A cherished book will always have a soul. It will come to its reader's aid in times of crisis."
A bit hard to get into at first (likely because of the stilted dialogue due to translation) but the further I got, the more I loved it.
The book makes tons of sharp observations about books, reading culture, the publishing industry, human connection and more. Initially, I found it all kinda preachy (maybe because it hit a raw nerve?? See below quote lol) but the book addresses this too.
An extremely meaningful, relatable and heartfelt read filled with so many wonderful quotes ❤️
✨ "This world throws all kinds of obstacles at us, we are forced to endure so much that is absurd. Our best weapon for fighting all the pain and trouble in the world isn't logic or violence.
It's humour."
✨ "Their approaches toward reading hinted at madness, but something about their words stung, preventing you from laughing. Perhaps it was the sting of truth."
✨ "People are worn out from living. All they want is either to be stimulated or healed."
✨ "But time is merciless in its passing. This was something that Rintaro understood all too well. No matter how sad, how painful, how nonsensical a thing might happen, time refused to stand still and wait for him. Somehow he had just drifted along until here he was today."
✨ "Being able to express shallow words of sympathy in a sweet voice doesn't make someone a caring, compassionate soul. 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."
✨ "In our stifling daily lives, we're all so occupied with ourselves that we stop thinking about others. When a person loses their own heart, they can't feel another's pain. They lie, hurt others, use weaker people as stepping stones to get ahead – they stop feeling anything. The world has become full of those kinds of people."
✨ "There was no such thing as having no choice. There were many roads to choose from. What was important was not to let yourself roll along aimlessly, but to pick a road."
✨ "Books have souls... A cherished book will always have a soul. It will come to its reader's aid in times of crisis."
A bit hard to get into at first (likely because of the stilted dialogue due to translation) but the further I got, the more I loved it.
The book makes tons of sharp observations about books, reading culture, the publishing industry, human connection and more. Initially, I found it all kinda preachy (maybe because it hit a raw nerve?? See below quote lol) but the book addresses this too.
An extremely meaningful, relatable and heartfelt read filled with so many wonderful quotes ❤️
✨ "This world throws all kinds of obstacles at us, we are forced to endure so much that is absurd. Our best weapon for fighting all the pain and trouble in the world isn't logic or violence.
It's humour."
✨ "Their approaches toward reading hinted at madness, but something about their words stung, preventing you from laughing. Perhaps it was the sting of truth."
✨ "People are worn out from living. All they want is either to be stimulated or healed."
✨ "But time is merciless in its passing. This was something that Rintaro understood all too well. No matter how sad, how painful, how nonsensical a thing might happen, time refused to stand still and wait for him. Somehow he had just drifted along until here he was today."
✨ "Being able to express shallow words of sympathy in a sweet voice doesn't make someone a caring, compassionate soul. 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."
✨ "In our stifling daily lives, we're all so occupied with ourselves that we stop thinking about others. When a person loses their own heart, they can't feel another's pain. They lie, hurt others, use weaker people as stepping stones to get ahead – they stop feeling anything. The world has become full of those kinds of people."
✨ "There was no such thing as having no choice. There were many roads to choose from. What was important was not to let yourself roll along aimlessly, but to pick a road."