It’s #InternationalCatDay! Some of us would say that every day is cat day, but apparently they get one in particular to celebrate themselves. And it reminded me about Five From the Archive, which I did a lot in 2012, once in 2015, and never again. Until now! It’s a fun way to delve through the blog review archives and find links between books. You can see all the previous books I wrote about in the index – and, now that I’ve remember it, it might become a regular feature again. And you’ll have to forgive where the quote formatting of old reviews went awry…
Usually I only tried to include books I really love, but it turns out I haven’t read that many books about cats – so some of these aren’t my faves, but consider it an opportunity for you to tell me better ones to try!
(And do feel free to use the Five From the Archive idea and image for anything at all you fancy, if you like.)
1.) The Fur Person (1957) by May Sarton
In short: Tom ‘Terrible’ Jones is on the look out for a permanent house to live in, and tries various potential owners (or people to own) before he lands on the correct house. He is a very realistic depiction of a selfish, pragmatic, and entirely lovable cat.
From the review: “the movements of tail and paws, the stretching, the staring and waiting – everything it described with such precision and accuracy that any cat-lover (particularly those of us who love cats but don’t live with any) will thrill to the reading experience.”
2.) The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide (2001)
In short: A couple in their 30s find their lives and their relationship revitalised by the appearance of a visiting cat – though the novella is nowhere near as fey as that sounds!
From the review: “it is Hiraide’s writing that makes The Guest Cat the mini masterpiece that it undoubtedly is. You get the feeling that he could have turned his pen to any topic under the sun and achieved something equally poignant.”
3.) Jennie (1950) by Paul Gallico
In short: A little boy is transformed into a cat, and has to learn how to live as one by the teachings of Jennie – whose mantra is “if in doubt, wash”.
From the review: “It is the plotting and tone which made Jennie a bit of a disappointment to me. The characters of Jennie and Peter are great – and, as I’ve said, Gallico has really closely observed cat behaviour. But the tone is too sprightly, even with the sad aspects of the story.”
4.) Merry Hall (1951) by Beverley Nichols
In short: Not really about cats, but One and Four are such well-described presences in this book about doing up a house and garden that I think it counts. (I have his cat-focused books waiting on my shelves.)
From the review: “One is Siamese and Four is a black cat, and he writes beautifully about their character and mannerisms, with every bit of the devotion that cats deserve. They weave in and out of the narrative, and won my heart completely.”
5.) Dewey: the small-town library cat who touched the world (2008) by Vicki Myron
In short: This non-fiction book is dreadful, but hilariously dreadful, about a cat who lives in a library.
From the review: “Chapters can generally be divided into two camps: those which relate incidents of no notable interest, and those which relate incidents which couldn’t possibly have happened.”
Books about cats – my recommendations as recent reads:
The Dalai Lama’s Cat by David Michie – a stray kitten/cat is adopted by the Dalai Lama much to the consternation of his fellow monks. The story is told by the cat – of visitors to the Dalai Lama, of the Dalai Lama’s teachings (some related to the cat); of the cat’s fame in the local village. Its a nice read and of course is full of fables and parables for use in modern life
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa – now this is a bit of a sad, but also happy story about someone who has a much beloved cat as a child, but when his parents died the cat had to be found a new home. And then some years later, a cat enters his and is adopted. For one reason or another (spoiler if I tell you), he again has to find the cat an alternative home, so he takes the cat around Japan to test out his friends to see how the cat might adapt to their homes (and they to the cat). Again its told from the cat’s viewpoint
Happy International Cat Day to Hargreaves! I loved The Guest Cat too – and Beverley on the subject of cats is always glorious!
The Master and Margarita, one of my favourite novels, for a devilish cat, and John Masefield’s The Midnight Folk for a cat hero.
An old favorite of mine is “archy and mehiabel”, the humorous story of Archy, a philosophical cockroach, and Mehitabel, a cat in her ninth life. By Don Marquis, published 1927 and never out of print. The publisher says “Reincarnated as the lowest creatures on the social scale, they prowl the rowdy streets of New York City in between the world wars, and Archy records their experiences and observations on the boss’s typewriter late at night.” I just found a copy at a charity shop and it’s in the queue for re-reading soon!
I totally agree that every day is cat day – my two certainly think so :-) I also thought The Guest Cat was wonderful.
Master & Margerita, Kafka on the Shore (Murakami) and Kashtanka (Chekhov) appear to be missing from your list though of of course I am pleased to see Jennie even if you didn’t like it as much as I do. But where is “The Cat” by Colette??? Surely no book surpasses that!
Ha, as I’m sure you’ll have gathered, I haven’t read it.