Great Rumpus Cat Book Reviews

For as long as I could read, books have been my constant companions. Like the diary entries some keep, my books remind me of the who, what, when, where, why and hows, and my scribbled notes in the margins range from pondering annotations to unrelated notes, as I often used the book leaves as makeshift journals and planners, filled with everyday reminders, phone numbers, doodles, and other inane information that would make a librarian shudder in horror. I dog-ear pages and break book spines, because after reading a book twenty times, you will lose a bookmark and inevitably leave the book on your couch. And anyway, books with broken spines are easier to hold in one hand while you lay in bed, turning the pages while slowly drifting to sleep.

This blog will discuss and review books, but not with necessarily with long critiques; I am more interested in sharing the effect the writing and story had on me. Did I dream about it afterwards, or was I unable to to finish it because the writing was too dull? DId the novelist combat cultural issues or was it a fun page-turner I read in two hours, or was it both?

The name of the blog is a throwback to my favorite poems as a child, a hardcover version of “Cats” by the inimitable TS Elliot.  But TS Elliot has stalked me my whole life, allowing me to remember, during times when my depression left me curled in bed weeping for reasons I couldn’t identify, that angst is human; but I also still have his Cats collection memorized, and there, in that juxtaposition, is what I love about literature: One day, it’s “this is how the world ends, this is how the world ends, this is how the world ends;” the next, we consider how to correctly name a cat. In this case, the Great Rumpus Cat.

So tell everyone around you back off, and sit down with an afghan at your favorite reading nook. Pour the tea (or whisky, or wine, or a bag of semisweet chocolate chips) Put the cat on your lap and read for the sheer joy of leaving this world and our government behind, going to to a better place, or maybe fighting a far worse one. 

There will be no book snobbery in this blog. My John Grishams are nestled comfortably between my Foucault and Faulkner. I welcome discourse and discussion and I invite anyone to join me in my opinionated rants. And with that, I give you THE GREAT RUMPUSCAT.

(By Fredrik Backman )

I’ve decided just to share my reading notes for this book:

Wow, great opening:

Witty, unpretentious writing

Totally quotable, makes writing look easy

Wonderful rhythm unlike anyone else, rounds out his unique voice perfectly

Some boring hockey parts

Some stilted, cheesy dialog

OMG WOAH

This book makes my throat hurt trying not to cry

Profound

Four stars 🌟 🌖

I didn’t care too much for the acclaimed bestseller Everything I Never Told You, but I enjoyed Little Fires Everywhere more, yay. Ng definitely has a talent for allowing deeper thematic issues to arise naturally from her plots, a talent I appreciate. in LFE, a wayward mother and daughter move to a sleepy little town and shake things up, and set into motion an ugly custody battle that divides the town. Alongside this are sub-plots involving the teenagers of two families and their difficulties as they come of age.

Some parts were quite slow and employed more telling than showing, especially the characters’ backstories, and this bugged the hell out of me as I love me a good, fleshy character. I found the backstories tedious to read and just couldn’t get in to these parts of the novel. Plus, in spite of the backstories, the characters still often felt underdeveloped.

Still, Ng handles themes of socioeconomic disparity and racism with a thoughtful hand and allows them to emerge naturally from her story telling, and there is some true wisdom in certain quotes of the book.

By Katherine Arden

An absolutely amazing fairy tale you won’t be able to put down. Stunning and beautifully written, with lots of old demons and Russian folklore, this book holds your attention while letting your imagination run amok. And a strong female protagonist who’s forward motion is not based on her finding a man! Love it.

A twist on the ol’ read fifty-two in fifty-two weeks, i made myself a more specific challenge. I hope I can find some people to play along with me! the rules are: read as many as you can, in whatever order you choose, post on this thread when you’re done with your challenge book and tell me what you chose and how you liked it! One book cannot count for two challenges; you have to choose which one you want to use it for. To be read in no particular order:

1: Around the world: read a novel that takes place in a county you know very little about

2: The procrastinator: finish a book you never get around to

3: indielove: read a book published a very small press (local if possible)

4: The Librarian: Read a new-to-you classic

5: The Biographer: Read a biography and

6: an autobiography

7: The Scholor: Read a non fiction book on a subject that is new to you

8: The Serial Reader: Read the first of a series with at least three books

9: The Dramaturge: read a play

10: The Linguist: Read a book translated from its original language

11: The Poet: Read a collection of poetry

12: The Chekhov: Read a book of short stories

13: The Art Spiegelman: Read a graphic novel

14: The Isms: Read a book about some sort of ism, racism, socialism, Judaism, Wiccanism etc

15: I felt like I was there: read a fiction or non fiction history

16: The Rory Gilmore: pick a book from The Rory Gilmore Reading Challenge

17: On Society: read a book about a problem in our society, like homelessness (can be fiction or non fiction)

18: The Raised Eyebrow: read a satire

19: The Romy and Michelle: Read a book from the year you graduated high school.

