Books Featuring Cats
Books Featuring Cats in Celebration of International Cat Day
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Books and cats have enjoyed a long and intertwined history, with felines often finding their place in the literary world and physical bookstores. Historically, cats were valued in libraries and bookstores for their practical role in keeping rodent populations under control. Monasteries and ancient libraries would often have resident cats to protect precious manuscripts from being gnawed on by mice.
This symbiotic relationship eventually evolved into a more affectionate and symbolic one. Cats became mascots and beloved companions in bookstores, providing comfort to patrons and staff alike. Their presence added an element of warmth and charm to the often quiet and contemplative atmosphere of bookshops.
Famous Bookstore Cats
Several cats have gained fame for their residency in bookstores around the world. Some of these famous bookstore cats include:
Dewey Readmore Books: Perhaps the most famous, Dewey was found in the Spencer Public Library’s book drop in Spencer, Iowa. His story was popularized in the book "Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World" by Vicki Myron.
Hodge: The resident cat of London’s Hodge the Bookshop, named after Dr. Johnson’s cat, adds a historical and literary touch to the store.
Hamlet: Resides at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, which houses a small bookstore. Hamlet is part of a long tradition of hotel cats dating back to the 1930s.
Bodhi: Found at the Tattered Cover Book Store in Denver, Colorado, Bodhi is a beloved figure among regular customers and staff.
Elektra: A resident of the bookstore Shakespeare and Company in Paris, Elektra adds to the charm and historical ambiance of the store, which has been a haven for writers and readers alike for decades.
International Cat Day
International Cat Day, celebrated annually on August 8, was created in 2002 by the International Fund for Animal Welfare. It’s a day to celebrate all things feline and to raise awareness about cat welfare.
Ways to Celebrate International Cat Day:
Read Books About Cats: Dive into novels and non-fiction works that feature cats. Some recommendations include "The Cat Who..." series by Lilian Jackson Braun, "The Dalai Lama's Cat" by David Michie, and "The Guest Cat" by Takashi Hiraide.
Visit a Cat Café: If you’re lucky enough to have a cat café in your area, spend some time there enjoying a book and the company of cats.
Adopt or Foster a Cat: If you’re able, consider adopting or fostering a cat from a local shelter.
Donate to Cat Charities: Support organizations dedicated to cat welfare through donations or volunteering your time.
Share Cat Photos: Social media is a great platform to share pictures of your cats or favorite literary cats, helping spread joy and awareness about cat care.
Craft Cat Toys: Make DIY toys for your cat or for cats in shelters.
Cat-Themed Movie Marathon: Watch movies featuring cats, like "The Aristocats" or "Kedi."
Books Featuring Cats in Celebration of International Cat Day
Storybook Ending by Poppy Alexander
From the author of The Littlest Library—a heartwarming novel about a widowed children’s book author who moves into a cottage in the English countryside and finds herself face-to-face with the handsome and brooding blacksmith who lives next door.
In her books she can write “happily ever after”— but real life? That’s another matter…
For children’s book author Imogen, an idyllic life in the English countryside seems like the perfect fit for her and her husband. But when tragedy strikes, Imogen is left widowed, and finds herself moving into Storybook Cottage alone with only her monstrously narcissistic cat for company.
After discovering she is pregnant, Imogen grows determined to embrace a new start in Middlemass, with its duckpond, cricket matches and village fêtes. The only thing Imogen can’t seem to shake is her neighbor—a brooding, artisan blacksmith named Gabriel—who she can’t quite decide is friend or foe. That is until she realizes, thanks to an arcane clause in her deeds, that Gabriel— not just an artist, but lord of the local manor house— has the power to take her home and leave her completely broke.
Devastatingly, he seems keen to do exactly that. Yet, Imogen finds herself drawn to him nonetheless. And in her darkest hour, Gabriel may just be the bright spot to save Imogen in more ways than one.
You Stole My Name Too by Dennis McGregor
First the animals were stealing names and now the plants are doing it too! The second book in Dennis McGregor's acclaimed series features vibrant, hand-painted illustrations and curious questions like "Why does the crab apple share its name with the crab?"
You Stole My Name Too features another amazing collection of illustrations that takes you and your child on a colorful journey through nature's most fascinating plants and animals and their namesakes.
The fun pairs of flora and fauna that are featured in this sequel include:
• Chick and Chickpea
• Cat and Catnip
• Dog and Dogwood
• Hedgehog and Hedgehog Cactus
• And many more!
