Writers and Their Cats

by Alison Nastasi

Mark Twain, Alice Walker, Haruki Murakami, Ursula K. Le Guin—this volume celebrates 45 famous authors who have shared their homes and hearts with furry feline friends. The photographs and stories in Writers and Their Cats capture the special bond between wordsmith and mouser. From the six-toed kitties who still inhabit the Ernest Hemingway Home and Museum in Florida to the mewling muses of mystery writer Lilian Jackson Braun, cats are clearly, in the words of Gloria Steinem, "a writer's most logical and agreeable companion."

Genres: Nonfiction, Cats, Animals, Biography, Writing, Photography, Biography Memoir

112 pages, Hardcover

First published August 21, 2018

Reviews

[Gerhard · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting take that writers are either antisocial, depressed, or both, and that cats are therefore responsible for being muses to some of our greatest literature ever.

[Kris Sellgren · Rating 5 out of 5]

Would you love to see a photo of Steven King with a kitten on his head? Or a photo of Allen Ginsberg with a Siamese perched on his back? Then this is the book for you. Each of 40 writers has a photo with a cat and a one-page description of their writing and their cats. I described the two cutest photos but there are Japanese, South American, Native American, African-American, and LGBT writers in the book, with an equal number of women and men.

[evaline · Rating 3 out of 5]

!!!!!!! my two favorite things

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

A lovely book of authors and their cats. My favorites were Gloria Steinem and her sleek, elegant cat just like her and Stephen King (pure sweetness, a cat and two kittens).

[Cátia Vieira · Rating 5 out of 5]

As you can probably imagine, I absolutely LOVED Writers and their Cats by Alison Nastasi!! After reading Artists and their Cats, I had to put my hands on this book!! What do Gloria Steinem, Haruki Murakami and Alice Walker have in common? Yes, they’re writers and they love our feline friends! The photographs are amazing and the small texts which capture the special bond between the authors and their cats are endearing!

Thanks to the publisher for the amazing copy! For more reviews follow me on instagram @booksturnyouon

[Adam Goddard · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pussssssss~~~~~

[Theresa F. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very concise work, with a writing style that is brief and to the point with minimum elaboration. I know some people appreciate a stripped-down approach to text, but I personally would have preferred if the book were a little more in depth. On a more positive note, the writing format did make the book quicker to read.
Did I like it? Overall, yes.
Would I reread it? I think that I would more likely seek out a book that expands a little more on the concept, rather than rereading this specific work.
Would I recommend it? I enjoyed this book enough to recommend it, and I think that busy people with less time for reading would actually find it more manageable than a more detailed exploration of the topic.

[Jessica Just · Rating 5 out of 5]

Nice quick read with great photos. Had my cat on my lap the whole time.

[Jennifer Kanke · Rating 5 out of 5]

When you're a writer and you like cats, EVERYONE gets you books about writers and cats. And usually it's the same stuff over and over. This one isn't like that. There was a nice variety of the old standards you see in every book like this (Oh?! Hemingway liked CATS? WHAT?! You don't say!) and some writers you don't often see in these books like Sylvia Plath and Marlon James. The bibliography is a mix of literary biographies and things like livejournal posts, which I think is part of the charm of this book. Glad I read this, even if I did get it for Christmas and didn't pick it up until July because I assumed it was just like all the other books like this. I'm glad I was wrong.

[Bonnie · Rating 3 out of 5]

A quick, mostly enjoyable, read with one-page blurbs opposite a photo of a writer with a cat. Several writers I was very familiar with, including Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, and Margaret Mitchell. Other well-known authors, both classic and contemporary, included Ernest Hemingway, Mark Twain, Stephen King, and Neil Gaiman. There were others I was unfamiliar with, except by name only. I enjoyed the book, although the little blurb often had little to do with the writers’ actual cats.

[Beverly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love reading books about writers and cats so this one was meant for me to read. Very touching as to how these writers identified with their cats. Also interesting as to how they chose some of the names for their cats.

[Carlton Duff · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great gift from my daughter.

[Debumere · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't believe this book averaged 3.5 stars. A definite 5.

[Benjamin Wallace · Rating 4 out of 5]

A fun and endearing work capturing the lives of writers and their feline companions. A quick read, a great book for a coffee table or fellow writer with cats.

[Sarah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like I’m pretty well read or at least know people considering that I work at a library, but apparently not. I didn’t recognize half of the people mentioned at least, which made it less interesting of a read for me. And there was sometimes only a sentence or two about the actual cat. Bit disappointing.

