A Feline Focuses on Fiction in the Fall

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“Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s novel The Autumn of the Patriarch is not about me but should be,” says Misty the cat during one of his leashed walks. (Photo by Laurel Cummins.)

Misty the cat here, back for my every-two-month guest litterbox…um…literature post as autumn leaves turn from John Green to Tommy Orange to Rita Mae Brown. Prominent authors don’t grow on trees? Perhaps they do.

Speaking of prominent authors, today is the birthday of the late Anne Rice. She wrote many novels starring vampires, which are mythical undead creatures who rise from the grave at night to drink the blood of the living but never show up at my weekly book club gatherings. Perhaps I’m serving the wrong drinks. 

What have I, Misty the cat, been reading lately? The edition of Breakfast at Tiffany’s I borrowed from the library last month included a second Truman Capote novel. I was hoping that bonus book would be Lunch at Burger King, Dinner at Katz’s Delicatessen, or Midnight Snack at the Nearest Dumpster, but it turned out to be Other Voices, Other Rooms. I tried to stay with OVOR, but gave up after too many pages of too much racial stereotyping. Besides, I didn’t like what Holly Golightly did to one of my fellow felines at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. So, I’ll be rereading Alexandre Dumas’ The Count of Monte Cristo to fine-tune my vengeful mood – and to learn why The Count moved from Sesame Street to Monte Cristo.

Capote may not have liked it, but Dumas was of part-African descent – as were the writers Colette and Alexander Pushkin, among others. Colette’s most-famous novel was Gigi (despite it hardly being her best book) while Pushkin’s masterpiece was Eugene Onegin. The title of that novel-in-verse has the same initials as Eggy Omelet, which I suspect some people order for breakfast at Tiffany’s.

I’m currently reading Salley Vickers’ The Cleaner of Chartres, and it’s always nice when a working-class character (in this case Agnes Morel) stars in a novel. Of course, many working-class people sadly get laid off – even as the “e” in “Salley” has so far escaped that downsizing fate.

Getting back to the current season of autumn, my thoughts turn to “The Fall of the House of Usher” – one of Edgar Allan Poe’s quartet of tales that also includes “The Winter of the House of Usher,” “The Spring of the House of Usher,” and “I, E.A. Poe, Might Be Dead But Stop Creating Fake Titles for My Short Stories.”

Dave will respond to comments while I, Misty the cat, read “The Summer of the House of Usher.”

Misty the cat asks: “Am I ‘Up the Down Staircase’ or up the up staircase?”

I 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 Amazon reviews are welcome. 🙂 )

This 90-second promo video for the book features a talking cat: 🙂 (Not Dave’s voice. 🙂 )

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

…and a 2012 memoir that focuses on cartooning and more, including many encounters with celebrities.

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 – which includes mentions of many famous plays — is here.

71 thoughts on “A Feline Focuses on Fiction in the Fall”

  1. Wow Misty,

    Two months… already! That’s as fur raising as Songs of a Sourdough by Robert Service. Okay so it was a bunch of ballads, but The Shooting of Dan McGrew sure reads like a full novel. Could be a movie!

    Of course Buck, in Call of the Wild is pretty fur raising, as well.

    I have a new literature box! Resa put it in the plant room. Honestly it’s just like having a proper outdoor sandbox.

    I don’t want to get any Atwood fans dander up, well not more than mine, but Resa did not like The Cat’s Eye. Said it just droned on and on. Now if it would have purred on and on, Resa would have liked it. Maybe you could mention that to Margaret, if she stops to pet you?

    New books this month? HA! It’s all pins & needles, pencils & paint over here. Sewing, drawing, walking … honestly – what’s a young book loving cat to do?

    Okay, Misty…Mischa meowing off! See you in 2 months!

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  3. HAHA! The Summer of the House of Usher would be a fun read, Misty! Report back to us how you liked it! And you mentioned John Green early in this post, I have his latest cued up on my Kindle ready for a read. Can’t wait to dive in! Happy reading!

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  4. Hey Misty. Abelard here. Actually my name is Pawdaddy, and I’m beyond; the Pale of mothercraaft, elocution and cordon bleu cooking. “Country cousins” she would have it. Bull, IMO. No daisies here. Hardly dandelions even. All rounded up. But you ring the gong I must say. I’m not sure which one to let her read first. She says she’s read them, no wait she’s got that god awful pen out, the one that leaks between the lines. Imago de la Chanel or something. Pure perfume. Fahrenheit 451 a go go. Here come the lists. Boy, you really got her now, you got her so she can’t sleep at night. Ferdinand the bull. Daisy Rothschild the Giraffe. Flush a Dog….. I give up. Chow !

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    • Thank you, Abelard (and elspethham)! Greatly enjoyed the free-associative comment — including that Kinks song lyrics reference near the end. 🙂 It’s no wonder that cats and dogs are…well-respected…and not in an ironic way.

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  6. Hi Misty, another excellent blogging thing, and very nicely done, I must say. You have been busy reading some good and not so good novels, and that seems normal. Some poetry perhaps next time – just a thought. Meanwhile, as you’ve said, all those leaves have many shades of colours now and very pretty too, eh? Maybe a little whooshing outside, since there hasn’t been a dumpster for ages to see what’s in it. So looking forward to next time, dear Misty, and gosh, it will be almost Christmas… good grief!

