8 Books about Cats Fiction and Non-Fiction ...

Each one has a distinct personality, and Longden’s style will make anyone laugh, especially those of us owned by felines. Even if you’re not a catty person, the books are hilarious, as the author finds humour in the most mundane situation. (Note – Longden’s first book, ‘Diana’s story’, is not about cats, and is moving but very sad).

Jennie is the story of a young boy, Peter, who is injured in a car accident and wakes up to find himself in the body of a kitten. Completely unused to cat habits, he is lost and alone until he meets Jennie, who teaches him how to be a cat. ‘When in doubt – wash!’

Remember Watership Down? This is the cat version. I read ‘Tailchaser’s Song’ on a long train journey, and it was the perfect choice to keep me enthralled. Tailchaser sets off on an epic journey (is there any other kind?) in search of Hushpad, a lost female, braving dangers along the way.

If I could only have one book, this would be it. Hans Sylvester is a photographer who has an extraordinary affinity with cats, which is clear from the stunning photos contained in this book. The setting is the Greek Islands, and each and every photo shows the cats at their beautiful best.

This beautiful book contains a huge selection of art featuring cats, accompanied by extracts from literature and quotes. The artistic styles are many and varied, from traditional cute pictures of children and kittens, to more stylised representations.

In ´Bad Cat´, funny and embarrassing pictures of cats are given equally hilarious captions, along with their favourite hobby. For example, a photo of a spaced-looking Steve is captioned ´Now that´s what I call catnip!´ I wonder if the cats took revenge on their owners for taking these pictures …

Ever seen the Simon´s Cat animations on Youtube? This feline is constantly hungry (surely not …), and is always trying to attract his owner´s attention to be fed. Now you can buy the book version – just the thing for someone who owns cats, as they will recognise so much of their own moggies.

There cannot be an internet user who has not come across one or several of the pictures from the icanhascheezburger site, where photos of cats are captioned with often misspelt comments (I´m not sure why they´re misspelt…). One of my favourites is a red-eyed cat exiting the freezer with the caption ´Little did you know that the freezer is a closely guarded gateway to hell…´. And now, the book!

What are your favourite cat or animal books?

Top Photo Credit: Twiggy Tu