Book of Cats

Ursula K. Le Guin loved cats though “loved” may not be the right word. She was fascinated by them, entranced and endlessly amused by them and their “catness,” at once inscrutable and silly, mysterious and madcap. As she described it, "The presence of a cat keeps me in touch with the mystery, the unreasonableness, the beauty, the stubborn wildness of the nonhuman world."

In her life as in her art, Ursula K. Le Guin was fascinated by the feline. This irresistible book about cats gathers poems, meditations, and drawings dedicated to the complicated creature that her captured her imagination. Included are The Art Banditsu a rare 1982 chapbook written under the pen name Bunto Ursula  about the natural zen of cats; more than two dozen cat poems; a series of letters between the cats of Le Guin and her daughter Elizabeth, revealing the inner workings of kitty psychology; and the Cat Tai Chi, which is more or less what it sounds like. Newly researched biographical notes detail the many cats in Le Guin’s life.