Posted by Anne M on Tuesday, Nov 5, 2013
Last month, I heard John Bradshaw on Fresh Air with Terry Gross explaining that cats do not necessarily sit on us for our warmth, they sit on us because we are friends. I liked the thought of this. I always believed that Gatsby (my cat) and I are in good standing, but can you ever really say you are friends with your cat? Well, I do, but I fully acknowledge that it is a complicated relationship. There are times I wouldn't argue with someone that says cats are only in it for the food.
Cat Sense, John Bradshaw's latest pet science book, doesn't just reinforce good feelings about having my cat around. He discusses the latest studies on cat behavior to explain some of their habits, provides advice on how to interpret whether cats are comfortable with their environment, and explains how to manage their undesirable innate behavior, such as the need to hunt or the inability to get along with other cats. Bradshaw is concerned that cats need to adapt to modern expectations. We want friendly cats who, for the most part, live indoors, leave songbirds alone, and coexist with other cats or with dogs in the home. And we are asking for this rather quickly. Bradshaw puts this in perspective by providing an interesting history of how the cat has evolved as one of our companions.
I'm pretty sure that Gatsby bears me no ill will seeing as how he seems to feel extremely safe when he sleeps as illustrated in the accompanying photograph.
If you are not a cat person, Bradshaw's previous book covered the same issues with dogs.
About the Author
Anne Mangano has worked for the Iowa City Public Library since 2008, serving as the Collection Services Coordinator since 2013. In this position, she oversees ICPL's collection, including the selection, cataloging, processing, repair, and removal of materials, including the library's digital collections. Anne holds a Bachelor of...
Colombe Schneck is dabbling with biographical fiction here—each novella (there are three) from a different stage in her life (?) or her alter-ego's life (?). I’m not going to speculate on how closely these events follow Schneck’s life—because the focus should be on how good these stories are. In the first story, she discusses the shock of an unplanned pregnancy. The second story explores a lifelong friendship, grappling with the loss of a friend and how formative a friend’s influence can be. Schneck really shows how a single friendship can ebb and flow, change, and move throughout a lifetime. The last story is about having an affair after ending a marriage--the adjustment, excitement, and anxiety of starting a new romance. The overarching theme is growth and self-awareness and Schneck works with this theme through subtlety in language and narrative. But she is also direct in how she discusses complex issues, which is refreshing. This is the first time Schneck’s work has been translated into English—and I guess there is more to come. -Anne M