What is the power of books? Do you really love books? “The Cat who Saved Books” by Sosuke Natsukawa explores these questions.
The book is translated from the Japanese. The ideas it brings up should make you think, maybe re-evaluate your relationship with books.
Synopsis of “The Cat Who Saved Books”
Rintaro Natsuki is a high school student living with his grandfather who owns an old used book store filled with hard-to-find books. Rintaro hides himself away as a hikikomori burying himself in the books he loves and reads.
After the grandfather dies, Rintaro is left adrift. An aunt pushes him to close the shop and move in with her. He stands staring at the bookshelves thinking of nothing when he hears someone. All he sees is an orange tabby.
A tabby who announces the name Tiger Tabby and asks Rintaro to help rescue some abused books. Even as numb and uncaring as he is, Rintaro can’t refuse.
Three times the pair enter a Labyrinth. Three times they meet people who say they love books, but have somehow lost sight of that love. Each time there is a different approach to books and people’s relationships to them.
The fourth Labyrinth leaves Rintaro struggling to understand the immense power of books.
“The Cat who Saved Books” may be fiction, but books are under attack today because of their power. That power is frightening to those who would dictate to others. That power is why books are one of the first targets of such people.
Power of Reading Books
What is this immense power? Read “The Cat Who Saved Books” and find out even as you contemplate society’s changing attitudes toward books.
How do you access this power? By reading widely. It’s comforting to read only one genre or one author. By doing this you are robbing yourself.
Set a goal to read a book that stretches you out of your comfort zone once a week or a month or every fifth book. Try a book that challenges your view of the world or takes you to a time or place unfamiliar to you.
Open your mind to the power of books.
