‘She knew she would have a story worth telling someday.’
Shoutout to all the cats out there. Especially the cats on epic adventures like Small Cat here‘She knew she would have a story worth telling someday.’
Shoutout to all the cats out there. Especially the cats on epic adventures like Small Cat here in Kij Johnson’s The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles. Having been separated from her feline friends due to an earthquake and subsequent fire, Small Cat roams the Japanese countryside in search of a place to call her own and a story to tell. Which sounds lovely except bears and wolves and all the dangers that abound, though with each passing challenge grows the epic tale and lore around Small Cat. With dreamlike prose that makes this read like a childhood classic yet still as endearing and enjoyable for adults, The Cat Who Walked a Thousand Miles is a fantastic tale about our feline friend with a tail that hones in on the importance of community and storytelling.
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This is a really lovely and heartwarming story that enfolds the reader in its lovely prose—and accompanying artwork by Goñi Montes—to usher us along through the death-defying adventures of Small Cat. Those who are interested can read the story in it’s entirety HERE and while it is a bit of a lengthy short story told across several “chapters,” it successfully fills the space of a mini epic full of excitement. Beginning in the garden of an abandoned home, life is flipped upside down for Small Cat as they find themselves no the abandoned one after a natural disaster shakes up their life and burns down the community. Without the community of cats, Small Cat not only feels alone in the world but cut off from her culture and the whole history of her kind that is reflected through the fudoki passed down through generations:
‘The fudoki was the collection of stories about all the cats who had lived in a place. It described what made it a home, and what made the cats a family. Mothers taught their kittens the fudoki. If the mother died too soon, the other cats, the aunts and cousins, would teach the kittens. A cat with no fudoki was a cat with no family, no home, and no roots.’
I really enjoyed the way this centers on the importance of storytelling as a cultural defining act that ties the community together and how the act of having a story is the act of having an identity. Though to achieve her story, Small Cat will face many trials and tribulations but she also shows the importance of determination and not giving up even when things seem bleak.
‘She would not give up, even if she did die like this. If they were going to eat her, at least there was no reason to make it easy for them. She clung as hard as she could, trying not to let go.’
I loved this little tale and adventuring with Small Cat and I hope you will too. I love the world building around the cat community and the importance of storytelling, and I love the warmth to this tale and the need to find others like oneself. A lovely read of an adventurous kitten that can inspire all of us.
Gotta keep your eyes on the prize–especially when your eyes are the prize… A brief but perfectly atmospheric little comic, The Eyes of the Cat is the Gotta keep your eyes on the prize–especially when your eyes are the prize… A brief but perfectly atmospheric little comic, The Eyes of the Cat is the joint vision of director Alejandro Jodorowsky and Jean Giraud, better known by his artist name Mœbius. It is a singular moment expanded into a quiet intensity of sudden violence and unsettling atmosphere, aimed to be what Mœbius once described as ‘an effective horror story.’ It can be read in just a few minutes, yet is a sort of disquieting art that, aided by being nearly contextless, lingers in the mind full of dread to allow your imagination to blend with it and spread it out the way a drop of liquid slowly seeps through a napkin. You may find yourself forever wanting to cover your eyes when a bird passes by…
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This is the sort of little story where the story behind it is just as, if not more, interesting than the book. The duo, who would later, go on to other projects like The Incal, met when Jodorowsky was beginning work on his film adaptation of Frank Herbert’s Dune. The film, in which Jodorowsky had contacted Pink Floyd to do the soundtrack and would star his own son with a supporting cast including Orsen Welles, Mick Jagger, Gloria Swanson, David Carradine, and artist Salvador Dalí as the emperor, never got the funding to get off the ground but there is a fascinating documentary about this project that never was. In the intro to The Eyes of the Cat, Jodorowsky talks about how he specifically wanted Mœbius to do the storyboard and was pleased to discover when he was being introduced to Jean Giraud as an option for that role that Giraud was, in fact, THE Mœbius he had been hoping for. During pre-production he did over 3,000 sketches but the project was canceled and the pair redirected to this little comic, which was originally given away for free.
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The artwork here is outstanding and unsettling, and cat lovers beware because it does not go well for the feline friend of the title. I really love the back and forth between the “action” and the repeated image of the boy looking out the window, creating this slow burn atmosphere that conveys a lot of building tension and dread. It feels, to take the obvious comparison, like the direction and pacing of a Jodorowsky film. A bit light on story and over before it really begins, this is still a powerful little scene and a lovely piece of art.
