Review: Cats’ Most Wanted
Cats’ Most Wanted TM: The Top 10 Book of Mysterious Mousers, Talented Tabbies, and Feline Oddities
by Alexandra Powe Allred
published by Potomac Books
original publication: 2005
size: 944KB (320 pages)
categories: cats; humor; trivia
lending: not enabled
simultaneous device licenses: 6
part of the Kindle Owners’ Lending Library: no
text-to-speech: yes
“…never jog with a goat in cougar country.”
–Alexandra Powe Allred
writing in Cats’ Most Wanted
I like cats, and I like trivia. I would presume that’s why my adult kid got me this book, and that makes sense.
From the subtitle, I might have also expected something a bit more on the “paranormal” side…undiscovered species, out of place animals (like big black cats in England), that sort of thing.
While Cats’ Most Wanted doesn’t include those sorts of stories, there is a lot of interesting information here. The idea that the Black Plague basically saved cats in Europe is an intriguing one. Basically, cats were decreed as evil by the Church, in conjunction with witchcraft. However, when you have a phenomenon of mass destruction which appears to be spread by rodents, you might have to rethink rehabilitating the image of all those cats you’ve been burning and throwing off towers.
As you can tell from the quotation above, there is some wit in this book, not just a dry recitation of facts.
The book is divided into five sections, and within that, you get a chapter and lists. There are also some nice pictures to brighten it.
The book could have used additional proof-reading, and if I can find a way to reach the publisher or author, I will send them my notes. For example, there may be a repeated phrase:
“Americans borrowed this popular expression, which references the disheveled condition of a person’s appearance, from the British as well, from the British as well.”
and there are times when spaces are missing between words. This sentence is fun, but the referenced character is rendered two different ways:
“Cat-woman—like the feline—was simultaneously self-reliant and demanding, aloof and demonstrative, comforting and frightening. In other words, Catwoman was a perfect cat.”
Another odd thing is that we see some of what appears to be mark-up…maybe comments from the author to the editor, or vice versa?
“Europeans began to see the worth of this cat [Au: when?]“
That aside, I did enjoy the book. I won’t say it’s timelessly impressed on my memory, however, it did provide some light amusement on vacation.
This post by Bufo Calvin originally appeared in the I Love My Kindle blog.
March 25, 2012 at 8:51 pm |
Glad to hear you like cats! Do you think authors like editing comments from readers, truly? I mean from someone like me who has no professional experience like you yourself do. I’m asking because the other day I decided to load up my giant collection on Shelfari, and very quickly got messages from several authors, you know hoping to get someone to read and review. So, I literally picked the first author’s book, and am about half way through and picked up about 6 obvious typo/grammar corrections, and its not a bad story overall otherwise. I am actually an excellent proofreader of business writing, so it always stops me in my reading tracks when I hit a sentence with the wrong word or a typo! Let me know if you think its a good idea to offer to pass on the items I found, as I know they can update the file, and then the next reader will have a smoother experience.
March 25, 2012 at 10:19 pm |
Thanks for writing, Zebras!
Yes, absolutely!
It’s like telling somebody they have toilet paper stuck to their shoe or spinach in their teeth! It might be embarrassing, but seriously, it’s appreciated.
I don’t think most people know I’ve sold anything when I contact them. I’ve had people tell me they would integrate the comments.
Why would somebody not want to know? As long as it’s done respectfully, it can only help. Better you do it by sending a note than by putting it in a review, as far as the author/publisher is concerned.
Go for it! I’ve even credited people in one of my books who have helped me like that.