The Good, The Bad, The Furry World of Tom Cox

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You’d think I’d get jaded writing about cat books after reviewing 200+ but what keeps it fresh is finding a pearl in a sea of same old, same old. In this case, four pearls from the good, the bad and the furry world of cat-centric memoirs books by U.K. writer Tom Cox. How I managed to stay ignorant of these best-selling gems until six months ago is my badge of shame. I received an advance reader copy back in April, loved it but fell woefully behind in reviews. I hope this makes up for the delay.

Usually I love sharing good, new books but sometimes I’m so mad about a book I don’t want anyone to read it in case they don’t love it as much as me. If you like your humor gin dry and British with a twist of quirk, Tom Cox is your man. Cat man that is. The former music critic and golf-related writer found fame in 2008 with his first cat book, Under The Paw: Confessions of a Cat Man. The public lapped up his funny, soulful musings on life as 30-something man who happens to love cats. A natural rambling storyteller, he wraps his words like cat tails around ankles with irresistible results. In each book, the author mines the current ups and own of his life with cats as the backbone. Tom Cox lives in countryside of Devon near a medieval town and writes for The Guardian on range of topics from music, folklore, reviews and regular blog updates about his four cats: The Bear, Shipley, Ralph and Roscoe. I’m also smitten with Tom’sDAD (check him out in his superhero glory) a larger-than-life character and speaks in ALL CAPS ALL THE TIME in hysterical, irreverent non sequiturs. Clearly, cat-loving dad is the source of the cat man’s humor.

The feline star is Bear AKA The Bear, a solid black old mancat of twenty with old-soul eyes. The Theophile Gautier quote: “Who can believe that there is no soul behind those luminous eyes!” applies to The Bear in spades. He’s more human than some humans and our almost human old boy Merlin agrees.

Through love, loss, divorce, moving house numerous times, and adventures of every feline kind, these books contain a genuine insight into the nature of cats. Just as you can’t have one potato chip (crisp in the U.K.) you can’t read just one of Tom’s books. They will make any self-confessed cat lover a more besotted feline fan than ever. And the latest, Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind is out. The U.S. version will hopefully be released by year’s end. If you can’t wait, here’s the U.K. link. We’ll be doing a giveaway once the U.S. version is out.

For the latest news and kitty adventures, follow Tom and the furries on Facebook and Twitter Tom_Cox

Ralph has her own Twitter page MySmugCat Black boy, Shipley, aficionado of feline, four-letter words is found tweeting as MySwearyCat but I confess my favorite has to be Bear who tweets as MySadCat. Oddly enough Roscoe, a female tuxie prefers flirting with men in pubs and not tweeting. Cat dad Tom deserves a medal for keeping track of all of them.

Merlin of course feels a kinship with fellow philosopher cat, Bear and gives a his top 4-Paws rating for The Good, The Bad and The Furry and can’t wait to get his paws on Close Encounters Of The Furred Kind. Until then, grab a copy of this or any of the earlier books .