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    • Thank you, Chris! A “blogging thing”…I like that. 🙂 Yes, novels — like life — vary in compellingness. Misty will consider your suggestion that he read poetry, though he might shy away from Robert Frost because of his aversion to very cold weather. 🙂 You’re right that Misty’s next post, in early December, will appear during Christmas month — when pine trees puzzlingly appear inside.

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  8. Great post, Misty, nicely done. I like the way you have Dave handle the replies. I kinda wish I had someone to do that sometimes. Do you rent him out?

    Poe might no like you’re revealing the other volumes of that story, but I think there was a spring involved. It fed the lake the house fell into.

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    • Thank you, Dan! Glad you liked Misty’s un-opus-like opus!

      Ha! 😂 I’m afraid my assistantship services are unpaid. But Misty does direct-deposit a toy mouse into my bank account during the holidays each December. 🙂

      Ha again! 😂 That Usher house went through a lot…

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  10. Oh, Misty. You are so wry and funny! Thank you for the laugh out loud moment when I read your Capote quip. “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” seriously SHOULD’VE been followed by your thoughtful ideas. Compelling works yet to be written! “Lunch at Burger King” and “Midnight Snack at the Nearest Dumpster” especially. I’m with you!
    ❤️😎❤️

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  11. Have not read a Truman Capote book. (One of those authors who I felt I probably should read, you know famous and such)

    Anne Rice I did take to (and enjoyed).

    Hey, unexpected hazard to such a topic for a post… the calendar (when I mentioned reading Interview… not a friendly informant)

    of course, Edgar A… who didn’t enjoy his work. (fave: ‘The Bells’)

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    • Thank you, Clark!

      Impossible to get to every author. 🙂

      I liked the one novel I’ve read by Anne Rice.

      And, yes, Edgar Allan Poe is almost always a riveting read for almost everyone. His memorable short stories and excellent poetry. I like “The Bells,” too, and also like the Phil Ochs song based on that poem.

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  13. Thanks for the comic relief, Misty! M’self, I wouldn’t be too eager to have vampires show up a your book club. As far as Truman Capote goes, just because someone is a good writer doesn’t mean he’s a good human being.

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    • Thank you, Liz! Misty appreciates the praise, and the fact that “comic relief” has the same first letters as “cat raconteur.” 🙂 And — ha! 😂 — I suppose vampires are indeed not the ideal guests. (Why am I thinking of the U2 song “Sunday Bloody Sunday”? 🤔 )

      Great point about Truman Capote! I overall liked “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” despite the disturbing way some stuff was depicted in it. “Other Voices, Other Rooms” did also seem to have a good story going, but the racial stereotyping (and the animal cruelty) drove me away. Then again, it was a 1940s novel, so the upfront racism was “of its time” — though we’re of course also seeing plenty of bigotry from the 21st-century Trump regime and its supporters.

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  14. Misty, you have created an excellent post with this literary autumn. I loved the way you moved through the season using all those wonderfully improbable connections. You had me at Pushkin’s Eugene Onegin. Reading it was a very important experience for me because it was the first time I had read a large narrative poem translated from another language. How was anyone able to translate a poem from another language and still keep it as a poem? I knew I was hearing Pushkin through another voice, yet the movement of the poem still came through. So thank you, Misty. Your autumn wanderings sent me back to one of the books that changed the way I read.

    “But whom to love?
    To trust and treasure?
    Who won’t betray us in the end?
    And who’ll be kind enough to measure
    Our words and deeds as we intend?”
    Alexander Pushkin, Eugene Onegin

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    • Thank you, Audrey! The cooler fall weather has certainly invigorated the 11-year-old Misty. 🙂 Those steps lead from the side door of the apartment-complex garage, where Misty got to sniff some car tires. 🙂

      Ha! 😂 “The Count of Monte Cristo” certainly IS big enough to make for a formidable pillow. And I’m not remembering any cats in that novel, either.

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  18. Hey, Misty, good to see you again, looking in fine feline fettle in that light-blue coat which matches your own Misty grey so well. Beautiful alliteration in the title of your post, even if some of your reading matter wasn’t half so beautiful. I never liked that Holly Golightly, who couldn’t even be bothered to find out the name of the friendly feline who she betrayed. Hmm. I’ve since read that he was played in the film by a celebrity cat named Orangey, who apparently was a bit of a moody diva who’d scratch the humans who played supporting actors to him in the fillm. Hopefully Holly came in for a share of his clawmarks. If you’re looking for some seasonally-named books there’s ‘Autumn’ by one Ali Smith, or ‘Drums of Autumn’ by Diana Gabaldon; but frankly, you could do far worse than read my own ‘October Poems’. Nary a leaf in sight, I have to admit, but there is one that mentions cats. Poetry, for a feline surely named for the ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ from ‘Ode to Autumn’ by Keats, has to be a must-read. Enjoy the falling of the year, Misty, and catch you next time; and my regards to Dave too. 🐈🐈🐈

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    • Thank you, Laura, for your great and at-times-quite-comedic comment directed at Misty! 🙂 😂

      I’ve never seen the “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” movie, but I imagine Holly Golightly came off as more sympathetic than in Truman Capote’s novella. As you note, she was not that likable in the book — even as she had a certain eccentric charm and charisma. And, yes, she didn’t do right by that kitty. Interesting to hear about that testy cat performer in the film version.

      Thanks for the mentions of those autumnal novels (I’ve read all of Diana Gabaldon’s addictive “Outlander” books, so I got to “Drums of Autumn”) and the mention of your “October Poems” collection, which I know has received very positive reviews!

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