Hello there, it’s the cats again. Don’t worry, nothing cat-astrophic has happened to s.penkevich, they are feline fine but we felt they should take a Hello there, it’s the cats again. Don’t worry, nothing cat-astrophic has happened to s.penkevich, they are feline fine but we felt they should take a break and so we stomped across the keyboard (not unusual for us) to bring you another review from a cat’s eye view of literature. You’ve all been probably wondering “what do cats think of poetry?” You’ve probably lost sleep over this important mystery, so we are here to assure you that cats do indeed love poetry. ESPECIALLY poetry about cats, such as you’ll find here in Cat Poems, a cute little pocket sized book edited by Tynan Kogane. It’s a quaint and rather eclectic cat-alogue of poems with many familiar names (and a few rather well known poems like The Owl and the Pussycat) like Emily Dickinson, William Carlos Williams, W.B. Yeats or Rainer Maria Rilke, but New Direction publishing pulled out some more niche poets that we were really thrilled to see like Nicanor Parra, Fernando Pessoa, and we were certainly thrilled that one of s.’ favorite writers, Roberto Bolaño, was included.
‘My ideal cat has always had a huge rat in it’s mouth, just going out of sight’ wrote Emily Dickinson and we’d like to say YES, let us have rats. Let us have our fun, Emily gets it. There’s some wonderful poems in here about how cute and cuddly we are, bestowing the love we damned well deserve in some lovely poetic wrappings. We also appreciate the poems that acknowledge that cats are superior and do what we want. ‘I control the mice with a cat,’ Franz Kafka writes, ‘but how shall I control the cat?’ You can’t, fool. We rule, you’ll have to get used to it. Muriel Spark gets it, she even wrote that had she not been christian ‘I would worship the cat.’ Bow down, mortal humans. Gavin Ewart even provides a sonnet on such matters, the first stanza goes as follows: Cat sentimentality is a human thing. Cats are indifferent, their minds can't comprehend the concept 'I shall die', they just go on living. Death is more foreign to their thought than to us the idea of a lime-green lobster. That's why holding these warm containers of purring fur is poignant, that they just don't know. Life is in them, like the brandy in the bottle.
Like brandy in the bottle, baby. And not to complain but we do comprehend death. We just don’t care. THAT SAID, there are a few poets here who don’t seem to appreciate our superiority and pure lovability. William Carlos Williams even writes ‘I wish you had not come here.’ Okay, rude. And take this little scrawling by Kenneth Rexroth for instance: There are too many poems About cats. Beware of cat Lovers, they have a hidden Frustration somewhere and will stick you with it if they can.
Okay, Kenneth, first of all fuck you. Secondly…no actually that sums it up. Go back to James Laughlin talking about leaving poets at his beloved’s feet like a cat leaves the thoughtful gift of a dead mouse. He gets it. Or Ezra Pound saying our purring is ‘both stimulating and delightful.’ Thanks, buddy.
But cat lovers, we give this little anthology two paws up in recommendation to you! Love, Marlowe and Flame xxx...more
Goodreads user s.penkevich isn’t here right meow, so we, the reviewer’s cats will be pawing this one up. Don’t be alarmed, they are alive and are simpGoodreads user s.penkevich isn’t here right meow, so we, the reviewer’s cats will be pawing this one up. Don’t be alarmed, they are alive and are simply out at the moment taking our roommates, the dogs (rolls eyes), out for a walk. We simply felt it was only proper for fellow feline comrades to deliver the message of Muriel Barbary’s cats in The Writers Cats to all you fine humans (and your cats, make sure to get them. To the cats reading: miaou, meeeow, miau, nyaa, me-ooow-ow-wow, miauw, meu, Meow). This is a cute little story about the four cats who live with Muriel Barbary that chronicles their unique personalities and high class tastes but most importantly, their unrecognized abilities as literary advisors. ‘Enough is enough,’ they tell us and so they brought this book into the world. We, fellow cats across the ocean, find it to be our duty to help spread their plea.
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How can you not love this sweet little tail tale of Kirin, Petrus, Ocha and Mizu. We learn why they are named as they are and the ways they may have inspired some of Barbery’s characters in her novels. We also learn of Barbery’s love for Japan which also works it’s way into most of her books. But most importantly, we learn how the cats help Barbery with her writing and cope with what they have determined to be the three afflictions of writers: 1. Restlessness 2. Doubt 3. Denial
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You see, these cats have learned to read. Take note, humans, your cats may have been inspired by your love of reading and taught themselves as well. They might be writing behind your back. We might even have our own version of goodreads where we rate our owners (s. gets a 3.5 out of 5 for not enough treats and not letting us keep the mice we kill). So heed the cats in this book's warning and give us the credit we deserve! We particularly enjoyed when the cat farts on the manuscript pages they think need more work.
