Kay's Bookshelf

The cat in the story, going by his chosen name of The Cat, is a pretty thing judging from the cover picture, “tabby and white with silver highlights” by his own description. He is a bit vain, a bit hypochondriac, a bit egotistical (well, a bit more), but also quite intelligent and very well read for a cat — he even mentioned Ceausescu once, leaving me totally amazed at the vastness of his knowledge (despite his actually mistyping the first name). His narrative style is quite disjointed, many times starting with an idea and ending the phrase talking about something completely different :)

One of the things I liked about The Cat was that he had very strong opinions on almost everything: British/US spelling (I have always thought that Americans cared about ‘U’ after all they are always wishing one, ‘You have a nice day,’), hygiene (“Is there anything more hygienic than a Cat?“), taking notes (“it is a little like talking to one’s self and therefore should be kept to a minimum because it must be a sign of madness“), “The Nutty Professor” (“dreadful”), and many many more. Nevertheless he does admit he cannot know it all, usually justifying it by saying something like “what do I know, I’m just a cat” :)

The book started out pretty promising, with The Cat letting us know his plans for the future of his diary:

I am going to have to study my enemies very closely and get to know their habits. And that is why I have decided to keep a Diary; it will help me review Humankind, well Humans [...].
The keeping of a Diary will also allow me to catalogue the injustices and wrong doings of my Captors, because there will, I am confident, be many of those and I will expose as many as I can while I am here, but hopefully I won’t be here long.

Sounds boring? Not at all, this small cat’s life is filled with adventures: he destroys toys because he thinks mini surveillance cameras are hidden in them, hides in the vacuum cleaner hoping he’ll be taken out (and has sense enough to cover his ears with the remains of a plush toy), gets into the freezer looking for prawn, trains the dog to help him with getting food from the fridge, tries to build a time travel machine, knits an invisibility cloak, tries to leave home in disguise (covered in his mistress’ make-up and wig), plays dead in hopes he’ll be thrown out, gets superglued to the wastepaper bin while trying to build a rocket and many many more. Some of this adventures even have serious consequences, such as the time when he blows up various walls of his owners’ home and once, on a memorable occasion, he actually destroys the whole neighborhood while trying to dig a tunnel to freedom.

The book contains some pretty funny scenes, one of my favorites being the part where Cat’s “Captors” try to acquaint him with the litter box. When I got my cat one of the first things I did was to look up on Google how does one get a cat to use the litter box. The answer was something along the lines of “show him the litter box, then take its front paws and dig around a bit”. Which is what I did (and luckily my cat got the idea from the first) and also what Cat’s owners (slash “Captors”) did. It was thus interesting to see the situation I’ve been in through Cat’s eyes — he considered it to be forced labor! :) :)

It is perhaps worth mentioned that reading this book has been a novel experience for me, because I was, for the very first time, rooting for the main hero not to succeed. His beloved freedom that he held so dear was for me an image of his being trapped in a world that’s mostly cruel and unmerciful with stray cats. This being said, I was very very happy to see the turn the things took near the end of the book, although the very ending sort of disappointed me — I did want the best for Cat, of course, but the ending sort of lacked credibility, at least in my eyes (strangely enough since I could readily believe everything else :P ).

Ever since first looking at the author’s site I have been amazed to see the book advertised as being (approximate quote) “400 pages of humor”. In my opinion a funny book shouldn’t have a lot of pages. Don’t get me wrong, I love chunksters (I tend to enjoy good books over 450 pages more than the shorter ones), but this does not apply when it comes to books that are meant to be funny, because it is a very hard feat for one to keep it fresh for so long, sooner or later it will start to get repetitive. I for one would rather have a 150-pages of laugh out loud humor than a 400-pages of just-funny-and-occasionally-laugh-out-loud. Having read the book my opinion still stands (and I am sorry to say that, as I have grown to love the “small tabby and white cat“). And yet, the book was funny but I think it would have been a lot better had it been about half shorter.

Come to think about it, I even have suggestions for some cuts: I was absolutely amazed to see the Cat having a really really bad memory! An example: in one of the first “days of captivity” the Cat tells the story of a girl, a relative of his Humans, that has dressed him up like a doll; many days later he re-tells the same story (as having happened in the current day), only in a bit more detail and without any reference of it having happened before (on the contrary he finds it completely unexpected). Same goes for the TV — Cat watches movies, then wonders what the black box is, watches more movies and TV shows, then wonders what the “wobbly flashing box” is, as if he hadn’t already discovered the whole TV concept many days before. Another example of Cat’s forgetfulness (that at least didn’t come with repeating previous adventures) was when the Cat is taken to the vet and neutered; days after he ends up at the vet again and hints at awful unknown things that he’s heard can happen to one when at the vet (completely leaving out his previous experience and the fact that those awful things have already happened to him and therefore cannot happen again). And so on, detracting from the overall experience.

What I liked most: Ever since I first read about the book on the author’s site I have found its topic fascinating :) A cat writing a diary about escaping? Such a great idea, I thought, remembering something I once read online (second half, of course). Speaking of which it is perhaps worth noting that the author must have read it too, as there are a few similarities between the two diaries :)

Since I am talking about the first impression, I just have to also mention the wonderful cover, with a picture of a cat (The Cat actually) looking “caught in the act” (of escaping?). Pretty amusing, especially as somewhere in the book the cat actually mentions thinking about what would be his best pose for the cover, deciding on the one I have just described. As he puts it, “I thought that we could fake some action shot, with me very high up looking just a little worried“. :) Not to mention that on the cover, instead of “Written by” it says “Translated from the original Cat by” :)

What I liked least: Its sheer length. Way too long to sustain my interest (although I have started out very enthusiastic, by the last page I ended up saying, like The Cat himself, “The End, thank goodness“). A pity as, properly edited, I think it would really have some potential (especially for cat lovers such as I). All the more so since I had the impression, at times, that the author was simply struggling with it, to write some more, to make it large.

