Puss in Books

I've just read this book and was really impressed. I couldn't read fast enough to find out what was going to happen to Mati, the hero of the story.

Here's a synopsis -

Lost and alone, a young cat called Mati seeks acceptance into the community of street cats at Cressida Lock. But Mati is no ordinary cat ... and Mithos, the mysterious assassin on his trail, knows it. To defeat his enemies, Mati must learn to harness an ancient feline power - a power so deadly that it threatens to destroy not only his friends, but every cat on earth.

I first read this book in the 70's and was instantly smitten with the author. The book was a wonderful combination of cat and village tales and told with such humour.

I instantly went back into Foyle's (the world famous bookshop in Tottenham Court Road in Central London - been there for donkey's years) and bought all the other Doreen Tovey books they had.

The hardbacks have charming illustrations by Maurice wilson.

Over the years I've read all 14 (listed below). All worth reading.

Cats in the Belfry
Cats in May
Life With Grandma
Donkey Work
Raining Cats and Donkeys
The New Boy
Double Trouble
Making the Horse Laugh
The Coming of Saska
A Comfort of Cats
Cats in Cahoots
Cats in Concord
Roses Round the Door
Waiting in the Wings

Here we go again - another book about cats and murder. Why do these two subjects gel so well together?

Anyway, enough.

I enjoyed this story. Francis is a feline sleuth. Several neighbourhood cats are found mutiliated and dead and Francis is drawn into the role of detective.

A good story, told by Francis, through the eyes of the cats involved.

Another enjoyable read about Francis the feline sleuth. Much darker than Felidae.

Francis decides to move out when his 'tin opener' Gustav takes a live-in lover. However, a serial killer is on the loose slaughtering the farmyard cats. Could the killer by Monster Paw? Francis is on the trail once again.

I grew up with these poems. I can't remember when I first heard them, I only know that they seem to have been in my memory for ever.

I have always loved Macavity, the Mystery Cat. He appeals to something in me. He scorns authority and he's rebel.

I'm not a lover of poetry but this book is GREAT.

Yes, OK, this is a video not a book.

I've never seen this live. When I lived and worked in London we could never get in to see this because of all the tourists.

They packed out the theatre night after night. The hotels block book seats for their guests thus blocking out native Londoners like me.

Anyway, enough griping. So I've had to make do with the video.

Great show. (Wish I'd seen it live, though)!!

I had mixed feelings about this book. It was well written and a good story, but it depressed me in some places.

It's an adventure/fantasy story.

It's about a kitten called Tag who is stolen from his home to join a mysterious quest. He must navigate the wild roads, the animal highways which bind our world. He will be helped by the old cat Majicou, the urban fox Loves a Dustbin, the magpie One For Sorrow and Cy, the tabby with a 'sparkplug' in her head. It's a dangerous journey for the balance of nature is under threat.

There is a follow up called The Golden Cat which I haven't read. I probably won't ever read it because of my feeling about The Wild Road.

The Wild Road is in stock at www.AnniesBooks.co.uk

I know people that have read both and have loved the stories, but they're not for me.

This is really funny, it made me laugh out loud.

A light-hearted, humourous look at why cats are better than men. Packed full of funny cartoons, you'll recognise your cats traits over and over again.

Great to read if you're a bit down in the dumps, while away a boring lunch hour or waiting for a train.

Beware - you may get funny looks from passers by.

I love Susan Herbert's books.

Her cat versions of the world's great paintings are simply stunning.

This book is a collection of cat paintings concentrating on the masterpieces of many historical styles and amounts to a light hearted survey of western art.

These range from the ancient Egyptian cover of Tutankhamun's coffin to the late nineteenth century self portrait of 'Le douanier' Roussaeu. We are treated to cat versions of Titian, Michelangelo, Bruegel, Velazquez, Rubens, Hogarth, Manet and many more.

Other books by Susan Herbet are The Cats Gallery of Art, Diary of a Victorian Cat, Impressionist Cats, Medieval Cats and Shakespeare Cats.

This book is in stock at www.AnniesBooks.co.uk

Deric Longden is an English author who is also a cat lover.

Those of you outside of the UK may not have heard of him.

He shares his life with his wife, Aileen Armitage, also a writer, and numerous cats, all the subject of his many books.

These lovely, gently humourous books are a delight to read. It's so easy to identify yourself with the comings and goings.

There are some truly gifted artists when it comes to the subject of cats.

