Name: Simona Paunova's review of Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen
Item: Herding Cats
Rating: 3
Author: Simona Paunova

Sarah Andersen

". . . author Sarah Andersen uses hilarious (and adorable) comics to illustrate the very specific growing pains that occur on your way to becoming a mature, put-together grownup. Andersen’s spot-on illustrations also show how to navigate this newfound adulthood once you arrive, since maturity is equally as hard to maintain as it is to find … " --The Huffington Post Sarah valiantly struggles with waking up in the morning, being productive, and dealing with social situations. Sarah's Scribbles is the comic strip that follows her life, finding humor in living as an adulting introvert that is at times weird, awkward, and embarrassing. The third collection of Sarah's Scribbles comics includes never-before-published comics and an illustrated essay about struggles with sexism, personal growth, and the rewards and challenges of sharing your creative work with millions of readers online.

A Sarah's Scribbles Collection

Herding Cats

Simona Paunova

Sarah's Scribbles, Goodreads Choice Award for 2016: Best Graphic Novels & Comics ". . . author Sarah Andersen uses hilarious (and adorable) comics to illustrate the very specific growing pains that occur on your way to becoming a mature, put-together grownup. Andersen's spot-on illustrations also show how to navigate this newfound adulthood once you arrive, since maturity is equally as hard to maintain as it is to find ... " --The Huffington Post Sarah valiantly struggles with waking up in the morning, being productive, and dealing with social situations. Sarah's Scribbles is the comic strip that follows her life, finding humor in living as an adulting introvert that is at times weird, awkward, and embarrassing.

ella

ternyata ga cuma lucu2an. tapi juga ada pesan buat ilustrator soal menghadapi kritik dan membuat karya dari pengalaman sarah andersen sbg ilustrator. namun sebenarnya ga cuma bisa buat ilustrator aja sih, bisa juga buat non illustrator people.

Deepika Ramesh

This is Andersen's typical outing on animals, anxiety, therapy, and creativity. As always, she is hilarious and adorable. The bonus this time around is her meditation on wading through the hatred that the Internet spews and making art despite that. She is fun and thought-provoking.

Kritika Narula

Originally reviewed at  So many books, so little time 

Contrary to popular belief, being introverted is not about your ability to socialize...it is about what you do after. Sarah is back with her third book,

I have been a big fan of Sarah scribbles, and read through both Adulthood is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy lump. I've said it of her books before: they are simple and endearing...I always have a gala time. But unlike the first two books that revolved around an overarching theme, this one was a bit generic in terms of content. 

The best part of the collection, to me, was the truth bombs she has dropped throughout. 

Consider this as a very simple example of the same:


So subtle yet so incontrovertibly true, you laugh your guts out without really even creating an arch on your lips. My point is, she makes smiling possible in ways we did not know of. 

This one hurt me a bit too much too. 


The one thing that doesn't change, no matter which Sarah Scribble you pick up: you embrace the fallibility of being a human. 
And here, for instance: do you know how retail therapy works? Yeah, you guessed it, it doesn't!


Another thumbs up to the book for covering almost everything you can think of: from reading books, binge-watching to headphones and listening to music.
And then, she took a serious, an innocuously sarcastic turn. This is when I knew:


And, oops...

Parting words? Chaos, I am your mistress!

Note: I got an ARC from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review

Nessa Luna

I often see these comics appear anywhere on the internet, and they’re always so relatable; this book was amazing and incredibly relatable and I loved seeing all these simple but cute drawings!

Ivy X

Cute guide for being an artist at the end & so relatable

Stef

Finished this e-arc tonight. It's my second book from Sarah Andersen, and I still like some of the panel comic even not as much as I like the first book of the series. 

In the Herding Cats, Sarah is not only drawing some panel but giving story about her work as artist and her opinion about art this day on internet. I really like the second part, the panel when the author sharing about her works and her anxiety about trying to get some creativy and share her works on internet. And I really love the last of this collection. It's like the most important part from the book.

Beside that, I was incredibly related and enjoyed some panel. Like, omg this panel really like me in real life, messing up with my room after cleaning or me who always self-judging myself. Can't believe there is so many panel I can related.

The things that I don't really like, some panel kinda boring and I don't get the humor what the author mean. Repetitive topic like the other books from author. I expected to read more about cats but yeah the panel about cats can be count. And The book itself is kinda short than other books from author. 

3 ★★★ for the last section in this book, the enjoyable experince read some panel, the great content and the color of cover. 

And thanks for giving me chance to provide the e-arc.

