A Literary Cat for Every Day of the Year: A mischievous miscellany of cats and felines in fiction

by Tara Richardson

A literary treasure trove of poems, stories and quotes for cat lovers.

"If animals could speak, the dog would be a blundering outspoken fellow; but the cat would have the rare grace of never saying a word too much."
― Mark Twain

Cats and literature go together like tea and cake. It's not that you can't have one without the other, but there is a certain rightness to the pairing. Writers have chosen many animal companions over the years - often dogs, sometimes a raven (Charles Dickens) or, most oddly, a wombat (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) - but perhaps the most common is the cat.

From Six Dinner Sid and T.S. Eliot's rebellious Rum Tum Tugger to the infuriating Cheshire Cat of Wonderland and Behemoth the Cat, the demonic shapeshifter of Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita, A Literary Cat for Every Day of the Year draws together quotes and passages from poems and stories in celebration of the most famous cats in literature.

A must-have for all cat-lovers and book lovers, this inspirational collection is the perfect gift for feline fans to treasure all year long.

Genres: Cats, Nonfiction, Books About Books, Animals

256 pages, Hardcover

First published August 14, 2025

Reviews

[Theresa]

As the title implies, this lovely little book has an entry for every day of the year. Each entry is either a quote from a literary piece about a cat or a fact about an author's relationship with a cat or cats. I would recommend this book as a gift for anyone you know who loves cats and books.

[Margie Dorn]

Having just lost our own beloved beloved cat of seventeen years, this book, a gift from a friend, came at just the right time.

[William Schram]

A Literary Cat for Every Day of the Year is a short book by Tara Richardson. While I enjoyed the book, I feel it could have worked better as a calendar.

The book lists each day of the year and names a specific cat dedicated to that day. The cat could be an invented character like the Cheshire Cat from Alice in Wonderland, or it could have been a companion for an author.

There were a few instances where a smile came across my face as I remembered the cat in question. For example, Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series has a few cats in it.

I enjoyed the book. Thanks for reading my review, and see you next time.

[Martha🪷]

it’s really cute and whimsical

[CharlesS]

This is quite enjoyable, but it can be a year-long project if you read day by day. If you read in several sittings, you get to compare the many writers who mention cats without losing the thread.