Louis Wain immediately springs to mind. I know a lot of cat lovers don't like his work, deeming it 'humanising' of cats, but I think they're just great. Good job we're not all the same.

I think they're humourous and well painted with a real 'eye' for the absurd.

Louis Wain was born in 1860 in Clerkenwell, London.

His first drawing of anthropomorphised cats was published in 1886, in the Christmas issue of the Illustrated London News, titled A Kittens' Christmas Party. The illustration showed 150 cats, sending invitations, holding a ball, playing games, and making speeches over eleven panels. Still, the cats remain on all fours, unclothed, and without the variety of human-like expression that would characterise Wain's work.

Under the pseudonym George Henri Thompson, he illustrated many childrens' books by Clifton Bingham published by Ernest Nister.

Gradually, the cats began to walk upright, wear clothes and copy human behaviour, copying the fashions and pastimes of the day. He wrote, "I take a sketch-book to a restaurant, or other public place, and draw the people in their different positions as cats, getting as near to their human characteristics as possible. This gives me doubly nature, and these studies I think [to be] my best humorous work."

He showed cats playing golf, cards and taking tea. Fishing, boating, smoking and playing musical instruments. He was a very prolific artist and his works can be found as prints, book, greeting cards and postcards. Originals are highly sought after and command high prices.

He was involved with many animal charities, such as Governing Council of Our Dumb Friends League, the Society for the Protection of Cats, and the Anti-Vivisection Society. He was also active in the National Cat Club, acting as President and Chairman of the committee at times. He felt that he helped "to wipe out the contempt in which the cat has been held" in England.

Sadly, his mental state began to decline around 1907 with the onset of schizophrenia. He was committed in 1924 to the Springfield Mental Hospital. He was later transferred to the Bethlem Royal Hospital, in London, and then in 1930 to Napsbury Hospital in Hertfordshire where he spent the last 15 years of his life.

One thing I've noticed over the years - most cat lovers are readers, too.

Another strange thing - why are cat lovers so fond of whodunnits ?

I have a bookselling business and I specialise in cat related books, but also have a large stock on almost all subjects.

But over and over again, my cat book buyers ask me for a 'good whodunnit' !!

Perhaps we just love mysteries and puzzles - so cats and crime go hand in hand. There's plenty of mystery novels written around the two subjects.

Lilian Jackson Braun is just one of these authors with her 'The Cat Who..........' series, now numbering some 35 titles.

The principle characters are Jim Qwilleran, a journalist and his two Siamese cats, KoKo and Yum Yum. They live in a converted apple barn in a small town called Pickax in Moose County in the northern most US.

Fairly light, quite humourous, an easy read. These are not intense, dark psychological thrillers.

www.AnniesBooks.co.uk

Anyone who loves animals, the English countryside, Cornwall and an alternative lifestyle should read these truly wonderful books by Derek Tangye.

Sadly, both Derek and his wife Jeannie died some years ago, but the books live on as their own tribute.

The cats, Lama, Monty, Ambrose, Cherry. The donkeys Penny and her son Fred. Hubert the gull.

These delightful stories about the Tangyes' escape from their London lives to a derelict cottage on the coast of Cornwall have brought joy to millions of readers.

Their struggle to establish a flower farm on the hard, tough soil couldn't be more different from the hurly burly of their London lives. Jeannie, a publicity officer at the Savoy Hotel in London and Derek, just having his first book published, 'Time Was Mine' about his journey around the World as a young man.

Jeannie and Derek met when he went to the Savoy with the aim of getting his book onto their bookstall. The Minack Chronicles had begun - but neither of them knew it!

There was talk of a TV series, by the same company that made All Creatures Great and Small. When the writer arrived in Cornwall to see Derek Tangye it was to be told that Derek had died the day before.

There are 18 books plus some anthologies and omnibus versions. Some are shown below.

www.AnniesBooks.co.uk

Set in the small Virginian town of Crozet, Mary Minor 'Harry' Haristeen is on the track of murderers once more. With the help of her tabby (tiger) cat Mrs Murphy, her Corgi, Tee Tucker and a friend's cat, Pewter. Three books just in this week.

Murder, She Meowed
Murder on the Prowl
Whisker of Evil

Rita Mae Brown is the best selling author of several books. An Emmy nominated screen writer and a poet, she lives in Afton, Virgina.
Sneaky Pie Brown is a tabby (tiger) cat born somewhere in Albemarle County, Virginia, and was discovered by Rita Mae Brown at her local SPCA. They have collabrorated on 12 Mrs Murphy mysteries.