Recommend it? I have definitely loved it for the first 100-something pages, so I do encourage you to give it a try.

See also
The book site

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Popularity: 20% [?]

Genre: Memoir Main characters: Kopek the dog and his owners Phil and Ronnie Time and place: contemporary UK Summary: Both Phil and his wife have always been animals lovers and owners. When they move into a new house they decide it’s pretty empty without a dog so they get one, despite their already having two rabbits. They don’t stop here either, later on they get another rabit, a cat and a Guinea pig. In the author’s own words, “It was starting to feel like the ark“. Unfortunately their dog died of old age and, missing a dog in their lives, they get another one, this time a puppy. Enters Kopek, and the couple’s quiet life will never be the same again. The book narrates the joys and troubles of living with a boundlessly energetic paper-lowing pillow-chewing dog (up until he’s about 18 months old, his age at the time the book has been written).

Kopek is a British Inuit, quite a large dog, playful and, despite his antics, with quite a friendly temperament. I was amused by him, of course, but I was even more interested in his “parents”. What can I say, I love animals, so I am kinda subjective when it comes to them. Which means I was bound to like the couple in the book — the author and his wife, Ronnie. I have absolutely loved them actually. They were both dedicated animals lovers and could hardly say no to an animal in need of a home (and lucky for them they did have a home large enough for that). They both appreciated all their pets and felt gratitude for the time they got to spend together — their feelings for their dog Tim after he passed away almost made me cry. Another thing I liked very much about them was that their love for animals was unbounded, completely disregarding the race (given that they had rabits, a guinea pig, a cat, a dog, almost ended up buying a goat once) — just my kind of people, as I never could understand the whole “I’m a dog person but I hate cats” thing, in my mind one either cares about all furry creatures or doesn’t, nothing in between. Oh, and they love to read! Need I say more? :)

Speaking of the author, the moment when he went to the pet store and bought a rabbit simply because it “was all on his own, with no friends to play with or keep him company” melted my heart (I know just the feeling, I have it too every now and then when I see a sad-looking pet at a pet store). Same goes for the way he got his cat, Gucci. So “aaaaaaw” :)

The book is subtitled “Causes of Indigestion for a Wolfy Puppy“, and once I started it it drew me in and had a hard time putting it down. I actually read the first a hundred-odd pages in one sitting. Here and there there are a few pictures of Kopek in various stages of his life, plus lots of events I was amused by and related to at once. Such as, for example, the first nights spent by Kopek in his new house, his howling and his owners’ desperation (but also their not wanting to give in and go to him because he might get the idea that howling will get him things). That is precisely what happened with me and my cat, and still happens every now and then actually — of course my cat is not howling but meowing loudly. Also, I was amused to find out that Kopek’s name means “dog” in Turkish — I was always fond of this quirky way of naming animals (to this day I own an old plush horse whose name is “Horse” :P )

What I liked most: I absolutely loved Ronnie’s imagination :)

Ronnie has made up for her rabbits’ lack of personality by inventing a fantasy life along with a language for her rodents. [...] In her mind, when she was out at work, she could quite happily picture her rabbits playing poker, watching the television and getting up to all sorts of mischievous things.

Not to mention the Rodent Council (“an imaginary group of animals that looked after the interests of all rodents, and according to Ronnie, they also enforced rodent law“), plus all the references to animal personalities all throughout the book (such as when Tim the dog chewed off the years of Joey the wooden rabbit the author muses that perhaps “Joey was a better poker player than him [Tim], and after losing a whole week supply of Bonios, he [Tim] took it out on his years“), and more.
There are no words to say how charmed I was by all this :)

What I liked least: The book is self published and at times it shows in the odd turns of phrase (i.e. “The other dog was fairly large, which we since learned was called Missy“), sort of understandable since the author did not have the privilege of an experienced editor. Nevertheless, these bits do not detract very much from the overall funny (and at times fuzzy) feeling of the book.

Recommend it? If you are a dog lover then it’s a must read. Even if you’re not the book is pretty funny at times plus a fast read, and I have enjoyed it despite my being a cat person (which isn’t to say I don’t like dogs, I just like cats more :) ).

See also
The author’s site (including a blog and publishing advice)
Flickr set with more pictures of Kopek (including his 1-year birthday cake I was a bit curious about :) )

Amazon Affiliate. If you click an Amazon link and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Popularity: 6% [?]

This is Anna Sewell’s only book, having been finished only few months before she died. She said about the book that “its special aim [was] to induce kindness, sympathy, and an understanding treatment of horses”. In my opinion she has absolutely succeeded. I’ve read this book countless of times in my childhood and each time I appreciated horses a bit more and condemned cruelty towards them a bit more. The book is actually more than just a “love horses” manifesto, as it also contains discussions on topics like right and wrong, helping others or thinking only of yourself, taking a stand when cruelty is involved and more. Don’t get me wrong, the book is far from being theoretical, only it manages to entwine a bunch of lessons into a story about, well, a horse. About his thoughts, his adventures, people he meets, life experiences he’s told of and so on. While not a very fast paced book it is nevertheless catchy and you cannot help getting attached to the main character.

I’d say this should be a recommended reading for any child.

Amazon Affiliate. If you click an Amazon link and buy something, I receive a small percentage of the purchase price.

Popularity: 7% [?]