The Cat Who Came For Christmas by Cleveland Amory, Little, Brown & Co., 1987.
A lot of my reading falls into the category of research for what I'm writing. So… since my new book is about a cat (sorry Angus!), I went to the library recently and brought home Cleveland Amory's classic cat lover's book, The Cat Who Came For Christmas. I love cats, but I haven't had one for a long time and I wanted to make sure I remembered their behavior and antics correctly.
As it turned out, I was equally interested in learning about Mr. Amory as I was in reading about his cat! He was the founder of the Fund for Animals in 1967 and was directly involved in the early campaigns against illegal whaling, and the horrendous clubbing of baby seals. He also helped rescue hundreds of wild burros from the Grand Canyon which were going to be killed. I was impressed that this man, who seemed to delight in calling himself a 'curmudgeon,' had such a big heart for innocent animals. I think most people agree that his tireless work became the bedrock for the animal protection movement of today.
Mr. Amory rescued his beloved Polar Bear from an alley in Manhattan. He soon discovered that the skinny, bedraggled, filthy gray cat he brought home on Christmas eve, 1977, was actually white, beautiful, and extremely opinionated!
My favorite quote: "As anyone who has ever been around a cat for any length of time well knows, cats have enormous patience for the limitations of human kind."
If you like cats, or even if you don't, you'll enjoy this warm and witty story of a very interesting man, and his relationship with a remarkable cat.
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