The Cat Manual
Michael Ray Taylor
Amazon Digital Services
Fiction, Humor
****
DESCRIPTION: It's no secret to any cat owner that felines are masters of manipulating mankind, but few suspect just how our erstwhile pets come by their abilities.
Discovered by accident and translated from the original Cat language, this book offers a rare glimpse into the feline world. Learn, as your cat herself learned, how to properly
present a gift, how to identify the "sucker" in the room, the trick of increasing one's weight at will, and other invaluable lessons.
A Kindle-exclusive title.
REVIEW: A poor man's "Devious Book for Cats," this guidebook was clearly written by someone who knows and loves cats. The chapters rarely run longer than a couple of pages, sometimes ending before they hit their punchline or properly explore their joke. While not hilariously original, it prompted a few chuckles. For the price - free when I downloaded it, 99 cents now - I consider myself reasonably satisfied.
You might also enjoy:
Why Cats Paint (Heather Busch and Burton Silver, Fiction - A straight-faced parody of modern art profiling feline artists)
Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats (T. S. Eliot, Poetry - The whimsical verses that inspired the musical "Cats")
The Devious Book for Cats (Fluffy & Bonkers, Fiction - A guidebook to help the modern feline reclaim their inner cathood)
Cats, Cats, Cats: A Collection of Great Cat Cartoons (S. Gross, editor, Comics - Cartoons about cats)
CATMOPOLITAN (Ilene Hochberg, Fiction - A feline parody of modern glamour magazines)
Good Owners, Great Cats (Brian Kilcommons and Sarah Wilson, Nonfiction - How to live with a companion cat)
The Cat Made Me Buy It! books (Alice L. Muncaster and Ellen Yanow, Nonfiction - Cats in advertizing art)
The Cat Who Couldn't See in the Dark (Howard Padwee, D.V.M. and Valerie Moolman, Nonfiction - A veterinarian recalls feline patients and their owners)
The Enchanted Cat (John Richard Stephens, Nonfiction - Prose and poetry celebrating cats in literature)
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Rogue Wave
Theodore Taylor
Harcourt Brace
Fiction, YA Adventure/Anthology
***
DESCRIPTION: From a pilot blinded over Korea to a ship sailing toward a hurricane, from a captain tempted by a cargo of gold to a British intelligence officer playing mind games with a captive German submarine crew, this book contains a variety of sea and military stories.
REVIEW: If you like lots of nautical, military, and/or aviation technobabble and dislike well-paced, unpredictable, or absorbing plots, you'll probably enjoy this book. I found the terminology overused, the characters underdeveloped (for the most part - there were exceptions), and the plots little more than basic frameworks to hang the terminology and thin characters on. Though technically well written, the tales failed to engage my interest.
You might also enjoy:
Beyond the Western Sea (Avi, YA Fiction - Two Irish children, orphaned by the potato famine, begin the long and gruelling journey to America)
The True Confessions of Charlotte Doyle (Avi, YA Fiction - A well-bred girl on a sailing ship is accused of murder)
The Sword and the Cross (Fergus Fleming, Nonfiction - The real-life story of two men who took on the Sahara in French Algeria)
The Iron Giant (Ted Hughes, Fiction - A great metal monster falls to Earth)
The Perfect Storm (Sebastian Junger, Nonfiction - The story of the devastating 1991 Atlantic storm)
Captains Courageous (Rudyard Kipling, YA? Fiction - Washed overboard, a spoiled American boy must work for his keep aboard a fishing schooner)
The Bloody Jack Adventures (L. A. Meyer, YA Fiction - A girl from the streets of 18th century London embarks on a life frought with peril and adventure)
The Brian Robeson books (Gary Paulsen, YA Fiction - A city boy stranded in the Canadian wilderness must learn survival skills from scratch)
Guts (Gary Paulsen, YA Nonfiction - Paulsen describes the real-life inspirations for Brian's adventures)
The Rifle (Gary Paulsen, YA Fiction - The chilling story of an antique rifle's journey through the years)
Sudden Sea: The Great Hurricane of 1938 (R. A. Scotti, Nonfiction - The story of a massive storm that battered the East Coast of America)
Treasure Island (Robert Louis Stevenson, YA Fiction - An English boy finds himself caught up in the hunt for a dead pirate's treasure)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne, Fiction - in the late 19th century, three men become captive guests aboard a reclusive madman's revolutionary submarine)
The Leviathan trilogy (Scott Westerfield, YA Fiction - World War 1 in an alternate-history Earth involves great walking "Clanker" machinery and "Darwinist" fabricated animals)
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