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So if you like cats, and we think you should, you will probably enjoy The Writer’s Cats. It even has cute artwork by Maria Guitart and it is a purrfect quick read.
I love lighthouses and I love a good ghost story and I especially love how well the two go together. So when I ran across the picture book Ghost Cat bI love lighthouses and I love a good ghost story and I especially love how well the two go together. So when I ran across the picture book Ghost Cat by Eve Bunting with illustrations by Kevin M. Barry while doing some shelving in our children’s department (shoutout to libraries), I couldn’t resist.
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Set off the coast of Ireland, Miss Maggie McCullen keeps the lighthouse shining every night. The people in town worry she is lonely but what they don’t know is that after her cat, Sailor Boy, passed away he returned as a ghost out of his love for Miss Maggie and the lighthouse. It is a cute story of their life together in the lighthouse with the cat frightening tourists and keeping the light lit, but when Maggie breaks her leg on the steps one night during a storm it is up to Sailor Boy to save the day.
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There is a fascinating history behind women Lighthouse keepers. In the US it was one of the first non-clerical government jobs for which women were allowed to hold the post. While the head keeper was often listed as a man, it was typically the wives who actually did the labor (yep…) and would often remain solitary in the post after the man had passed. I like how this book pays tribute to women Lighthouse keepers and does so in a fun way with a ghost cat to appeal to young readers. Perhaps having the cat be a girl would have been better to highlight that it was women doing work that men were often credited for but whatever.
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I like the art in this one too. It’s nice and eerie and moody for the ghostly lighthouse theme. The giant round eyes on all the people is occasionally a big unsettling but it’s a ghost story so I suppose that fits (the people are rather creepy though). It’s a cute little story and a nice little tribute to the hard, lonely, but important work of lighthouse keepers....more
This is a perfect picture book that is endlessly fun. Bathe the Cat from Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts (you may recognize from theThis is a perfect picture book that is endlessly fun. Bathe the Cat from Alice B. McGinty and illustrated by David Roberts (you may recognize from the series that includes Rosie Revere, Engineer) is an adorable story about a family frantically trying to clean the house before Grandma arrives that is simple, sweet, and reads with a fun and naturally sing-songy cadence that only gets sillier as it goes and the chore list begins to fall apart.
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When dad makes a to-do list which includes bathing the cat, this reluctant feline decides to take matters into their own hand to avoid a bath. But with each rearrangement of the chore list things get zanier and the cat continuously adjusts the list to avoid now being assigned to be vacuumed or mowed.
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Its rather charming and goofy, with the family assigned tasks like feed the floor, rock the mat, scrub the fishes, etc. I also love that, despite not ever calling attention to it, the story features a queer couple so it also offers really good representation and depictions of a loving family in a book that works well for a young age group. It is a quick read that is just as enjoyable for adults as the children being read to and is guaranteed to get a lot of laughs. I love this book and the art is also really cute!
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This was such a big hit in my house, so much so that my four year old insisted on being the specific cat from this book as her Halloween costume:
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In this follow-up sequel we get exactly what we want: more cute cats fighting demons and being buddies. It’s a delight through and through and you canIn this follow-up sequel we get exactly what we want: more cute cats fighting demons and being buddies. It’s a delight through and through and you can vicariously live out the best dream possible: being part of a cool cat crew that is down to brawl. As my friend who recommended these to me put it, I enjoy how so much of middle grade graphic novels is just asking the question “what if there was a monster?” And the answer here is, cats will take it down. Because cats are awesome. For example:
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This is a fun, direct sequel with all sorts of zany fun. And a prison break sequence, because what is a stray animal story without vilifying animal control to chase them around with a huge net. Also, Onion is a great addition to this cat crew and this one not only gets extremely adorable but also rather emotional. I mean, I felt for that little buddy at the end. You'll see. You get exactly what you expect here and is it worth it?
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It is....more
Cute cats being buddies and fighting demons--what more could you want?!
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So sweet and silly and fun.Cute cats being buddies and fighting demons--what more could you want?!
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So sweet and silly and fun....more
THEY ARE CATS THEY HAVE WINGS THIS IS DELIGHTFUL!
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Fly my pretty kitties, fly!
But for real, everything Ursula K Le Guin touched was gold, likTHEY ARE CATS THEY HAVE WINGS THIS IS DELIGHTFUL!
