May Sarton is an author I really enjoy, although I have only read a handful of her books. The Fur Person is a lovely little volume all about- of course- a cat. At first a homeless vagabond, the Cat sets about to find himself a permanent home, with a decent person (or two) to "keep house" for him. He comes across several different sorts that aren't quite the right fit before settling in with none other than Ms. Sarton's own household. Based partly on the doings of her own cat, this book is full of wonderful depictions of how cats compose themselves, what they might be thinking, how they like to be treated, etc. The parts about his experience with catnip, and his routing of a mouse through the house, are just great. It's lyrical and funny and just a bit sad at times. Some exquisite line drawings by David Canright illustrate the pages, giving it just the right touch. Anyone who's loved a book like The Silent Miaow, or shared a home with a cat, is bound to cherish The Fur Person. Rating: 4/5 106 pages, 1978
Did you ever read Paul Gallico's The Abandoned? (It may have been published as Jennie too.) When you said "wonderful depictions of how cats compose themselves", etc., it reminded me of The Abandoned. Such a lovely book - a boy called Peter turns into a cat, and gets shown the ropes by another cat called Jennie. The Fur Person sounds lovely!
ReplyDeleteP.S. Glad to see the spam from the other day has been all cleared up! What an aggravating thing for you!
ReplyDeleteI've read a few cat books by Gallico- The Silent Miaow, Thomasina- but never heard of The Abandoned. I'm going to have to look for it!
ReplyDeleteAs to the spam- well, I'm crossing my fingers hoping it won't happen again- but every time I pop over to google reader I'm dreading to see what's shown up on my blog!
Ooooh, I was hoping you'd give us a new picture of your little kitty!
ReplyDeleteI'm definitely going to have to look for a copy of this one--cats really are the best.
And is your cat really sitting in that bookshelf in your header picture or did you photoshop? What a great picture.
Trish- I think you'd really enjoy this book! Yes, that's an actual photo of Numa on the bookshelf. I waited and waited for the right moment- she always crawls into small spaces like that, but rarely stays long enough for me to snap a photo. Someday I'll get one of her all stretched out.
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