Izza

Kelsey Joëlle

I received this book from Netgalley in return for my honest opinion

I loved this book. I adore Graphic Novels/strips and I've seen Sarah's Scribbles on Instagram before. They're so funny and relatable! 

I wasn't quite expecting that I would love this book so much. I laughed out loud more than once and that's a really good thing. I'd love to read more books like this!

Actual rating: 4,5 stars

Maggie Gordon

Sarah Andersen's work makes me smile. Sometimes that's all I ask from a book. I'm not an optimistic person by nature, so I enjoy a bit of the brighter side of humour. Also, CATS. CAAAAAATS.

Carmen

Me parece que es el más flojo de estas novelas gráficas, sin embargo mantienen su esencia que te hace reír.

Ashutosh

Ken Yuen

Sarah Andersen does it again. Relatable and funny, she turns our everyday problems into familiar comics. It gives us a chance to laugh at our problems and not feel so bad about them.

She goes above and beyond in this book by including her personal thoughts on the Internet, dealing with criticism, toxic online groups, being creative, etc. She speaks from personal experience and gives genuinely good advice.

Buy her book and subscribe to her comics online.

Cindy Lieberman

Artistic anxiety is normal: Go make art

A very relatable graphic novella told from the perspective of a young artist who deals with procrastination, self-doubt and online trolls. At the end is a manifesto of sorts encouraging those of us who like to create ... to go ahead and create.

Lauren Sullivan

My response when I hear a new Sarah’s Scribbles book is coming out:



This is the third of Ms. Andersen’s collections, which are a combination of her web comics, new material for the book, and a short essay illustrated with comics. I’ve read, reviewed and enjoyed the previous collections (Adulthood Is a Myth and Big Mushy Happy Lump) and this is (delightfully) more of the same. You can expect lots of comics about cats, procrastination, Halloween, anxiety, and more! While many of the comics continue to be hilariously relatable, there does seem to be a higher percentage of “more serious” comics, with topics from the 2016 elections to women’s place in society. Ms. Andersen treats them with the same relatability as, oh, taking your bra off less than a minute after you get in the door.



My favorites of her comics are always the ones dealing with mental health. From the bad thoughts spiral, to randomly remembering an embarrassing moment that happened years ago, I’ve always found these particularly relatable, and I enjoy how they’re both respectful and gently humorous. A reoccurring theme is where one thing goes badly and ruins the entire day, from forgetting your headphones to not being able to refold shirts while shopping.



It also felt like there were more “warm hug”-type comics, ones that celebrate friendship and the simple things, from that awesome noise scissors make when cutting wrapping paper to venting to friends. I thought this provided a good foil to all of the “the world is ending!” and more serious comics.



There’s only one essay in this book, and it’s called “Making Stuff in the Modern Era: A Guide for the Young Creative”. As someone who’s neither young nor creative, I wasn’t expecting to get much out of this, but it is still applicable to pretty much anyone. In her typical fashion, it’s about ignoring the haters – both external and internal – and just doing your thing. Taking criticism – whether constructive or not – is something that I think many people, myself included, struggle with. 

Overall, if you’ve liked the previous collections, you’re going to like this one! I can’t wait for the next one, either!

I received this book for free from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Joana Ribeiro

This series are really funny and easy going to read. When I saw the book available as ARCI thought.... I really have to have it. I was not disappointed. 
The author jokes about daily stuff in such a nice way... it is lovely to read just to get away from our daily problems.
The second part, where she focus in the creation process it is quite important. She sends the message that we should never give up on our dreams... on hope.... something that in our society is so easy to happen. Peope do not encourage others to persue their happiness. People do not like someone else's sucess... 

So I just say: "Go make stuff"

The book worm

Lucía RG

Kate Gravelle

I love this book so much! It’s better each time I read it.

Jelke Lenaerts

This is a cute collection of comics and a quick read but it's nothing too special to me. I don't have much to say about this book as it's the typical 3 star to me. It's enjoyable and good but I don't feel anything about it except just meh.

Анастасия Розова

You all know I love Sarah and her comics by now. So yeah, of course I loved this volume. I also have a calendar with her scribbles and some of them were in this book! Very exciting.

Timi Uysingco

Mica

Amanda Furlan

Did Sarah stalk my life and make a comic of it? I think so!

everlinet

Cute but not as cute as the previous two.

Erin 

I don't really have much to say about this specifically, but if you loved Sarah's first two books, you will most certainly love this one too.

Simona Paunova &
Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen

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Simona Paunova &Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen

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Herding Cats by Sarah Andersen