The Greatest Cat Stories Ever Told

by Charles Elliott (Editor)

Fascinating, frustrating, frolicsome, or frosty—this treasury filled with 30 tales of memorable felines is a testament to the amazing variety of kitty personalities.

Who knows what goes on in their furry little heads? Some of our most famous writers have tackled that question in this perfect gift for any cat lover. See what they've come up with in yarns that feature protagonists as diverse as P.G. Wodehouse's whimsical Webster in the eponymous "The Story of Webster" and Edgar Allan Poe's chillingly nameless feline in "The Black Cat."

Lillian / Damon Runyon --
Cats' Paradise / Emile Zola --
Tom Quartz / Mark Twain --
Ming's Biggest Prey / Patricia Highsmith --
The Cheshire Cat / Lewis Carroll --
The Garden of Stubborn Cats / Italo Calvino --
The Cat That Walked by Himself / Rudyard Kipling --
Rhubarb / H. Allen Smith --
The Cyprian Cat / Dorothy L. Sayers --
A Cat, a Man, and Two Women / Junichiro Tanizaki --
Puss-in-Boots / Angela Carter --
Mehitabel and Her Kittens / Don Marquis --
Calvin: a Study of Character / Charles Dudley Warner --
The Immortal Cat / Karel Capek --
Tobermory / Saki --
George Eliot: a Medical Study / Jean Stafford --
The Black Cat / Edgar Allan Poe --
The Black and White Dynasties / Theophile Gautier --
Piazza Vittorio / Eleanor Clark --
An Incident / Anton Chekhov --
A Black Affair / W.W. Jacobs --
Schrodinger's Cat / Ursula K. Le Guin --
I am a Cat / Soseki Natsume --
The Cat that Went to Trinity / Robertson Davies --
The Afflictions of an English Cat / Honore de Balzac --
Quixote and the Cats / Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra --
Midshipman, the Cat / John Coleman Adams --
Total Loss / Sylvia Townsend Warner --
The Cat / Mary E. Wilkins Freeman --
The Story of Webster / P.G. Wodehouse

304 pages, Hardcover

First published November 1, 2001

About the author

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Reviews

[Sofia Badagliacca]

I was given this book about 11 years ago by my piano teacher because she knew how enamored I was with cats. I still have it.

[Kathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book of cat stories was published in 2001; whether they are the greatest cat stories, as the Author notes in the Introduction, is a slippery concept, but I did enjoy reading these stories.

Out of the thirty stories, which are both stand-alone stories and excerpts from other literature, I personally enjoyed “Ming’s Biggest Prey” by Patricia Highsmith, “The Cat That Walked By Himself” by Rudyard Kipling, “Puss-in-Boots” by Angela Carver, “Mehitabel and her Kittens” by Don Marquis, “Tobermory” by Saki, and “The Story of Webster” by P. G. Wodehouse. Some of the stories I had read before (of course, Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Black Cat” is included), and some I had not read before.

This was a very good book for my bedtime reading, and I am glad to have read this book.

[Patricia Sullivan · Rating 5 out of 5]

A diverse collection of short stories by 30 different authors, a rich treasury filled with tales (and tails) of unforgettable cats. Purr-fectly delightful!!!!

"To gain the friendship of a cat is not an easy thing. It is a philosophic, well-regulated creature of habit and a lover of order and cleanliness. It does not give its affections indiscriminately. It will consent to be your friend if you are worthy of the honor, but it will not be your slave. With all of its affection, it preserves its freedom of judgement, and it will not do anything for you which it considers unreasonable, but once it has given its love, what absolute confidence, what fidelity of affection! It will make itself the companion of your hours of work, of loneliness, or of sadness. It will lie the whole evening on your knee, purring and happy in your society, and leaving the company of creatures of its own kind to be with you. Sometimes, when seated in front of you, it gazes at you with such soft melting eyes, such a human and caressing look, that you are almost awed, for it seems impossible that reason can be absent from it."

[Meilina]

AQ gak suka kucing....tp gak ada salahnya baca tentang kucing kali aja berubah pikiran :P