20: Punked!: Read a story about a punk, cyberpunk, steam punk, old school British rock band punk, etc.

20: The Pulitzer: Read a book that won a Pulitzer

21: The Edward Gorey: read an adult’s book with illustrations

22: The Director: read a book slated to be turned into a movie

23: The local: Read a book written by a local

24: the Warm and Cozy: Read a book with over 500 pages

25: The Our Town: read a book that takes place in your town.

26: The New Face: Read a book by a new author (their first book)

27: The traveler: Read a book set in a location you would like to visit.

28: The Mrs Marple: Read a whodunnit

29: the Robot: Read a sci-fi book

30: The Stephen King: Read a scary book, horror, ghosts, etc

31: The Gender Bender: read a book with a protagonist who isn’t cis-gendered

32: Fuck that!: Read a book with an unlikeable protagagonist

33: That’s Ms to you: Read a book with a strong female protagonist

34: POVs: Read a story told from multiple POVs

34: The time traveler: Read a book that takes place in more than one era

35: The Truman Capote: Read a true crime story

36: Oh Captain My Captain: Read a nautical book

37: The Carl Sagan: Read a book set in space

38: Because Reese Witherspoon said so: read a book endorsed by a celebrity book club

39: The Sting: Read a book about a heist

40: The Glorious Cover: choose a book by its cover

41: The Muggles: Don’t be a muggle! read a fantastical, magical book

42: All the Pretty Colors: Read a book with a color in the title ie Blue Highways

43: The Novella: Read a book that’s less than 200 pages

44: The Grim Reaper: read a book about a death, or death in our culture

45: From me to you: Read a book written in letters, diary entries, newspaper clippings, etc

46: whosis: read a book by multiple authors

47: kids these days: read a YA novel

48: The Dr Doolittle: Read a book where an animal or multiple are front and center

49: The Nom de Plum: read a book written under a pseudonym

50: The treasure hunt: go into a bookstore a grab a book you’ve never heard of

51: The bestseller: Read that book that you’ve been hearing so much about

52: The Repeat: read a book you’ve already read, but feel like it needs another go.

Get reading and talking about reading!

BONUS ROUNDS FOR THE OVERACHIEVER (or substitutes if you’re not digging/having trouble with any of the other prompts)

1A. A post apocalyptic novel

2B. A book tied to your ancestry

3C. A Goodreads choice winner

Have you ever kept putting off reading a book, then when you finally open it you’re like, WHY HAVE I NOT READ YOU YET, EVERY DECISION I’VE EVER MADE HAS BEEN WRONG, etc etc etc.

This book! Normally, with the exception of Dracula, I don’t go for books told through letters but the writing here flows so smoothly it’s a joy to read and I couldn’t put it down.

I quite enjoyed the plot of this book, but for the most part found the writing overly straightforward. The plot unfolds through the telling of two interwoven narratives, a past (told by Rill) and a present (told by Avery). I enjoyed reading Rill’s tale, it’s hard not to: there’s stolen babies kidnapped from their houseboat off of the Mississippi and a historically accurate rendering of an orphanage with a murderess/con artist in charge. Rill’s voice is well developed in dialect and tone, and I found these portions of the book to be page turners. Learning about the “adoption” agency was interesting history, although this book isn’t the only place to find it: there’s multiple nonfiction books on it, as well as a 60 Minutes special (this is all referenced in the back of the book).

The parts of the story told from Avery’s POV were less interesting to me. Avery is the lawyer turned detective in the novel, trying to piece together what one May Crandall has to do with her family story and ancestral tree. Avery annoyed me as a character. Proud of her southern heritage and senator father but going through political and familial turmoil, she’s supposed to be interesting to read but watching someone’s personal life unravel has never really interested me. These were also the portions of the book that I found the writing suffered the most, so maybe the author didn’t enjoy writing them as much as Rill’s story. Throw into that a dull, simple romance where you don’t have any emotion invested into either character and the boredom is complete.

Probably one of my top ten favorite scary books, reading this was an absolute joy. The ending is positively bone chilling, and as I’ve mentioned before, my biggest fear going into a horror novel is that the climax will be botched. Not here, folks, not here. This book just gets scarier as you go along and it’s all done very insidiously– the fear and worry just sort of creep under your skin. Stephen King even tweeted that the book scared him, and that’s a high fucking honor in my opinion.