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Garfield #20

Garfield Takes up Space

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Garfield knows what matters in life --- whether he's stealing Jon's dinner, performing for his favorite audience, or simply pondering the vastness of space. And he must be doing sometjing right, because this is his 20th book and he's still going strong. Live it up, Garfield, and take your millions of fans along for the ride!

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 13, 1991

67 people are currently reading
585 people want to read

About the author

Jim Davis

2,296 books631 followers
James Robert "Jim" Davis is an American cartoonist who created the popular comic strip Garfield. Other comics that he has worked on are Tumbleweeds, Gnorm Gnat, Slapstick, and a strip about Mr. Potato Head.

Jim Davis was born in Fairmount, Indiana, near Marion, where he grew up on a small farm with his father James William Davis, mother Anna Catherine (Carter) Davis, brother Dave, and 25 cats. Davis' childhood on a farm parallels the life of his cartoon character Garfield's owner, Jon Arbuckle, who was also raised on a farm with his parents and a brother, Doc Boy. Jon, too, is a cartoonist, and also celebrates his birthday on July 28. Davis attended Ball State University. While attending Ball State, he became a member of the Theta Xi fraternity. He earned the dubious honor of earning one of the lowest cumulative grade point averages in the history of the university, an honor incidentally shared with Late Show host David Letterman.

Davis as of 2007 resides in Muncie, Indiana, where he and his staff produce Garfield under his company, Paws, Inc., begun in 1981. He was married to Carolyn, a singer and elementary teacher whom he met while both were attending college, and has a son named James with her. However, the couple divorced, and Davis since 2000 has been married to Jill, Paws' senior vice president of licensing, who has worked there approximately 25 years.

Ironically, Davis did not own cats when he started Garfield because of Carolyn's allergies, but they owned a Labrador retriever named Molly. With Jill, the family has expanded to include children Ashley and Chris; three grandchildren, Chloe, Carly and Cody; cats, Spunky and Nermal; and a dog, Pooky.

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5 stars
923 (54%)
4 stars
428 (25%)
3 stars
266 (15%)
2 stars
59 (3%)
1 star
22 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
Profile Image for Jerry (Rebel With a Massive Media Library).
4,890 reviews83 followers
January 7, 2025
In my last few reviews of these books, I've been saying that the comics weren't up to the standard set by previous volumes.

Well, I'm happy to say that the Tubby Tabby is back on track. There's multiple series here, and most of the strips are quite funny.

Also of note in this compilation is a sequence that is rather dramatic and not humorous; it almost feels like Garfield fan fiction rather than an official strip. It's one you have to see to believe.
Profile Image for Remo.
2,543 reviews175 followers
February 8, 2022
Bueno, qué decir de los Garfields, uno de los compañeros de nuestra infancia (y adolescencia y parte de la vida adulta). Recuerdo haberme encontrado el primero en casa de un amigo y habérmelo devorado de una sentada, con 5-6 años, sin entender varios de los chistes pero disfrutando mucho de los más obvios. Hoy en día, en casa, a los ojos entrecerrados con mezcla de desprecio y aburrimiento los seguimos llamando ojos de Garfield:

Esta sensación de saber que siempre iba a encontrar unos cuantos graciosos la tuve durante las dos décadas posteriores en las que Garfield iba apareciendo periódicamente en mi vida. No es una obra culmen de la literatura, pero nos ha alegrado muchos momentos.
Profile Image for Robert Bussie.
860 reviews3 followers
June 30, 2025
All my Garfield reviews are the same. You either get the wonderful humor or you don't. As for me, I grew up reading the hilarious antics of Garfield, Jon, and Odie and years later I still find it funny. It is like a comfortable old friend making me laugh when I need it.
Profile Image for Christine Rains.
Author 57 books244 followers
April 7, 2019
Reading through the Garfield books with my nearly nine year old son. He's a new fan and I'm an old fan. Makes reading before bed at night super fun! We laugh a lot.
22 reviews
January 5, 2021
It's Garfield the cat, not the president. So if you like cats comics, lasagne, etc. or if you have kids, you'll like this collection.
Profile Image for Roy.
751 reviews4 followers
April 8, 2021
What a Crack up!

Oh my goodness this book was funny, among the best in the series so far! That's really saying something too!
Profile Image for Jessica.
4,738 reviews5 followers
April 11, 2025
The one where Garfield gets an enormous Christmas present, boogies into the new year, rolls Odie into a snowman, and Odie becomes an anteater.
Profile Image for Conan Tigard.
1,134 reviews3 followers
November 18, 2015
Garfield Takes Up Space is 20th collection of Garfield comic strips. Can you believe that? After twenty books, I am still waiting for Odie to talk . . . and he hasn't uttered a peep. I really like Odie and wish that he was featured more in this daily comic strip. He is Garfield opposite. He is always nice, but stupid whiule Garfield is kinda mean and smart. Then Odie shows moments of brilliance. Then not. After all, Odie is just a dog, right? And Garfield is just a cat, right? Wrong! They are so much more.

Jim Davis has now been creating funny stories about Jon, Garfield and Odie for twelve years. I find that quite amazing. I really like the introduction of new characters, even if it is only for a week or two. I always enjoy it when Jon and Garfield visit the farm, or go to the Vet, when Nermal visits, or Garfield hangs out with Arlene. So, when Jon's old school chum pays a visit and calls him Carp Face, I loved it. Wheezer, Jon's friend, brings out the kid in Jon, which is easy to do. I enjoyed this change of pace. I have always felt that only having three main characters is not enough, especially when only two of them can talk. I will continue to hope that more main characters may someday be added.

Overall, Garfield Takes Up Space is another fun-filled book of daily Garfield comic strips I found myself chuckling at a few times, but never laughing out loud. I really enjoy the long storylines and wish that there were more of them. The one shots are okay, but the storylines are what makes me want to read these books again and again.
Profile Image for Sri Wahyuni Purwanti.
58 reviews
August 21, 2010
lucu banget waktu garfield berusaha terlihat kurus dengan cara memakai kaus bermotif garis2 vertikal..

"They say wearing vertical stipes makes you look thinner. O, in my case, like a watermelon"

hahahaha.. lucu banget
Profile Image for Kellie.
299 reviews
June 4, 2011
Garfield is my favorite fat cat -- We even share lasagna as a favorite food, think diets are Die with a t at the end, hate Mondays and Mornings - Garfield got me through my struggles with learning to read as a kid and I still read him everyday. For a time I even had a female Garfield share my life.
Profile Image for Kim.
727 reviews13 followers
May 7, 2016
Many of these comics were familiar, so they must have been from the time I was reading Garfield in the paper daily. A rather uneven collection, but the ones that were funny were the ones that made me snort/guffaw quite inelegantly.
16 reviews
December 21, 2010
This is a great book. Fun and entertaining for kids. It is a great book, I really enjoy reading these books. I would highly recommend these books, I still read them over and over again.
350 reviews
February 15, 2012
I thought the book was very funny and it was a great idea to come up with garfield,and when ever i read this book i hear his voice.
Profile Image for NaniM.
57 reviews24 followers
February 19, 2013
having my lunch in d cubicle while reading this.... awesome stress reliever.
Profile Image for Kim.
908 reviews25 followers
March 24, 2012
Typical Garfield. Book #20. Jon's old school freind Wheezer visits.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews

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