Cats, Kilims, and Books: Loganberry Books

I've just found this bookstore in Shaker Heights, Ohio. Business hasn't taken me there yet, so it may be some time before I have a chance to browse their extensive stock among the resident cats, the kilim rugs, and some seriously over-the-top fancy bookcases that look as though they might rotate to reveal hidden staircases. For now I can only content myself with an online order. Check out the comprehensive website and play their game, Stump the Bookseller. For a $2 processing fee, they will post your stumper and likely as not rapidly post an answer to your longstanding book mystery. What was the late 1960s fantasy with a blue cover about a girl named Ann and a dolphin? It's bothered me for years, and in about 24 hours the geniuses at Loganberry had identified Dear Dolphin by Herbert A. Kenny. How delighted am I??? Owner Harriet Logan (Loganberry was her college nickname, and you have to like her taste in friends) also has a mail order book club, the Bookworm Society, a blog, and links to such wonderful presses as Purple House Press, who are doing the good work of bringing some of the classics we love back into print.

Winged Cats, Google, and Serendipity

[originally posted on www.MySpace.com/anndowner on June 16, 2007]

The large marmalade cat mentioned in the back-flap bio on my books has gone to the Big Sink in the Sky (catsinsinks.com). Calvin, also known as Bunny, came to me as a kitten in 1991, graciously adopted the man who would become my husband, and later our son, who turned out to be allergic to cats. With heavy hearts, we re-homed Calvin with friends who weren't intimidated by his age (14) or his health (diabetes) and having to give him insulin injections twice a day and pony up for prescription cat food, insulin,
syringes, and extra vet visits.

So it was something of a miracle that Calvin lived to be 16, and the grief of his two families at his passing is hard to express. I wanted to give his new family a winged balinese cat like the one I'd long had hanging over the kitchen sink. The spitting image of Calvin, orange tigery stripes and green eyes, and wings.

Google returned a lot of fascinating stuff about winged cats, but no wooden winged cat from Bali like the one I had. But it did return news of this collection of three novellas by British writer John Barlow. In one of the novellas, "The Possession of Thomas-Bessie," a winged cat wreaks havoc on a Victorian workhouse. I ordered the book from Porter Square Books, and look forward to the dip into Victoriana tinged with magical realism...one of my favorite things. It feels like a final gift from the Big Red One who gave me so much.

So here's to large marmalade cats, winged or not, and serendipity.

Eating Mammals: 3 Novells
John Barlow