This week Mallika of Literary Potpourri is hosting her annual Reading the Meow event, a celebration of cats in literature. I’m hoping to post a new review later in the week but first I thought it would be interesting to look back at some of the other cat-related books I’ve read.

I’m only listing books here that I’ve actually reviewed on my blog. I’m sure I read more before I started blogging!

The Life and Opinions of the Tomcat Murr by ETA Hoffmann – A fascinating 19th century German classic partly written in the form of a memoir narrated by Murr, an unusually intelligent cat who has taught himself to read and write.

We’ll Prescribe You a Cat by Syou Ishida – A Japanese novel about a clinic which prescribes not medicine but cats. Entertaining, but a bit too bizarre for me!

Thomasina by Paul Gallico – The story of a young Scottish girl and her beloved cat, Thomasina. I loved the Disney film as a child but didn’t get round to reading the book until Reading the Meow in 2024.

Jennie by Paul Gallico – Another cat-themed Gallico novel in which a boy awakens after an accident to find that he has been transformed into a white cat. I enjoyed it, but think I would have enjoyed it a lot more if I’d read it at the target age!

The Cat Saw Murder by Dolores Hitchens – The first in a mystery series starring elderly spinster detective Miss Rachel Murdoch and her black cat, Samantha. All of the other books in the series have cat-related titles, although I haven’t read any more of them yet.

Gobbolino, the Witch’s Cat by Ursula Moray Williams – This lovely book from 1944 about a witch’s cat who just wants to live an ordinary life with a family who love him was one of my childhood favourites.

The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov – A weird and wonderful Russian classic with several unusual characters including Behemoth, the demonic black cat who is part of the devil’s entourage. I must read this book again one day!

Have you read any of these books – or any other books about cats?