Books I Don’t Recommend

59 comments

Hi everyone!Thank you all for your words of wisdom and suggestions for Brody yesterday. I do believe he was sent to me to teach me patience which is something I have never had. I will keep things as they are for now and hope he continues to get braver. And as my other cats find their new positions after so much change, maybe they will accept him.

When I was reading lots of cat books for The A-Z Blogging Challenge, I found some books that I didn’t like. I figured I could do a post on those now that the challenge is over.

One of them was going to be my U choice. An Unlikely Cat Lady: Feral Adventures in the Backyard Jungle by Nina Malkin was disappointing. I thought it was going to be how a group of feral kitties converts a lady into a cat lover. In a way it was, but she is a jerk. She may have helped some cats, but at one point she traps a Tom Cat and thinks he is ugly so she lets him go. I thought that was so mean, she could have brought him in to be neutered while she had him trapped.

Another book that was very disappointing was the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul: My Very Good, Very Bad Cat edited by Amy Newmark. There are 101 stories so they are not all bad. I was annoyed that some of the stories were chosen. In the first section of the book, there is a story about a lady who hated her boyfriend’s cat. There was another story of a lady cat sitting who abandons the cat because it tried to attack her. She figures it will be fine for 2 more days without food. I think you should at least be a cat lover to have your story included in a book like this.

And one other book that bothered me was My Street Cats by Raphaella Bilski. In the book, she tells about the feral colony she fed in the 1990’s at her home in Jerusalem. It is very sad because many die very young. I also don’t like her attitude that all cats should not be spayed and neutered. She feels there should be a happy medium between fixing them and letting them live as naturally as possible. I would think after seeing first-hand what happens when cats are not fixed, she would be all for TNR.

Sorry about this rant, I just wanted to let you know what didn’t make the cut for the A-Z challenge. joanie2Joanie thought you may like a tummy shot for Tummy Tuesday.

 

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59 comments

    1. Awww,,,you are sweet- and amazing too. Thank you for the email about Brody. XO

  3. Letting a cat loose because he’s ugly? Abandoning a cat for two days with no food? What kind of people are these? Definitely not my kind of cat people!! Thanks for letting us know what NOT to read!!!

  4. Thank you for the tip to avoid them – life is too short to read such things. Äiti says books should be uplifting and inspirational – like blogs!

  7. Thanks for warning us about these books…..there are so many uplifting and positive reads out there – no sense wasting time on the others!! Please thank Joanie for sharing her tummy with us today……..it was most generous of her! We are hoping that slowly but surely Brody will find a place in the house – patience is hard to come by when you’re anxious to have something happen but it will because I don’t think Brody intends to stop trying……….I’m sending him a big hug.

    Love, Sammy

    1. Joanie says thank you- she is now a fellow Tabby Cat Club member. I prefer happy books too. I wish I could deliver that hug to Brody for you, but that won’t be happening for some time. XO and love to you and your Mom Sammy.

  8. The Staff started reading the last book you mentioned about the cats in Jerusalem, but didn’t finish it as it didn’t grab her, which is a shame as she used to live there! We thought that Israel was one of the first countries to have proper regulations now regarding TNR?

    1. I didn’t know your Mom used to live in Jerusalem. They may have proper regulations now , but in the 1990’s it doesn’t sound like they did.

  9. I really appreciate this post, Ellen. Negative reviews can be just as helpful as positive ones, as that is how we know which books (or any other products) we’d like to try. Honesty is the best policy!

    And, Joanie, what a lovely tummy you have! Purrs!

  10. I wouldn’t want to read these books either. I can see why they didn’t make the cut. You and I think the same when it comes to our four legged family members.

    Have a fabulous day. ☺

  11. Oh! Now I’m going to have to post about cat books that I loath too! However, I rather liked Nina Malkin’s book, but I will admit that I read it awhile ago. It’s at our library, so I’ll read it again and see if I remain on the ‘like’ side. I got the impression that she didn’t know WHAT SHE WAS DOING at first, and the book was how she learned about community cats. But, I’m willing to revisit this.

    1. I hope you do a post about books not to read. I am curious to see your choices. That was the idea of the book, but still, if you trapped a cat, wouldn’t you get it fixed no matter what?

  12. Wow, I can see why you didn’t like these books based off what you said above. And that is so strange to include those stories in the Chicken Soup for the Soul book if you’re not a cat lover!

  13. Ellen thank you for writing this list, it saves ‘sorting time’ when I’m trying to decide what to spend my limited reading time on.

  14. I was once given a collection of cat stories. One of the stories was about a sea captain and his wife, and the cat gets squished inside a suitcase and dies! I looked up the book title: The Company of Cats by Michael J. Rosen. After reading that story I was so upset I threw away the book.

