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yodamom's review against another edition
5.0
Cats have been enthralling us for centuries, and some say the French have even a deeper love of them. This book captures the deep love in poems written for centuries. Tales of confounding behaviors, adorable connections and wild tendencies. The oldest written in 1160ca-1210, and the latest at about 1995. The language the styles and the emotions given to the cats changes so much over time and yet there remains the love of this furry friend. Expressive illustrations add to the luxury of the poems and ad a whimsical flare. The first half of the book is the translated section, the second is it he original language French.
I loved this book. I picked it up and read random poems everyday first in French as best i could and then in English. They flow so much better in French, it is such a beautiful language but I am not fluent enough to understand them. The English versions are wonderful. I love the idea of publishing the original language with the translated poem.
I plan on gifting several copies to some of my feline loving friends and a few copies to my
Francophile friends.
I loved this book. I picked it up and read random poems everyday first in French as best i could and then in English. They flow so much better in French, it is such a beautiful language but I am not fluent enough to understand them. The English versions are wonderful. I love the idea of publishing the original language with the translated poem.
I plan on gifting several copies to some of my feline loving friends and a few copies to my
Francophile friends.
sapphosgirlfriend's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, so I have a confession: I did not read every poem yet. They must be cherished and shouldn't be read all at once, in my opinion. I do have read enough to write a (short) review, so I'm gonna give it a try.
I really liked this bundle! If the poems itself weren't awesome enough, the drawings made it even better. I could talk all day about how awesome these illustrations were, they were so cute!
If you love cats, French things and poems, this is the book for you!
One more thing: can I have a cat please?
I really liked this bundle! If the poems itself weren't awesome enough, the drawings made it even better. I could talk all day about how awesome these illustrations were, they were so cute!
If you love cats, French things and poems, this is the book for you!
One more thing: can I have a cat please?
sapphic's review against another edition
4.0
Okay, so I have a confession: I did not read every poem yet. They must be cherished and shouldn't be read all at once, in my opinion. I do have read enough to write a (short) review, so I'm gonna give it a try.
I really liked this bundle! If the poems itself weren't awesome enough, the drawings made it even better. I could talk all day about how awesome these illustrations were, they were so cute!
If you love cats, French things and poems, this is the book for you!
One more thing: can I have a cat please?
I really liked this bundle! If the poems itself weren't awesome enough, the drawings made it even better. I could talk all day about how awesome these illustrations were, they were so cute!
If you love cats, French things and poems, this is the book for you!
One more thing: can I have a cat please?
kikiandarrowsfishshelf's review against another edition
4.0
Disclaimer: Arc via Netgalley
This little collection is of French poems about cats. Shapiro translates the poems, and then provides the originals in the back of the book, making this volume idea either for those who read both English and French, or for a class for either language.
The poems themselves cover a range of writers and periods. Marie de France is here as is La Fontaine. There are also more modern authors, including the famous Colette. The poem types range from fables to legends, to song version to the cat being symbolic of someone else. Some of the poems are either prose-poems or translated into prose.
One of the funniest poems is “The Child and the Cat” by Henri Richer. There is a the rather interesting “The Cat and his African Relatives” by Francois Jauffret. There is some love poetry that isn’t as sick as saying cat love poetry sounds. There is pretty of humor.
It is a charming little collection of poetry about cats, but really about cats and not Disney ones.
T.S. Eliot would approve.
This little collection is of French poems about cats. Shapiro translates the poems, and then provides the originals in the back of the book, making this volume idea either for those who read both English and French, or for a class for either language.
The poems themselves cover a range of writers and periods. Marie de France is here as is La Fontaine. There are also more modern authors, including the famous Colette. The poem types range from fables to legends, to song version to the cat being symbolic of someone else. Some of the poems are either prose-poems or translated into prose.
One of the funniest poems is “The Child and the Cat” by Henri Richer. There is a the rather interesting “The Cat and his African Relatives” by Francois Jauffret. There is some love poetry that isn’t as sick as saying cat love poetry sounds. There is pretty of humor.
It is a charming little collection of poetry about cats, but really about cats and not Disney ones.
T.S. Eliot would approve.
mxhermit's review
3.0
I don't usually read non-fiction, so picking up this volume was a bit of a departure for me. I do love cats, though, so that helped me make up my mind to give it a try.
Poetry can be a difficult subject to discuss because the flow and the content make it a very personal topic. This is a volume of translated work, which made the assortment of poems even more interesting. There are pieces in it from hundreds of year ago to more modern times, which is a nice variety.
Some of the older pieces I did not care for because the language was a product of its time and thus very different from what I am used to. This difficulty was especially evident in the older poems of a longer length.
One of my favorite poems was The Cat and the Dog by Andre Auguste Tandon (1759-1824). It typifies the relationship between cat and dog in a humorous way. The translator had to do a bit of work with this one regarding the dog's voice as there's a stammer there, but I think that he managed to capture the attitude of the dog.
Another favorite was The Clock by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). This was one that was more of the poetic prose sort that read more like a story to me, but in such a lyrical way that I would certainly call it poetry. It speaks to the cat lover's soul, illustrating the serenity that one might enjoy in the company of your feline.
Something that was an interesting feature was that the first half of the book is the translated works and the second half of the book was the originals. It was not as much of a draw for me because I cannot read French, but for someone that does, it could be fun to flip back and forth to see the differences between the original and the translated work.
The illustrations by Olga Pastuchiv were a great choice to include in this volume. Looking at them on a Kindle screen, they look like delicate pencil sketches that are smudged in just the right places. It gives the poems a sort of ethereal quality that fits most of the poems.
The reason that I am giving this a 3 star rating is that the older poems selected for the beginning of the book were too heavy for me; they felt as though they were dragging too much.
Another drawback was the introduction that also had that dragging feeling. It could easily be skipped, though, and wouldn't need to be read more than once if you were indeed interested in pushing through it.
Poetry can be a difficult subject to discuss because the flow and the content make it a very personal topic. This is a volume of translated work, which made the assortment of poems even more interesting. There are pieces in it from hundreds of year ago to more modern times, which is a nice variety.
Some of the older pieces I did not care for because the language was a product of its time and thus very different from what I am used to. This difficulty was especially evident in the older poems of a longer length.
One of my favorite poems was The Cat and the Dog by Andre Auguste Tandon (1759-1824). It typifies the relationship between cat and dog in a humorous way. The translator had to do a bit of work with this one regarding the dog's voice as there's a stammer there, but I think that he managed to capture the attitude of the dog.
Another favorite was The Clock by Charles Baudelaire (1821-1867). This was one that was more of the poetic prose sort that read more like a story to me, but in such a lyrical way that I would certainly call it poetry. It speaks to the cat lover's soul, illustrating the serenity that one might enjoy in the company of your feline.
Something that was an interesting feature was that the first half of the book is the translated works and the second half of the book was the originals. It was not as much of a draw for me because I cannot read French, but for someone that does, it could be fun to flip back and forth to see the differences between the original and the translated work.
The illustrations by Olga Pastuchiv were a great choice to include in this volume. Looking at them on a Kindle screen, they look like delicate pencil sketches that are smudged in just the right places. It gives the poems a sort of ethereal quality that fits most of the poems.
The reason that I am giving this a 3 star rating is that the older poems selected for the beginning of the book were too heavy for me; they felt as though they were dragging too much.
Another drawback was the introduction that also had that dragging feeling. It could easily be skipped, though, and wouldn't need to be read more than once if you were indeed interested in pushing through it.
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