Summer in the City? No, Summer with a Kitty

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My feline self sprawled next to Elizabeth von Arnim’s The Enchanted April, which I will not discuss today because I haven’t finished reading it yet. The first letters of that novel’s title spell “tea,” which I don’t drink. Thank you for your attention to these two matters. (Photo by Dave.)

Misty the suburban cat here with my every-two-month blog post. My previous guest piece was in June, this one is in August, and the next one will be in October. Except that U2’s October album was released in 1981, so I’m not sure how my next blog post will be in…October. There IS a song on that album called “Stranger in a Strange Land,” which is about me at the vet for my yearly check-up.

Anyway, my adult humans Dave and Laurel saw the Superman movie this month, and enjoyed its thrills, acting, and empathy. But I, Misty, was not allowed in the theater because of being a cat. I was actually kind of relieved, because sitting through 25 minutes of ads and previews would have had me yowling loud enough to be heard on Mars — which billionaire bozo Elon Musk, aka the Tesla dude, wants to not only colonize but have The Martian Chronicles author Ray Bradbury write a 2025 sequel called The SpaceX Chronicles. Given that Bradbury died in 2012, he…missed the pleasure of seeing the catastrophic flop of Musk’s stupid Cybertruck.

The Superman film reminds me and other kitties of Michael Chabon’s The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, the 2000 novel partly based on the real-life Jerry Siegel/Joe Shuster duo who created the Superman character for comic books in 1938 — the year the iPhone minus-69 was released.

More generally, the 2025 movie starring the “Man of Steel” also reminds my meowing self of fictional characters possessing abilities beyond the capacity of most mortals. One is the Lee Child-created Jack Reacher — who’s not a superhero but displays unusual strength, incredible fighting abilities, great intellect, and other attributes in the 29-book series that began in 1997. Exactly a century after Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1897), which stars a vampire who acts out in all kinds of ways after Frankenstein defeats him in pickleball. A tip of the hat to Mary Shelley.

Another character who combines exceptional brains with exceptional physical abilities is the prehistoric protagonist Ayla of Jean M. Auel’s The Clan of the Cave Bear and its sequels. Ayla’s many accomplishments included inventing things and being the only person able to ride Baby the lion (a feline like me!), although she never played pickleball with her horse Whinney.

Some fictional people even rise in the air or fly — in magic-realism novels and other books. Among them are Remedios in Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s One Hundred Years of Solitude, Margarita in Mikhael Bulgakov’s The Master and Margarita, and the title character of J.M. Barrie’s Peter Pan — which was first a play, then a novel, then an animated movie, then a live TV film, and finally a jar of peanut butter which also flew when Dave tossed it out the window to compare its hang time with a jar of Skippy peanut butter. Denying me the opportunity to swat both brands off the counter with my cat paws.

There are also characters who might not be extraordinarily adept in a brute physical way but are really, really smart. Hermione Granger of J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter books, Sherlock Holmes of Arthur Conan Doyle’s detective fiction, Hercule Poirot of Agatha Christie’s mysteries, Lisbeth Salander of Stieg Larsson’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and its sequels, etc. Lisbeth sadly did not have a cat tattoo, but I forgive her because she’s Swedish and thus might toss some Swedish meatballs my way.

Dave will reply to comments so that I have time to eat the aforementioned meatballs. Rest assured that I maintain a balanced diet — one meatball in each side of my mouth.

I, Misty the cat, say: “After years of study, I’m finally qualified to inspect Belgian blocks.”

My and Dave’s comedic 2024 book — the part-factual/part-fictional/not-a-children’s-work Misty the Cat…Unleashed — is described and can be purchased on Amazon in paperback or on Kindle. It’s feline-narrated! (And Misty says Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂

Dave is also the author of a 2017 literary-trivia book…

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more.

In addition to this weekly blog, Dave writes the 2003-started/award-winning “Montclairvoyant” topical-humor column every Thursday for Montclair Local. The latest piece — about my school district’s huge, recently discovered deficit — is here.

80 thoughts on “Summer in the City? No, Summer with a Kitty”

  2. Dave, I’m absolutely delighted by your sharp eye in spotting ‘TEA’ within The Enchanted April! What a clever detail — it makes me want to look at book titles in a whole new way. Thank you for the fresh perspective! 😃💕

    Misty, your literary leaps (from Ayla’s lion-riding to pickleball with Frankenstein) are as agile as a cat vaulting onto the highest bookshelf. I’m convinced you’d make a fine superhero yourself — stealth, speed, nine lives, and the ability to swat peanut butter jars out of orbit. Looking forward to your October post (U2 album or not), especially if Swedish meatballs make another cameo. You’re amazing! 😃💕

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  4. Don’t feel bad about not going to the theater, Misty! I haven’t been to the theater for a couple of years. I’ve seen the Superman by Christopher Reeve but haven’t seen the new one yet. It’s a PG13 movie. My grandkids can’t go either. They like all the super heros.