    1. Thank you for that title, I will be sure to avoid that. I would be upset too.

  15. Thanks for the great reviews about books not to read. That is always good to know. Nothing like spending money on books and then hating them.
    As far as Brody goes, patience is the big thing for feral cats. They eventually make great pets. They do learn to adjust. I have a feral cat in the house right now that I have spend many years making her my friend. She brought herself into the house and I still can’t touch her but she loves to play with her toys with me. She loves the wand toy. If you can, without scaring him, somewhere down the line, see if he would like to play. Don’t give up on him but I know you won’t.

    1. Thank you for the encouragement and advice. I will try a want toy and see how that goes. He has made a lot of small improvements so time will do it- I hope.

  16. guys….we R glad for yur momz rant… & apurreciate her honest oh pinion….now we can all scratch theeze off R gotta reed list….ewe saved uz time & money…. & for that we iz thanx full….brody…high paws two ewe dood….♥♥♥

    1. You’re welcome. That way food service girl will have more money for treats .

  17. Ahhh too bad about the latest Chicken Soup for the Soul they are usually very good.
    AND for sure you should not Cat sit if you don’t like or understand cats!!
    More than likely that cat could sense the sitters dislike and didn’t trust her.
    hugs madi and mom

    1. I usually enjoy those books, but this one really irritated me. They need a new editor.

  18. Ellen, I understand the rant. Sometimes you just have to wonder about people, and how publishers think these are good books. I just received the Chicken Soup book from Maggie and Felix as a gift. I hope there will be enough redeeming stories for me to enjoy most of it. Joanie, thanks for sharing your lovely belly with us.

    1. That was thoughtful of them. There are a lot of good stories, out of 101,there were only about 10 bad ones. It was just the bad ones really bugged me and shouldn’t have been in there.

  21. Thanks for sharing these reviews too. I know I wouldn’t like these at all.

    I like what someone above said about Brody not giving up to find his place. I believe that too! I’m sure it’s hard to spend time with him when you have the others too.

    Joanie, thanks for showing us your pretty tummy!

  22. Fankss Joanie fur thee ‘tummy’ foto!! LadyMum iss hoppin mad (thee email iss trubblin her again) so yur foto gave her a BIG smile…….
    An LadyMum agrees with you Lady Ellen about thee 3 Not-So-Good bookss…..
    Yur both so simmylar 😉
    Pleeze give Purrincess Phoebe all mee LUV an tell her mee sends her a million ****paw kissesss****
    Siddhartha Henry xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

    1. Joanie says thank you, she loves to show off her tummy. I am sorry your Mum is having email trouble- that is such a pain. Phoebe sends all her love your way. XO and paw kisses

      1. LadyMum gotted thee email sorted an as you know ended up inn EMERGENVY Fursday nite…
        Iss all ways sumfing!
        ***paw kissesss*** to Purrince Phoebe frum mee Purrince Siddhartha Henry xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

  25. Hello All,
    So sorry that you didn’t enjoy the latest Chicken Soup For the Cat Lovers Soul, My Very Good, Very Bad Cat . I am one of the authors and just wanted to say that my story , ” All My Children Wear Fur Coats” is very near and dear to my heart and was written in the hopes that it would touch others.

    The story isabout what a blessing my cats have been through my journey of childlessness and how they’ve filled the “mothers hole ” in my heart. As mothers Day approaches its my hope that women like myself who were never blessed with two-legged children will find hope and joy with their four-legged children.

    Sending greetings from our Feline Tribe of Five whether your children wear fur coats or not.

    1. I loved your story and as a mother of only furry children, I could truly relate. Many of the stories were good, I just felt that some didn’t belong in there. Thank you for visiting.

  27. I always thought the Chicken Soup for the Soul series were meant to be insightful, compassionate and uplifting. How odd to include a story of someone who hates a cat and a story of someone who thinks not feeding a cat under her care is an option. Disappointing. I suppose , “An Unlikely Cat Lady” in the end was actually “unlikely” since a true cat person would never view any cat as ugly, let alone release a cat back into the wild without somehow improving his life. Lastly, I find people who claim to love animals but who then don’t want to neuter or spay them because this isn’t “natural” , to be very suspect. Animals don’t copulate for enjoyment and it certainly isn’t necessary for them to be intact in order for them to find happiness in their lives. Someone who has seen first hand how quickly cats who are not “fixed” can lead to overpopulation and suffering should always, in my opinion, be advocating TNR. Well, that was my answer to your rant, a rant that probably equaled yours! 😀

    the critters in the cottage xo

    1. Thank you- I like your rant too. I am glad you understand why I was so upset. XO

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