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Fly my pretty kitties, fly!
But for real, everything Ursula K Le Guin touched was gold, like Midas asking Dionysus for the gift of being an awesome author instead. Aimed at children, this is a bit of a slight story but it just comes alive with such whimsy and wonder in Le Guin’s clever prose. Why do these cats have wings? They just do. ‘Maybe they have wings because I dreamed, before they were born, that I could fly away from this neighborhood,’ the mother thinks, which so perfectly begins this tale about fleeing the dangers of the city only to discover that its a dangerous world everywhere. But this also becomes a warm tale about how just because things are different doesn’t mean they are bad. It’s all just rather fun, having a good sense of justice and compassion folded into this adorable little story while also having wry lines like ‘few people know what fish think about injustice, or anything else.’ But most importantly it is cats. With wings. And it is hard to top that.
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For further cute cats from Le Guin also check out her surreal picture book Cat Dreams...more
Starting Spooky Season well with Creepy Cat, an adorable and creepy graphic novel by Cotton Valent When Miss Fl
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Meet Meawbin, the creepy cat
Starting Spooky Season well with Creepy Cat, an adorable and creepy graphic novel by Cotton Valent When Miss Flora Cloud inherits an old gothic mansion she quickly discovers she is no alone. Inside lives a creepy cat, Meawbin! Creepy Cat is lots of cute, spooky fun as Flora is constantly startled, appalled and confused by the comings and goings of this bizarre cat and begins to start a friendship with the helpful (if not sort of bumbling) Oscar. The story is very episodic with each page being a single short that begins to slowly build toward a narrative arc (it is quickly apparent it began as a webcomic), and while it does read as a bit chaotic and jumpy this is only the first volume so it is still finding a story. What we do have is creepily delightful, with other ghosts in the house making quick appearances and learning all the things Meawbin can do, such as multiply into more cats (they return to one cat by eating all their copies) and slay vampires by snuggling them until the morning sun rises.
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There is some funny stuff here, like Flora getting stuck inside Meawbin and Oscar assuming she is a furry and showing up later dressed as a cat, or just spooky renditions of silly cat behavior. The artwork is quite charming in all its gothic vibes and overall this is just very fun and lighthearted. Definitely a great little graphic novel aimed at teenage readers but fun for anyone. Especially fans of creepiness and cats. What could be better!? I’m excited to see where this story goes, as the first volume teases many possible narrative routes (romantic engagements between Flora and Oscar?)
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...more
Who hasn’t dreamed about what their pet would be like as a human? Catboy from author/illustrator Benji Nate turns this into a comedic reality when 20-Who hasn’t dreamed about what their pet would be like as a human? Catboy from author/illustrator Benji Nate turns this into a comedic reality when 20-something artist Olive’s wish comes true and wakes up to discover her cat Henry in not-quite human form. What follows is a series of humorous episodic adventures where normal events of early 20s living is made all the more amusing with a human-cat who still acts like a cat despite walking and talking with all the locals.
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This is a very cute collection of cartoons, and I very much enjoy Benji Nate’s loose style with excellent pastel color palates. There is a bit of an overarching story, but for the most part it is told in short episodic bursts with continuity of previous details, such as Henry’s pet sitting business (he has a knack for business and makes far more money than Olive, much to her annoyance). The episodes are separated by single panel illustrations of the duo’s fashion choice, with another constant gag being that Henry only wears Olive’s clothing and they often dress to match.
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This book is brief but very fun and funny. There are a few jokes that really land, and I was constantly amused by Henry continuing to act like a cat even while living in the human world. Olive buys him a present and he is more thrilled by the box, they attend a party of stray cats where the food is dead rats, or Henry picking out furniture by scratching the various chairs (and then having to buy them all). Henry also being better at making friends and art is also quite comical. If you are a cat lover or need a quick pick-me-up, Catboy is a winner.
One of King’s greatest strengths is that his best scares are less the monsters and more the way he subtly seeds horror in t‘Sometimes dead is better.’
One of King’s greatest strengths is that his best scares are less the monsters and more the way he subtly seeds horror in the mundanities of everyday life. Pet Sematary, a novel dripping with dread, spooks the reader by making death an antagonist we think we could overcome but unleash hell in the process. Yet it is through transforming grief and parental anxieties into tales of terror that truly frightens. I remember reading this for the first time at 14, bundled in bed against the autumn chills tapping at my window when the final scene rises up to deliver a scare that occurs on a sunny midday while outdoors and suddenly even terror could loom even in idyllic landscapes. That haunted me for years, and is a large reason why King is such a gem that frightens through he ages: he hits you where you feel safe and he hits you riding emotions that we all inevitably feel. Pet Sematary is a now-classic horror novel that examines grief and male fragility and will have you shrieking in both fright and fun.
