Do You Read Books Featuring Cats?

[Margret]

When trying to pick up French again I asked this site for cat related novels and then I'd try buy the translations - I managed to get quite a few and have loved reading through them (this is still an ongoing process!). I bought some in English also. Poor Scraggles had to put up with being photographed with each and every book delivery - he got fairly sick of it as you can probably see from the third photo...

He probably would have loved them if they'd been open so he could "help" you read them . (Of course, we all know cats read with their butts...)

@Opi-the-furry-conductor, thanks for the recommendations. I love Ursula LeGuin, but I had no idea she'd written any cat books. I'll have to bookmark them on BookBub.

Margret

 

[sivyaleah]

There's a non-fiction writer named Tom Cox who writes extensively about cats in his books. He is the person that does "My Sweary Cat" and "My Sad Cat" on Twitter where's he's ridiculously popular.
His writings are really lovely, about life in general with cats playing a major roles. He is the epitome of a Cat Dad. I highly recommend reading any of his books but especially "Close Encounters of the Furred Kind" and "The Good, The Bad, and The Furry".
Also, if interested this is the euology he wrote for his most beloved kitty of all, Bear, when he passed last year:
Goodbye, Kind Friend: RIP The Bear (1995-2016) - Tom Cox
A sad read, but so eloquent and well written. It's a must read.
FYI, his Instagram/Facebook and all else is worth following. His new book just came out that is not cat related but I hear there's some furriness involved inside anyway.

 

[Margret]

Incidentally, there's a sequel to Homer's Odyssey, named Homer: The Ninth Life of a Blind Wonder Cat, also by Gwen Cooper. Regretfully, Homer passed in 2013. Homer

Margret

 

[Boris Diamond]

Thanks for the great suggestions, all. I am looking forward to trying the many the books that I have added to my wish list at the library! Right now I am reading The Cat Who...series by Lilian Jackson Braun and enjoying it very much.

 

[muffy]

Thanks for the great suggestions, all. I am looking forward to trying the many the books that I have added to my wish list at the library! Right now I am reading The Cat Who...series by Lilian Jackson Braun and enjoying it very much.

Lilian Jackson Braun was my favorite writer when it came to cat books.

 

[jcat]

I believe only three of his books, Felidae (fiction), Felidae on the Road (fiction), and Cat Sense: Inside the Feline Mind (non-fiction), have been translated from German into English, but I enjoy Akif Pirincci's "Francis" cat mystery series. The first book was also filmed.

 

[raysmyheart]

I never realized that there were so many books with cats so central to the story until I heard fellow members here recommend them. I am in the middle of reading Lending A Paw by Laurie Cass, recommended to me on the reading forum at TCS by Mamanyt1953 . I hope to read many more cat mysteries.

I have read A Street Cat Named Bob by James Bowen which was great, a story that really touched me because of the special bond between cat and human that is captured so well in this book.

 

[shadowkitty10]

I tried the first book of the Warriors series, and I think I'm one of the "more sensitive" people! I really like What Your Cat Knows by Sally Morgan. It has really simple "tests" you can do with your cat, a big feature I love, and goes over some really cool cat stuff without being super complicated. I also like National Geographic's How to Speak Cat. I'm not sure if it's just Nat Geo or it's Nat Geo Kids, but either way, it's helpful if you really want to know what your kitty's saying.

 

[Margret]

Cats in Cyberspace and PKP for President, both by Beth Hilgartner. PKP for President is apparently also known as Prey-Part Politics. (PKP is short for Princess Killer Pinknose. We're definitely talking Alpha cat here.)

Margret

 

[Margret]

I just ran into a new one the other day: The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles, by Kij Johnson. It's set at a time when cats are new to Japan. Our heroine, Small Cat, lives in a clowder in the garden of a deserted house in Japan's capitol city, until a large earthquake strikes, causing a fire that rivals those in San Francisco after the great earthquake there. When the fire reaches the deserted house and its gardens all the cats flee, and Small Cat is separated from her clowder.

After attempting unsuccessfully to find a new clowder where she can fit in Small Cat decides to search north of the city for the place her most distant known ancestor came from, the legendary The Cat From The North. She has many adventures. She learns that Buddhist monks will feed and shelter her, that she can hitch a ride on the back of a cart, that it's wise to avoid packs of dogs, that goats and oxen are bigger than she is and can't be trusted not to step on her, and the farther she gets from the capitol the less likely it is that people will know what she is -- they begin to refer to her as a "demon."

She begins to get discouraged, and to take refuge in the stories she makes up about what it will be like when she finds the place (and the clowder) that The Cat From The North came from, where she will be welcomed and honored for her courageous journey. Unfortunately, day-dreaming isn't always a survival trait, which causes more problems for Small Cat; she stops grooming herself and forgets to play with her prey. But eventually she comes to Mount Fuji and determines to climb it, hoping to see the end of the Tokaido, the great north road, and there she meets another Buddhist monk, who is on a pilgrimage, and they travel together for a ways.

And at this point I believe I should stop to avoid spoilers. I will only say that her journey finally ends when the Tokaido reaches the sea, and that while she doesn't find what she was expecting she does find what she's truly looking for.

It was a fun read.

Margret

 

[Mamanyt1953]

OH JOY OH BLISS! The mail lady dropped off a package from Thriftbooks today! I now have ALL of the "Cats in Trouble" series by Leann Sweeny, except for the last one which will arrive in the next few days! A friend sent me the first one, and I've been wanting the whole series for ages.

 

[Elfilou]

I've read Cat Sense, also Jackson Galaxy's book and The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats. The first I recommend for any cat owner! It's informational but in a fun way. The latter was a good read but I didn't like how he subtly pushed his opinion that all cats should be able to go out whenever they want. It was still kinda nice though.

 

[Merlin77]

Cool books guys! Keep up the reading!