Cats and Bookstores

Cats of the Gotham Book Mart

There is a certain aura that overwhelms you when you enter a bookstore, I’m not talking about your chain type Barnes and Noble store but those small independent stores that have been under a financial siege for years now.  Browsing a bookstore is an adventure. It’s a place to meet old friends and discover new ones, authors of all kinds will jump out at you. Bookstores are a piece of heaven here on earth. And any bookstore worth its salt has a resident cat.

                                                                 Hodge (Chicago) 

Yes, cats and bookstores go together like salt and pepper or peanut butter and jelly; neither are complete without the other. When you walk into a bookstore and lying down, resting his head on a small stack of books is a feline who takes a quick glance up at you, then makes the split decision to judge if you are worth his energy to greet or should he just lower his head and  go back to sleep, you know you are in bookstore utopia.

Cats, like bookstores, are above the fray of the outside world. That’s why they are perfect for a bookstore where customers are all hoping to find the next book that will pull them out of their mundane daily life and for a time escape from the real world.

When you find your next perfect book to read there is nothing like taking it home, sitting in your favorite chair and having your own feline buddy snuggle up right next to you. Cats carry themselves with a certain dignity and manner that demands the reader hold the book in one hand and pet them with the other.

Cats in bookstores most likely began with the owners attempting to cut down on the mice/rats population in their store. These days the furry feline is way too regal to be strictly a mouser! Anyone who owns a cat knows it’s their house and you only live there to serve their needs. It’s the same with bookstore cats. It’s their store, their only job is to make your stay more inviting,  cozy and pay attention to them.