[Jenna Freedman · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are 30 or more authors photographed with one or more of their cats, accompanied by an essay about the writer's relationship to cats. The authors covered aren't just the usual suspects. It's a diverse list, as in not just well-known white dude cat-lovers Ernest Hemingway. There are writers I hadn't heard of, including people from outside the US. Perfect bathroom book.

[Alyson Indrunas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ursula Le Guin:
The author planted tongue firmly in cheek when asked why there seems to be a special relationship between writers and cats: "Maybe because writers don't want to have to stop writing and walk the dog?"

[Catherine Mason · Rating 2 out of 5]

Rather American-centric. Some entries were interesting but others not so much. Surely the author could have found more stuff that was actually about writers and their cats.

[Kate Oatis · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love cats, and I love writers. Wonderful book for people like me.

[stephanie suh · Rating 4 out of 5]

If dogs are man's best friends with their childlike artlessness and uninhibited affection, what are cats? Lucy Maud Montgomery, the author of Anne of Green Gables, answered thus: "Cats are so nice and selfish." Writers and Their Cats by Alison Nastasi is a delightful illustration of such a relationship between writers and their cats with peek-a-boo glimpses of the celebrity authors' unknown personal aspects behind the public façade.

The fascination with the graceful demeanor and graceful capriciousness of cats is particularly intense among the volatile and imaginative writers as the muse of their lettered labyrinths. Edgar Allan Poe wished he could write as mysteriously good as his cat Catarina who liked to hover herself over Poe's shoulders while he was writing. Mark Twain, whom I used to associate with something of a Dog Father, turns out to be a godfather of cats who rented cats to city dwellers during their holidays in the countryside. Twain also named his cats commensurate with his wicked sense of humor: Satan, Soapy Sal, Lazy, etc. Furthermore, Twain proclaimed that anyone who likes a cat is his friend. The imposing figure of rough and tough Ernest Hemingway may not match the delicate silhouettes of cats' sophisticated society. Still, Papa Hemingway loved them with the tenderness he rarely showed even to his better halves.

The book also introduces readers to various writers of our digital era whose love of cats takes them to the world outside their comfort zones in selective solitude. Patricia Highsmith, a high-strung, highly opinionated, no-nonsense author of The Talented Mr. Ripley, reveals her Tate-a-Tate moments by greeting her cat, "We are going to have a great day today." Marion James, who wrote A Brief History of Seven Killings, met Tom the Cat at a café in Brooklyn, New York, who, like the writer, enjoyed being outside among people because both of them thrived on the liveliness of the world around them as a creative force. Then Peeti Shency, the Indian novelist and artist, writes about the experience of sharing a terrific story about her trip to the Kedar-Gouri Temple dedicated to the eponymous goddess with a particular fondness of cats, thus elevating them to the divine status of the immortals. Shency resurrects the legends of holy cats in the temple to our digitalized reality of the world and connects them to our need for their presence for nature's mysteriousness.

There are many other writers in the book whose love for their cats are touching. They all confess to their odes to cats that only cats can understand what they are and who they are. Whether or not cats have a supernatural sense of reading people's minds, I have no intelligence. Still, I do know that a cat is good at observing your movement and facial expression from my observation of Toro, a 12-week old male brown tabby kitten, who likes to watch me what I am doing and where I am going. A cat is a curiously interesting beast, and it is this semblance of intelligence that makes a cat so attractive to the imaginative, high-strung writers. If you have a cat at home and a writer at heart, this book will present you with a delightful treat to your mind, packed full of beautiful pictures of writers and their cats not in grim portraiture but natural snapshots. Readers may tempt to show the writers' photos with their cats to your cats.

[Gidg · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started this book back during the pandemic but couldn't continue because the news and the stress of the Covid pandemic was so distracting. Shortly after I started reading the book I put it down and forgot about it. Just a few days ago I picked up the book again. This lovely gift from my friend Angie was so appreciated. It was wonderful reading about all those writers and their love for the furry felines.

I love dogs and have had dogs in the past but I love cats too and have had them as my companions since childhood; a family member would always gift the felines to me. I currently have two cats of my own and named for literary characters I admire. So I can relate to these authors love for the felines and it was pleasantly surprised to read that so many were men like Carlos Monsivais, Charles Bukowski, Truman Capote, Stephen King, machismo author Ernest Hemingway... etc.

Of course there were many notable female authors such as journalist Gloria Steinem, icon Helen Gurly Brown; Sylvia Plath, Judy Blume, and Ann M. Martin (who foster kittens for the ASCPCA on her free time) just to name a few. Not only did these authors love the felines but some used them as part of their inspiration for their writing and some found ways to help the feline community. Very admirable.

We hear about so many celebs and their dogs but it was refreshing to read about these well known authors and their love for their felines that help enrich their lives and become their muses.

