From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1996:

A Cat, by Leonard Michaels,
illustrated by Frances Lerner
Riverhead Books
(200 Madison Ave., New York, NY
10016), 1995. $14.95

Michaels’ book is like poetry, and
the illustrations are reminiscent of Japanese
brush painting. There is deft economy, an
aptness to both Michaels’ observations and
the fluid strokes adorning the pages.

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From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1996:

The A.B.C. of Cat Trivia
by Rod Evans and Irwin Berent
Thomas Dunne, St. Martin’s Press
(175 5th Ave., New York, N.Y. 10010),
1996. $19.95.

This seems rather pricy to me, as
so many of the items are rather well-known.
I suppose it has utility as a reference, if one
frequently gives speeches on cats, but if you
just want to wow a cat-owned date with cat
lore, you would probably do as well to arrive
with a catnip mouse. Included are 200 pages
of superstitions about cats, cruelties to cats
done by historical personages, long lists of
place names and floral designations which
seem to have as little to do with cats as one
always figured.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, April 1996:

Cat Love Letters: Collected Correspondence of Cats In Love
by Leigh Rutledge, illustrated by Robert Crawford.
Dutton (375 Hudson, New York, NY 10014), 1994. $14.95.

I am afraid this is a women’s book. I cannot imagine a man, even the most aieurophilic
student of romantic correspondence of bygone eras when time and pains were spent on
billet-doux, wading through this. Junior high school girls giggling in gaggles, indulgent
mother-and-daughter teams of all ages, and sentimental elderly women will find it “precious.”
It is cleverly done, clearly designed to be a gift item. My copy came as an anniversary
remembrance, and as a valentine or a birthday gift, it will outlast more passing around than
chocolates, but it is written by cats who knew Martha Stewart, had ancestors who knew the
late Emily Post, and probably had descended from pets of Madame de Sevigne a n d L o r d
Chesterfield, both. Maybe a sigh and a mew is not enough. Perhaps both cats and their people
should make more of a game of corresponding, not just roll the ballpoints under the desk
and fall asleep. Here is a book that reveals the intricate maneuvers that may resolve the most
ardent love problems when pen and paper and purr engage.

From ANIMAL PEOPLE, March 1996:

Cat Angels, edited by Jeff Rovin, illustrated
by Ernie Colon. Harper Paperbacks (10 East
53rd St., New York, NY 10022-5299), 1995. 96
pages; $6.99.

Cat Angels ties the revived interest in angels to
the perennial popularity of cats. From the rust-and-white
tabby on the front cover, complete with wings, halo, and
demurely heavenward-looking eyes, to the back cover,
bearing quotations admitting feline slips from grace, this
book is a charmer. You will find quotations from Jules
Verne, pet tombstones, Lowell Thomas, Mark Twain,
Gertrude Jekyll, Henrich Heine, and Charlton Heston,
among others, interlaced with editorial comments about
cats in world religions. There are a few rather cloying
Victorian verses, saved by sharing the page with funny little
sketches by Ernest Colon, whose cats usually appear to
be in free fall rather than angelic flight.

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