‘I don’t think children ever forget the lies their parents tell them.’
Everyone has likely said anything there is to be said about this book, but here I go anyway. This is a book that really sticks with you and I suspect it is because it dives into the depths of emotions we all have but don’t display openly, especially men in American culture that are couched into seeing overt displays of emotion as a flaw, especially one’s like fear, grief and sadness that King probes here. ‘The soil of a man’s heart is stonier,’ Jud tells our protagonist, Louis Creed, and this sort of myth making about masculinity has caused many to suffer in silence. The men, sure, but more so those closest to them that are harmed and haunted by their inability to productively process emotion which often turns rather toxic. Much of the trauma in this novel comes from Louis attempting to cover up and push death aside, first with the cat and later with the child, as an attempt to avoid dealing with death. When Winston Churchill, or Church as he is called, is killed, Louis and Jud go beyond the local cemetery to a place rumored to bring back the dead…but ‘the barrier was not meant to be crossed,’ and dark things are ahead.
But let's pause on the death of Church for a moment (names like Church and the last name Creed definitely imply some religious aspects) because as children our first brush with death usually comes from our pets. I mean, basically the whole reason you get a fish so your parents can explain death to you. The intentional misspelling of the title ‘Sematary,’ comes from the misspelling of the little animal cemetery in the woods near the Creed house, which is riddled with adorable misspellings in children’s handwriting on the numerous tombstones. It is a great example of combining death with the coziness of childhood, reminding us all that it is a fact of life—a sad one—and something we inevitably have to confront. Instead of dealing with his daughter’s grief and stepping up as a parent, Louis opts to push death and grief aside for a quick fix, but as we soon learn, trauma forestalled ferments into something far more sinister…
When Louis asks his neighbor if anyone has ever attempted this with a human, Jud retorts ‘NO! Whoever would!? King being King, we know we will soon learn the truth and that it is more terrifying than we can imagine. Which is another aspect I love about him, he will drop into backstory that paints horror with a palette of nostalgia and small town dynamics, making even the quaintest little village a breeding ground of fear. King is, of course, playing on parent’s greatest fears with this novel, one he nearly confronted himself when a semi almost ran over his own child and inspired this novel. Louis’ inability to properly grieve, and thinking he can have a magical fix becomes his own undoing.
‘Rachel, is that you? I’ve been waiting for you, Rachel. And now I’m going to twist your back like mine, so you’ll never get out of bed again…’
The side-story of Zelda, Rachel Creed’s sister whom she had to care for as a child despite being horrified by her condition suffering from spinal meningitis, is another example of the paternal figure pushing aside problems. Here the trauma is dumped into the lap of his youngest daughter (as Nocturnalux pointed out, this is one of King's many nods to The Haunting of Hill House), an issue that doesn’t do anything to help the bad relationship between Louis and his father-in-law. It wound’s his masculinity all the more when a man he doesn’t respect calls his own abilities as a “man” into question at the funeral.
Without a strong male figure in his life that he respects—or respects him—Louis finds Jud to be a surrogate father, ‘the man who should have been his father.’ I can’t think of Jud without picturing Fred Gwynne in the role of the 1989 film and hearing his voice saying “it’s that damn road there.” I just want that guy’s voice to be my voicemail message, it’s so good. In Jud he sees the representation of the American Dream, older married couple still in love, retired and passing down his kindness and knowledge. Except Jud knows dark things. And Jud will later be haunted by his dead wife and her claiming to have slept with many man in their marital bed is a well-executed horror moment for the novel’s themes because it is something that threatens his sense of masculinity the most. I mean, I don’t really know if King was going out to critique toxic masculinity (doubtful actually, as the wife isn't a very well-done character and mostly serves the characters ego and...services him in a scene that certainly opened my eyes at 14 and includes a line about things she learned as a girl scout...uhhhh) but it is so much a part of American culture that this critique becomes natural when looking for a way to discomfort men.
This is a wildly uncomfortable novel in many ways, and that is what makes it truly stick. King strikes hard and turning the grief of a lost child into a horror story of demonic resurrection is pretty damn effective. Pet Sematary lives on as a classic—it has even had multiple film adaptations—and is a delightfully good frightfest.
3.5/5
‘The most terrifying question of all may be just how much horror the human mind can stand and still maintain a wakeful, staring, unrelenting sanity.’...more
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