ON CATS: AN ANTHOLOGY BY MARGARET ATWOOD
Critically acclaimed yet equally mistrusted, cats are inarguably one of the most enjoyable parts of life. For centuries, cats have been worshipped as gods, feared as predators, and documented by authors around the globe. Through letters, memoir, poetry, and prose, all things cat are explored in this new anthology. With an introduction by Margaret Atwood, On Cats is a must-have collection for cat-lovers, book-lovers, and anyone in-between.
A pocket-sized book with a cloth cover and a ribbon bookmark, On Cats is a delightful experience from the moment you pick it up. Not only is the book a physical treat to behold, it contains a smorgasbord of treasures from some of the world’s most notable literary geniuses—Lewis Carroll, Alice Walker, Mary Gaitskill, Christina Rossetti, and John Keats, to name a few. “Writers and their cats—it’s a theme,” writes Atwood in her introduction, “Are they Influences? Are they Muses? Yes and no, depending on how you count.”
Interspersed amongst the novel excerpts, poems, letters, and other cat-filled narrative bits are gorgeous black and white photographs of cats, making On Cats an aesthetically pleasing experience from cover to cover. The book concludes with a charming section aptly titled “Cat-echisms,” filled with famous quotes pertaining to these “purr-fect” pets. One such quote by Charles Dickens posits: “What greater gift than the love of a cat?” To which I would have to answer that there is none, but On Cats would certainly be a close second.
—Review by Sam Campbell