Finding Mr. Purrfect by Codi Gary
Full of cats, coffee, and charm, this laugh-out-loud, fake-dating romance between a brilliant baker and a charismatic commitment-phobe is the perfect treat for fans of Lyssa Kay Adams and Jasmine Guillory.
Frenemies + Fake Dating = Falling for the wrong person…for all the right reasons
Charity Simmons may have great taste in friends, felines, and fruit tarts, but if there’s one thing the baker and co-owner of Meow and Furever Cat Café knows, it’s that she has horrible taste in men. Case in point: Will Schwartz. He may be the best friend of her best friend’s boyfriend, but after their one night together, Charity is positive Will’s nothing but a womanizing charmer—despite his nice-guy persona and adorable, crooked smile. So why then did she pick him to pretend date to get her parents off her back about being single?
Will Schwartz may give relationships a hard pass, but he’s not about to say no to fake dating Charity. She’s brilliant, hilarious, and best of all, she’ll put an end to his mother’s interrogations about his love life. And maybe, after all this time giving him the cold shoulder, Charity will finally warm up to him. But it’s not long before Will and Charity realize they got much more than they bargained for--and they’re freaking out. What if what they have isn't make believe but the real, forever kind of love?
Woman of the Year by Darcey Bell
A deliciously twisty thriller about the dark side of female friendship and a revenge plot that gets a little out of hand from the New York Times bestselling author of the “intense, captivating, and astonishing” (New York Journal of Books) A Simple Favor.
Twenty years ago, gregarious Lorelei and mousy Holly became fast friends as students in the same college psychology seminar. Taught by an expert in control and human behavior, the two students also grew close to their charismatic professor. But in one twisted moment of gaslighting, their friendship flamed out and Lorelei’s once-promising future fell apart.
Flashforward, Holly has everything Lorelei ever wanted, while Lorelei is a lonely cat lady. Now, Holly is even up for an award at a Woman of the Year ceremony, and Lorelei finally has the perfect opportunity to get the revenge she’s wanted for years. But she’s not the only person who has been obsessively following Holly’s career—and when someone winds up dead, Lorelei realizes she may be in danger, too.
Chasing Your Tail by Kate McMurray
Pastry chef Brad Marks is the new hot thing at the Whitman Street Cat Café; he makes tasty treats for both the human and feline guests at the café. All the patrons love him, and freelance writer Lindsay Somers understands why; five years ago, she was smitten by his charms too—until Brad broke her heart. Lindsay is happy with her new gig at a trendy weekly magazine, but when her boss assigns her to do a story on the cat café, she's thrown back into Brad's orbit yet again...
Unleashed by Cai Emmons
Author Interview with Cai Emmons
When Lu and George Barnes drop their only daughter, Pippa, off at college, they return to their Sonoma, California, home to face a marriage eroded beyond recognition. Without the camouflage of her beloved daughter, Lu finds herself unsure of who she is as a wife and a woman, increasingly disinterested in her husband’s pretentious values. George, on the other hand, struggles to understand his wife’s aimlessness, as she retreats further and further into her own world.
Meanwhile Pippa, who has spent the past year shunning the intimacy she and her mother once shared in a desperate attempt to prove her independence, feels completely adrift in the bustle of L.A., even fearful, given the recent disappearances of women with no worldly explanation, which have been confounding the country. She finds comfort only in her beloved cat and new interest in her zoology class—and its professor.
While Lu and Pippa turn to the natural world in this moment of personal crisis, George clings more tightly than ever to the material life he’s built. But tensions outside the family are mounting as well—California’s wildfire season is swiftly approaching, and with it, a surprising reckoning that none of the Barneses can avoid.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Delivering twist after twist, Catriona Ward’s THE LAST HOUSE ON NEEDLESS STREET is an explosive exploration of the lengths we'll go to protect ourselves from dark truths. Already a hit in the UK, Ward's gripping psychological horror thriller also has some major fans in the US - including Stephen King, who said, "The buzz building around Catriona Ward's The Last House on Needless Street is real. I've read it and was blown away. It's a true nerve-shredder that keeps its mind-blowing secrets to the very end. Haven't read anything this exciting since Gone Girl."
In a boarded-up house on a dead-end street at the edge of the wild Washington woods lives a family of three:
A teenage girl who isn’t allowed outside, not after last time.
A man who drinks alone in front of his TV, trying to ignore the gaps in his memory.
And a house cat who loves napping and reading the Bible.
An unspeakable secret binds them together, but when a new neighbor moves in next door, what is buried out among the birch trees may come back to haunt them all.
