The Cat Who Saved Books (The Cat Who..., #1)

by Sōsuke Natsukawa

‘Scholars who at bottom do little nowadays but thumb books ultimately lose entirely their capacity to think for themselves. When they don’t thumb, they don’t think.’

‘Reading isn’t only for pleasure or entertainment. Sometimes you need to examine the same lines deeply, read the same sentences over again. Sometimes you sit there, head in hands, only progressing at a painstakingly slow pace. And the result of all this hard work and careful study is that suddenly you’re there and your field of vision expands. It’s like finding a great view at the end of a long climbing trail.’

‘Books are filled with human thoughts and feelings. People suffering, people who are sad or happy, laughing with joy. By reading their words and their stories, by experiencing them together, we learn about the hearts and minds of other people besides ourselves. Thanks to books, it’s possible to learn not only about the people around us every day, but people living in totally different worlds.’

‘If you find it difficult it’s because it contains something that is new to you. Every difficult book offers us a brand-new challenge.’