The Saving Power of Cats and Books
Cats arrive in our lives when it’s time for them to arrive, and we read books when it’s time for us to read them.
A contract between fate and a series of our decisions lead us to meet.
We’ve always had cats ever since, but they’ve only been outdoor cats: strays and feral ones who’ve found their way to our gates. And to our hearts.
It was in 2018 when everything changed.
My Mom and I didn’t know then that a tiny ginger kitten, with some strands of fur clumped together because of dried white paint, would lead to more cats in our lives.
His name is Nip, and he is much like the ginger tabby in this cover of The Cat Who Saved Books, a novel by Natsukawa Sosuke.
Found your look-a-like, Nip?
‘Grandpa used to say it all the time: books have tremendous power. But what is that power really?’
Translated by Louise Heal Kawai, The Cat Who Saved Books by Natsukawa Sosuke, has three things I love: a cat, books, and it’s set in Japan. This drew me in automatically, and when I finished it, I loved it even more for its message.
Natsuki Rintaro, a high school hikikimori further confines himself in his Grandpa’s second-hand bookshop Natsuki Books after his only relative, his Grandpa, passed away.
He’s to move in with a distant relative, and that would mean closing the shop which his Grandpa loved and owned. No best-sellers there, no keeping up with the trends. Just old collections of books that perhaps only a few people would only like in these modern times. But Rintaro loves it there, reading books in the place his Grandfather started.
While moving out matters are taken care of by his aunt, he is left there in the bookshop, exhausted after his Grandpa’s funeral. He stops coming to school, so a schoolmate who loves books visits him and class rep Yuzuki Sayo drops off homework and checks on him.
One day, feeling lost, tired, and alone, Rintaro drifts to dreamland but wakes to the arrival of a tabby cat named Tiger in the bookshop.
“Kind of gloomy in here” is Tiger’s opening statement.
After Rintaro’s surprise and the cat’s introduction, the cat asks help to save books from people who imprisoned, mistreated, and don’t see the value of books.
As the recluse Rintaro and the cat go on their missions, Rintaro finds courage deep within himself, friendship, compassion, and the tremendous power that his Grandpa claims that books have.
His heart opens up again after losing his Grandpa and starts to care for others, as well as acknowledge his innate will to move forward and carry on with the lessons his Grandpa has taught and left him.
And most importantly, he realizes he was never alone, because books are allies and come to him just at the right time he needs them, and that books bring people together, making a lifelong connection.
Both books and Tiger the cat helped Rintaro to realize these things on his journey.
After reading, I hugged this book for it reminded me of how much I see books as friends too and the power they have. (While reading, I can imagine it being animated by Studio Ghibli! Hayao Miyazaki-san, maybe you’d like to consider this too after How Do You Live?)
I loved the element of the labyrinth being used as a literary device in this story and the simple instructions (but not necessarily easy!) of saving books from three kinds of people who were in some ways maltreating these poor books.
They were adversaries with different motivations and objectives and personalities all of which Tiger informed Rintaro of. His little friend always showed up for Rintaro, but there was a time when Rintaro has to go on a trip alone…
Tiger the cat and books saved Rintaro and pulled him out before he would ultimately go further into his shell and solitary life.
‘The day I lost my grandfather I couldn’t care less what happened to me. My mum and dad were gone, and now I’d lost grandpa too. It was all so unfair and I was just so sick and tired of everything, and then suddenly you turned up.’
And while the boy loved books, he must not dwell forever in them as to forget to live the rest of his life, something that his Grandfather would say to him.
Though Rintaro and I have different circumstances, we are similar in being quiet and withdrawn most of the time.
As a child and teenager, I found friendship and courage from the characters I became friends with in the books I’ve read like the golden trio from the Harry Potter series, the Pevensie children and Aslan from The Chronicles of Narnia, just to name a few.
When I was working too in the city, going through the stresses in life, and facing my own problems, Nip came to our lives, followed by Kat, Dylan, Bob, Frisky, and so many more.
Cats abound! A marker drawing I made that my Mom loves, The Cat Who Saved Books (got my copy from Paperbacks and Pages on Instagram!), and a black kitty sharpener!
Ever since I started working again in corporate and I went back to the city in 2018, my Mom and I, along with neighbors who became friends, started feeing the cats in the area of the residential building we lived in.
When Mom went back to the province, I would continue feeding the cats with the other volunteers.
Every time I came home tired, the exhaustion dissipates like vapor when I see the cats we feed like Seedling, LT, Bran, Healthy Boy, Daddy Nip, and many more! And of course, there’s Kat and Nip who stayed with me for a while in Makati before they moved to the province.
Nip and Oli on the washing machine!
It’s different when you’re living inside a house with cats compared to just them living outside. You begin to know them even more, and their personalities and characters shine. You know when they know it’s time to eat. You know their bedtimes or what food preferences they like. You begin to identify one cat’s meow from another. And even if they may get on your nerves sometimes (like when they would wake you up for food in the middle of the night!), you know you could never ever let them go.
And never can you get away from cat hair too!
And you say to yourself: why haven’t we lived with cats since? They’re amazing! They make me take a break, and they are a source of inspiration!
I keep saying to myself that I must be healthy and fit, because a lot of cats depend on me! On us! We think we save them, but it’s really them who saves us. My Mom loves our cats so much that as soon as she notices something wrong with them, including the cats we feed outside of course, she’d tell me that we must bring the cat to the vet.
(We’re slowly implementing fixing the cats here where we live in the province, of course with vaccinations and deworming!)
It’s tough to care for a lot of cats, but we wouldn’t have it any other way. Look, they just find their way to our home! My Mom and I would joke with a play of the lyrics of The Carpenters’ Close to You:
‘Why do cats suddenly appear, every time Mom is near?’
Life is hard, but the cats make every single day count.
Though sometimes we treat books like an escape or a vacation, they are more than that. They teach us to be more mindful, loving, kind, empathic, and understanding.
Moreover, they save us from our own destructive thoughts and unpleasant circumstances (even for a while), because sometimes all we need to quell our harmful thoughts is a relatable character who trudges forth to face his own fears, reminding us that we, the reader, can face our own fears too in real life.
“If Frodo can go to Mordor with his friends, so can I!”
Cats and books — where would we be now without them?
Perhaps imprisoned in our own thoughts and pain.
Look around, friend.
Perhaps there might just be a cat—talking or not—to help us live again and a book that drops from the heavens and tells us to read it right at this moment.
Watch how you live your life change for the better.
Thank you for reading! How about you? How have cats and/or books saved you? :-)