Cold Snap by Codi Schneider
Bijou, a plucky modern-day house cat with an ancestral Viking spirit, spends her time running the Fox Burrow Pet Inn with her human, Spencer, and her assistant, Skunk, a mentally negligible Pomeranian. Together, the happy trio has created a safe haven for four-legged guests in their remote Colorado mountain town. But when a handsome baker from California comes to the inn with his piglet Hamlet and pit bull puppy Fennec, everything changes. And when a shocking murder occurs and Fennec goes missing, Bijou must dive paws-first into solving the mystery before another life is taken — maybe even her own.
Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami
Kafka on the Shore follows the fortunes of two remarkable characters. Kafka Tamura runs away from home at fifteen, under the shadow of his father's dark prophesy. The aging Nakata, tracker of lost cats, who never recovered from a bizarre childhood affliction, finds his pleasantly simplified life suddenly turned upside down. Their parallel odysseys are enriched throughout by vivid accomplices and mesmerising dramas. Cats converse with people; fish tumble from the sky; a ghostlike pimp deploys a Hegel-spouting girl of the night; a forest harbours soldiers apparently un-aged since WWII. There is a savage killing, but the identity of both victim and killer is a riddle. Murakami's novel is at once a classic quest, but it is also a bold exploration of mythic and contemporary taboos, of patricide, of mother-love, of sister-love. Above all it is an entertainment of a very high order.
The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
Nothing in the whole of literature compares with The Master and Margarita. One spring afternoon, the Devil, trailing fire and chaos in his wake, weaves himself out of the shadows and into Moscow. Mikhail Bulgakov’s fantastical, funny, and devastating satire of Soviet life combines two distinct yet interwoven parts, one set in contemporary Moscow, the other in ancient Jerusalem, each brimming with historical, imaginary, frightful, and wonderful characters. Written during the darkest days of Stalin’s reign, and finally published in 1966 and 1967, The Master and Margarita became a literary phenomenon, signaling artistic and spiritual freedom for Russians everywhere.
Tailchaser's Song by Tad Williams
Meet Fritti Tailchaser, a ginger tom cat of rare courage and curiosity, a born survivor in a world of heroes and villains, of powerful feline gods and whiskery legends about those strange furless, erect creatures called M’an.
Join Tailchaser on his magical quest to rescue his catfriend Hushpad—a quest that will take him all the way to cat hell and beyond...
Varjak Paw by S.F. Said
Mesopotamian Blue cat, Varjak Paw, has never been Outside before; he and his family have always lived in the isolated house at the top of the hill. But Varjak is forced out into the city when the sinister Gentleman and his two menacing cats take over his home. With help from his mystical ancestor, Jalal, Varjak manages to overcome challenges such as self-survival and a threat from the gangland cats, and he ultimately discovers the terrifying secrets behind the Vanishings. But can he save his own family from their fate?
With wonderful integrated illustrations from acclaimed comic book artist Dave McKean, this book will appeal to all ages.
The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide
A bestseller in France and winner of Japan’s Kiyama Shohei Literary Award, The Guest Cat, by the acclaimed poet Takashi Hiraide, is a subtly moving and exceptionally beautiful novel about the transient nature of life and idiosyncratic but deeply felt ways of living. A couple in their thirties live in a small rented cottage in a quiet part of Tokyo; they work at home, freelance copy-editing; they no longer have very much to say to one another. But one day a cat invites itself into their small kitchen. It leaves, but the next day comes again, and then again and again. Soon they are buying treats for the cat and enjoying talks about the animal and all its little ways. Life suddenly seems to have more promise for the husband and wife ― the days have more light and color. The novel brims with new small joys and many moments of staggering poetic beauty, but then something happens….
As Kenzaburo Oe has remarked, Takashi Hiraide’s work "really shines." His poetry, which is remarkably cross-hatched with beauty, has been acclaimed here for "its seemingly endless string of shape-shifting objects and experiences,whose splintering effect is enacted via a unique combination of speed and minutiae."
The Wild Road by Gabriel King
Secure in a world of privilege and comfort, the kitten Tag is happy as a pampered house pet—until the dreams come. Dreams that pour into his safe, snug world from the wise old cat Majicou: hazy images of travel along the magical highways of the animals, of a mission, and of a terrible responsibility that will fall on young Tag. Armed with the cryptic message that he must bring the King and Queen of cats to Tintagel before the spring equinox, Tag ventures outside. Meanwhile, an evil human known only as the Alchemist doggedly hunts the Queen for his own ghastly ends. And if the Alchemist captures her, the world will never be safe again . . .
