June 2012: Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats

[Briar Rose]

This is the official thread for Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot, one of our June reads. Please post up your thoughts about the book here.

[Briar Rose]

Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats is probably most famous for being the inspiration for the musical Cats. I'm afraid it's been kind of over-shadowed by its descendent. But it's a really great book. I enjoyed the poems - they're fun and light and extremely well-written (as you would expect of something by T.S. Eliot).

There's an interesting discussion here about some of the language used in the book, and whether T.S. Eliot was racist.

[Teresa]

I found it hard to get through this book. I love my cat, but wow. Now I know, I can't read a whole book devoted to cats.