A Cat Called Birmingham

As a complete and utter cat woman with a devoted love for my current two feline little sisters, this book was well on its way to being a winner before I'd even finished the first chapter. With its fantastic sense of humour and superbly deadpan storytelling style, Chris Pascoe's cat memoir has now been firmly placed on my mental 'to reread when I need cheering up' list.

As the name implies, this is a book about... a cat called Birmingham (or Brum, for short). Subtitled 'A biography of nine lives', it is a breakneck dash through Pascoe's experience of living with his adorably clumsy cat, and all the scrapes Brum has managed to get himself (and his owner) into over the years. I think anyone who has ever had a cat can find something to show more chuckle over here, even if their furry companions haven't been quite so accident-prone!

Although one or two anecdotes have surely been embellished slightly in the telling (as most great anecdotes are) and there is a bit of still-amusing-but-not-particularly-relevant padding nearer the end that doesn't always feature Brum at all, I absolutely loved this book. The anthropomorphic nature of Brum's character reminded me very much of Deric Longden, whose books I've adored for years, and Pascoe's writing style is similarly self-deprecating, wry and charmingly affectionate. I found myself laughing out loud at many of Brum's exploits, whether he was falling off things or engaging in a war with a feisty local sparrow, and the chapter about his uncanny knack for setting himself on fire was almost impossible to read on the shop counter! There's no sad ending either - Brum was still (miraculously) alive and kicking when Pascoe wrote the book, so that was a relief.

Seriously, if you're a cat person, read it. If you don't laugh out loud, or at least smile gleefully, at least once every few pages, there's a strong possibility that you may be dead. Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to order the next book, You Can Take the Cat out of Slough, and then I think I need to find one of my own cats and give them a big fluffy hug, just for being so damn awesome and NEVER catching fire... show less

25 Dec 2007 - from Gill

An amusing book about an accident prone cat called Birmingham - I admit one of my cats has singed itself, once - Birmingham has set himself on fire five times! Very sweet, and the cat was still with us by the end of the book, accidents and mishaps notwithstanding!

Reading Challenge 2017:
1 out of 50 books read
Page count so far: 182

As a cat lover and someone who lives with two cats, I could identify with this book and I connected to Chris and his crazy yet lovable feline companion, Birmingham. It didn't take that long to read, perhaps two days, and overall I found it entertaining and enjoyable. More than once I found myself howling with laughter at Birmingham's hilarious and strange antics. I'll be looking more into Chris Pascoe's books so no doubt I'll buy some more in the future.

Hilarious, easy read. For anyone that loves/likes/doesn't dislike cats.

I want to read it but can't find it.