Category: Inspirational

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The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

October 2018 BG’s copy

This is a tale, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, about Nana and Saturo, a cat and his young male, human friend. The story is told through the eyes and mind of Nana, a stray cat. Nana describes how he and Saturo met, how he came to live with his friend and how he got his name. Nana also tells us, with great pride, of his independence and skill-sets he developed living as a street cat.

The story’s main chapters take place as Saturo tries to find Nana a new home and owner because he can no longer take care of him, even though Nana tells us readers it’s quite unnecessary, for he is perfectly fine with going back to the streets. Chapter by chapter, they go on the road and travel to different prospective caretakers for Nana, and we learn of each prospect’s lives, of their connection and relationship to Saturo and how they feel about cats.

Through these travels, however, Saturo, a devout cat-lover since he was a child, remains vague as to why there is a need to give up Nana and find him a new home for him. Saturo’s reasoning becomes clear as we reach the end and we see how close and endearing a relationship Saturo and Nana have, especially through a cat’s perspective. We also see how Saturo and Nana’s travels and friendship bring people together and help these relationships heal and strengthen.

This story by the author is very insightful, creative, heartfelt and funny, giving us a cat’s narrative and point of view. As the book progresses, we get a full backstory of Saturo and his friends and how caring for a cat would affect each of their lives. We also see the countryside and cities of Japan through a cat’s eyes, seeing things we take for granted for the very first time.

This book is a 281-page testament to our need for connection – human or animal. The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa, is a stellar representation, an anthem to friendship, giving and sacrificing, taking pleasure in the small things in life with the ones you love. This read is a great way to start the new year!

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Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E. Frankl

BPL Copy

I always value belonging to a community and network of readers. This title, Man’s Search For Meaning by Viktor E Frankl, was recommended to me by my daughter via a coworker of hers. I thank them both for this insightful read. I borrowed an e-copy from the Brooklyn Public Library (be warned, there’s a waiting list) and I’ll probably purchase a hardcopy for future reads.

Viktor Frankl survived four concentration camps. His book, Man’s Search For Meaning, was first published under a different title in 1949, and then in English in 1959 and has been translated into 24 languages, selling over 16 million copies. The book explores why he believes how he survived.

Mind you, even though the author first tells us his experience and doesn’t go into great detail, because he says that’s been covered in countless accounts and he just wants to give the reader background for his analysis in the second part of the book, his account is still chilling, a horror. It still saddens and confounds me how humans can be so cruel and indifferent to one another.

The author brings detailed, thoughtful analysis to his experience – of all the suffering one endures, all the cruelty, where the one thing you have left is how you choose to react to one’s hardship. Do you keep your dignity and remain humane and unselfish or do you try to survive at all costs, losing yourself in the process, becoming nothing more than an animal. The author developed a form of psychoanalysis called logotherapy, where you search for the meaning of human existence and man searches for that meaning. His experience in the concentration camps reinforced his theory, that once a person has a reason to live, or hope, then the hardship of how to survive becomes doable.

Frankl believes this is how he survived, looking to the future. He thought he was at his lowest enduring the cruelty of the camps. But when he returned home, he found out he lost everything, his parents, his brother, and his wife. Even with this loss of being left alone and suffering through a 3-year ordeal in concentration camps, he strongly believed in reconciliation and not revenge – Frankl’s quote, “I do not forget any good deed done to me, and I do not carry a grudge for a bad one.” When asked the meaning of his life, Frankl agreed it was to help others find the meaning of theirs.

Viktor Frankl was born in 1905 and died in 1997. Almost the entire span of his life he wanted to help people. He decided he wanted to be a doctor at age three and as a teen, he was fascinated with psychology, experimental psychology, and psychoanalysis, particularly about the meaning of life. He is recognized as establishing logotherapy as a form of clinical psychotherapy. Viktor Frankl was a truly remarkable, exceptional human being. Please give this title, Man’s Search For Meaning, at least one read and share it with others!