[Michael Kott · Rating 3 out of 5]

The most enjoyable part of this book was one of my two cats, Io, a ginger female, read it with me in bed last night. She jumped up looked at the book then promptly put her head on my arm and went to sleep. What I found most interesting in the book was that cats frequently stayed by the authors for hours while they wrote. Io only comes to lay in my lap while I work. My tiger mackerel, Iris, stays with me but insists on having her own matching chair where she sleeps while I work. I totally agreed with one writer's assessment that cats are the writers ideal companion. I bounce ideas off mine all the time, not that they'd answer but so I've an excuse for talking to someone out loud. It was also interesting that many of the writer's cats were black cats. In my next life I hope to have a black cat.

[Tanya Kaplun · Rating 3 out of 5]

К таким книгам быть объективной не выходит. Вот, именно, эта - про писателей и их котов😻 авторства Алисон Настаси (есть ещё про художников и котов^^).
Кроме текста, в книгу также вошли фотографии писателей со своими любимцами, около 50. У Рэя Брэдбери было 22 кота, где-то столько же и у Марка Твена. А японский писатель Джиро Осараги, в течении своей жизни, заботился о, примерно, 500х котах.
Как-то писательница Урсула Ле Гуин ответила на вопрос про особые отношения мастеров пера и котов следующее: «Возможно это потому, что писатели не хотят прерывать письмо для прогулки с собакой?»
Кот - идеальный и ‘логичный’ (по словам Глории Стайнем) компаньон для этой уединенной профессии.
Как итог, фотографии в книге покрывают скупость информации. Отлично подходит к ленивому кофе по выходным.

[Jenny · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh, what an adorable book! This lovely little hardback gives a one-page blurb on many well-known authors and their cats. Accompanying the author's story is a photo of the author with their cat. My favorite photos are the ones where the cats are photo-bombing the picture, or where they seem shocked or squirming in their owners' arms. Besides all this beautiful author background and cat love is the fact that I learned about several authors I was not familiar with, so now I have lots of great new-to-me authors to look up, as well. I got this book from the library, but it is so charming and informative that I will be buying my own copy for my reference and notes. Easy to read in one sitting and highly recommended!

[Susannah · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a compendium of famous writers, living and dead, who had a fondness for cats. Some were loved by many cats, while others had only a few select, feline companions. The introduction by Nastasi talks about the natural affinity between a writer's temperament, and that of a cat's, making them natural companions.
The writers are profiled alphabetically by first name, with a page devoted to their relationship to cats, and a photo of them with a cat. Truman Capote is the cat lover on the book cover.
This is an entertaining read for any cat lover who also loves books, and who wants to know who amongst their favourite writers was a cat lover too.

[Cheryl Licata · Rating 4 out of 5]

52 Book Club's 2023 challenge # 9 A book with a dedication
This book is a compilation of 45 mini-bio's of writers and their thoughts and feelings about the cats who shared their lives. The beloved felines are very much a part of the writers' creative process serving as secretaries, muses, paper weights, comforters, and sometimes keeper of the keyboard, and the mouse. My favorite quote comes from Gillian Flynn's cat Roy, who took over Flynn's keyboard and typed a long sentence which is --GY*T^&$$^R^&h$$G!!! ( Don't forget this; it may be a part of Flynn's next novel.)

[Kat V · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a short and sweet book. The perfect gift for writers (or aspiring writers) with cats. I think I’ll keep it to remind me that writers love cats. It’ll be good to pull off the shelf when I need some muse or I’m feeling alone. I expected this book to make me feel differently about some of the writers in it but in truth I think I just fell more in love with cats. Actual rating 4.5 stars rounded to 5.

[Kathy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love cats...no wonder I love books — they sort of go “hand in paw.” It was fun to read about writers (several with whom I am familiar) and their cats. I would have enjoyed learning more about the cats, though. I must say, knowing which writers I have enjoyed reading have a passion for cats makes me appreciate them even more. ;-).

[Mirjana · Rating 2 out of 5]

After nicely written introduction one expects more from this book then one gets at the end. Good part of names mentioned are first political activists and then writers of work that mostly promotes their ideology and is read by similar minded people. One will hope that author will cast a net a bit more widely and get in more non-American names. Disappointing!

[Linda · Rating 5 out of 5]

Writers and their Cats showcases beautifully curated photos of authors with their feline overlords. Alison Nastasi artfully documents cats' excellent management skills and supervision of productive writers, such as Beverly Cleary, Judy Blume, Gillian Flynn, and Haruki Murakami. Lovely!

I'm on Instagram at https://www.instagram.com/catoverlord...