Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control of Our House and Made It Their HomeKitty Cornered is raucous and witty and as heartwarming as a basket of kittens. I’m a bone-i-fied dog lover, but this book settles it: I’m getting a cat, or six.” —Dan Dye, author of Amazing Gracie Bob Tarte had his first encounter with a cat when he was two and a half years old. He should have learned his lesson then, from Fluffy. But as he says, “I listened to my heart instead, and that always leads to trouble.” In this tell-all of how the Tarte household grew from one recalcitrant cat to six—including a hard-to-manage stray named Frannie—Tarte confesses to allowing these interlopers to shape his and his wife’s life, from their dining habits to their sleeping arrangements to the placement and furriness of their furniture. But more than that, Bob begins seeing Frannie and the other cats as unlikely instructors in the art of achieving contentment, even in the face of illness and injury. Bewitched by the unknowable nature of domesticated cats, he realizes that sometimes wildness and mystery are exactly what he needs. With the winning humor and uncanny ability to capture the soul of the animal world that made Enslaved by Ducks a success, Tarte shows us that life with animals gives us a way out of our narrow human perspective to glimpse something larger, more enduring, and more grounded in the simplicities of love—and catnip. |
Contents
| 1 | |
| 7 | |
Chapter 2 Dark Hour of the Walleye | 31 |
Chapter 3 Out in the Sticks | 51 |
Chapter 4 Fred Mertz Meets the Mummy | 75 |
Chapter 5 The Funnel of Happiness | 95 |
Chapter 6 The Cats of Winter | 117 |
Chapter 7 The Cat You Cant Do Anything With | 139 |
Chapter 10 Dont Call Him Mr CuddleWuddle | 199 |
Chapter 11 The AntiFrannie | 217 |
Chapter 12 My Brief Career as a Psychic | 237 |
Chapter 13 Living in a Walled City | 257 |
Chapter 14 Funneled Again | 275 |
Acknowledgments and Culpability | 287 |
Also Available from Algonquin Books | 289 |
About the Author | 290 |
Other editions - View all
Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control ... Bob Tarte Limited preview - 2012 |
Kitty Cornered: How Frannie and Five Other Incorrigible Cats Seized Control ... Bob Tarte No preview available - 2012 |
Common terms and phrases
Agnes already animals asked barn basement bathroom bedroom better birds body bowl called carrier chair close collar cone couldn’t decided didn’t dining room dish door duck eyes face feet felt fingers floor followed Frannie Frannie’s front gave getting give hand happened head heard held hens hoped inside keep kitty knew later leave licking light Linda litter box living room look Lucy Maynard mind minutes Moobie Moobie’s morning move never night once outdoors picked porch pulled rubbed seemed side sleep stairs started stay steps stray sure tell thing thought Tina told took treat tree tried trying turned upstairs usual wait walked wall wasn’t watched weeks window