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    • Thank you, Miriam! I haven’t been to a movie theater much, either; just two times since the height of Covid. Sorry the latest “Superman” film was a bit too mature for your grandkids. Perhaps superhero movies — loved by many children — shouldn’t be PG-13, though that rating felt appropriate for this version of “Superman.”

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    • Thank you, M.B.! Ha! 😂 Misty would definitely like a home theater, but not much space for one in our apartment. I guess the outside is his (live) theater when he gets his daily leashed walk — with the performers including squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits, etc. Are those critters members of Actors’ Equity? Unknown. 🙂

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    • Thank you, Chris, for the comment — including the droll moments. 🙂 Glad Luna is a reader, too! 🙂 Misty does like lounging on the dining room table, because that’s my “office” in our modest-sized apartment. In the photo, he’s lying on my (fortunately closed) laptop computer.

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  10. Hi Dave! Tell Misty I’ll fight him for the meatballs!! Yum! Yum! Some great book as ever! How did Misty find the Lee Child books? I’m yet to read any but have heard a lot about the Jack Reacher character! You are the owner of one funny well-read feline, Dave! An enjoyable post. Thank you. Sharon😃

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  11. Hello, Misty what a well read cat you are it’s Shadow and Olly here and we are only kittens so not so well read as you… but it is such fun exploring the books on the shelves but lovely and cool to sleep where the books were…oppps sometimes they end on the floor…Lots of Mieows from Shadow and Olly whose meows are yowls and my mistress says he needs his trouble nuggets snipped and maybe he will not yowl so much…

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  14. Hiisty, good to hear you again. Sorry you missed out on the peanut butter, but hope you’ll get some meatballs instead. If any of the magic of the magical realism books you mention could spill over to send Musk and the whole motley crew he’s part of to colonise Mars and never return we’d all be grateful. Have a great week and catch you again soon. Xxx 😺😺😺

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    • Thank you, Laura! Yes, a one-way trip to Mars for some far-right people might be “just the ticket.” And with the “The Red Planet” having two moons, two meatballs could double that total.

      Have a great week, too!

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  16. Heavens, not allowed in a theatre when there’s a whole musical called Cats? Shocking. I apologise now that I can’t like your post cos the button is not working again as opposed to the fact that your title is also a line in a song called Somewhere in my Heart and now it is going round my head……

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    • Thank you, Rosaliene! Misty greatly appreciates your confidence that he would have done a better job than Krypto the Superdog in the current “Superman” movie! Krypto did have some amazing moments in that film, but was rather frantic and untrained at other times.

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  18. Hey…Misty..

    Misha here. Don’t mention it to Dave, he’ll tell Resa! She’s already annoyed, with the nest I make of her mat under her computer chair.

    Here’s the thing,- don’t let Dave’s book fool you. Tea is the acrocat for “The Edible Animal” penned by a cat who lives up the street from that Atwood woman.

    Superman.. “Man of Steel”, give me a break! Supercat to the rescue… “Of Mice and Men”. Steinbeck must have known there’s nothing that a good paw pounding from “The Cat Of Steal” can’t achieve.

    While the humans quiver and shudder in the face of rodentia, we steal food off of the counter ( or wherever).

    There’s more, but I’ll await your next post. Let me just leave you with this exciting old saying – ”birds of a feather flock together”. Hehehehe! 😼 

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    • Thank you, Misha (and Resa)! MANY laughs per square hairball. 😂

      Hmm…cats like to be near computers even when they’re not writing blog posts or commenting under said posts. Yet few kitties are named WiFi.

      Yes, the “Superman” movie could have used a cat with special powers. Perhaps in one of the 1,783,444 sequels…

      “Rodentia” is the word of the year! Re the last paragraph, perhaps “birdentia” could be the word of the year for 2026? 🤔

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  19. Very good Misty. I hope you enjoy the meatballs.

    Dave, I have a confession: I always assumed the ad for your Comic Confessional book was just a promo photo of you (so I didn’t pay it much attention) – sorry. After your post about the book, I snagged it off Amazon and although it arrived while I was on vacation, I have stared reading and I’m finding it hard to put down for very long.

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    • Thank you, Dan! Misty would also find the meatballs useful for playing pool, if he ever discovered billiards. 🙂

      I greatly appreciate your interest in “Comic (and Column) Confessional,” and am glad you’re finding it interesting! 🙂 The cover IS rather bare bones; the small press that published the book was rather budget-minded and not super-creative.

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    • Thank you, Ada! Yes, magic realism is an interesting genre! I’ve enjoyed novels by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and Isabel Allende, and the short stories of Jorge Luis Borges. The great work of Toni Morrison of course also includes some magic realism elements.

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