The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett
The Amazing Maurice runs the perfect Pied Piper scam. This streetwise alley cat knows the value of cold, hard cash and can talk his way into and out of anything. But when Maurice and his cohorts decide to con the town of Bad Blinitz, it will take more than fast talking to survive the danger that awaits.
For this is a town where food is scarce and rats are hated, where cellars are lined with deadly traps, and where a terrifying evil lurks beneath the hunger-stricken streets....
Set in bestselling author Sir Terry Pratchett's beloved Discworld, this masterfully crafted, gripping read is both compelling and funny. When one of the world's most acclaimed fantasy writers turns a classic fairy tale on its head, no one will ever look at the Pied Piper—or rats—the same way again!
This book’s feline hero was first mentioned in the Discworld novel Reaper Man and stars in the movie version of his adventure, The Amazing Maurice, featuring David Tenant, Emma Clarke, Hamish Patel, and Hugh Laurie. Fans of Maurice will relish the adventures of Tiffany Aching, starting with The Wee Free Men and A Hat Full of Sky!
I Am a Cat by Natsume Sōseki
Written from 1904 through 1906, Soseki Natsume's comic masterpiece, I Am a Cat, satirizes the foolishness of upper-middle-class Japanese society during the Meiji era. With acerbic wit and sardonic perspective, it follows the whimsical adventures of a world-weary stray kitten who comments on the follies and foibles of the people around him.
A classic of Japanese literature, I Am a Cat is one of Soseki's best-known novels. Considered by many as the most significant writer in modern Japanese history, Soseki's I Am a Cat is a classic novel sure to be enjoyed for years to come.
The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa
Nana is on a road trip, but he is not sure where he is going. All that matters is that he can sit beside his beloved owner Satoru in the front seat of his silver van. Satoru is keen to visit three old friends from his youth, though Nana doesn't know why and Satoru won't say.
Set against the backdrop of Japan's changing seasons and narrated with a rare gentleness and humour, Nana's story explores the wonder and thrill of life's unexpected detours. It is about the value of friendship and solitude, and knowing when to give and when to take. TRAVELLING CAT has already demonstrated its power to move thousands of readers with a message of kindness and truth. It shows, above all, how acts of love, both great and small, can transform our lives.
The Cat Who Could Read Backwards by Lilian Jackson Braun
A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalized paintings, a fatal fall from a scaffolding—this is not at all what Qwilleran expects when he turns his reporter talents to art. But Qwilleran and his newly found partner, Koko the brilliant Siamese cat, are in their element—sniffing out clues and confounding criminals intent on mayhem and murder.
This riveting beginning to the Cat Who series is the perfect cozy mystery for cat lovers to start sleuthing!
The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
(features a cat character)
The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone...
...so she ventured out from the safety of the enchanted forest on a quest for others of her kind. Joined along the way by the bumbling magician Schmendrick and the indomitable Molly Grue, the unicorn learns all about the joys and sorrows of life and love before meeting her destiny in the castle of a despondent monarch—and confronting the creature that would drive her kind to extinction....
In The Last Unicorn, renowned and beloved novelist Peter S. Beagle spins a poignant tale of love, loss, and wonder that has resonated with millions of readers around the world.
The Cat Who Saved Books by Sosuke Natsukawa
Bookish high school student Rintaro Natsuki is about to close the secondhand bookstore he inherited from his beloved bookworm grandfather. Then, a talking cat appears with an unusual request. The feline asks for—or rather, demands—the teenager’s help in saving books with him. The world is full of lonely books left unread and unloved, and the cat and Rintaro must liberate them from their neglectful owners.
Their mission sends this odd couple on an amazing journey, where they enter different mazes to set books free. Through their travels, the cat and Rintaro meet a man who leaves his books to perish on a bookshelf, an unwitting book torturer who cuts the pages of books into snippets to help people speed read, and a publishing drone who only wants to create bestsellers. Their adventures culminate in one final, unforgettable challenge—the last maze that awaits leads Rintaro down a realm only the bravest dare enter . . .
An enthralling tale of books, first love, fantasy, and an unusual friendship with a talking cat, The Cat Who Saved Books is a story for those for whom books are so much more than words on paper.
The bond between cats and books is one that brings together the love of literature and the charm of feline companions. Whether they are characters in our favorite novels, mascots in our local bookstores, or the subjects of heartwarming stories, cats have a special place in the world of books. International Cat Day provides the perfect opportunity to celebrate this relationship, reminding us of the joy and comfort that cats bring into our lives.
