Iýve already pressed ýThe Name of the Catý into the hands of my husband and my best friend and said, ýYou must read this.ý So what were the odds that both of them would actually read the book and enjoy it? Slim to none, Iýd have guessed from previous treatments of my recommendations.
In this case though, both husband and friend were hooked from the first page. The author begins with the tale of Boston Blackie, a cat who went berserk in the presence of other felines. He ripped off their ears, he gouged out their eyes, he sent them streaking for the bushes even at feeding time. And then, one dayýbut I donýt want to spoil Blackieýs story for you. Just a hint ý his name was changed to Basil and no anatomical alterations were involved.
Barbara Holland has written an extremely personal book about the history, lore, and personality of ýFelis libyca.ý In the chapter, ýA Choice of Catsý she does riffs on many of the different feline breeds, but it is easy to see that the Siamese is her favorite:
ýProperly treated, Siamese develop a deep, single-hearted devotion to their people and overreact to competition, absences, and infidelity like an adolescent in love."
Our own preference is for Maine Coons (we share the house with six), and Barbara Holland tells a great story about them, too. Not that I agreed with everything she wrote. For instance, she stated that gray cats as a class are much friendlier than tabbies, which is exactly the opposite of our experience---and weýve lived with two grays and about a million tabbies over the years.
Holland is also very upset by some of the artificially propagated breeds, such as the Cornish Rex and the Scottish Fold. Her chapter on ýShow Businessý is sad, hilarious, and razor-sharp---sometimes all three in the same sentence. Even if you think she is way off-base on her assessment of say, Himalayans or feline intelligence or declawing procedures, youýll want to keep reading until the end of the book. She is opinionated even to the point of irritation, but she is also extremely readable.
And Holland never confuses ýcatý with ýcute.ý
There is one chapter in ýThe Name of the Catý that you might want to skip: not because it is badly written, but because it is totally horrifying. That chapter is called, ýCats and the Churchý and it relates the history of cats in (primarily) medieval Europe.