Ellen Byron

Bookstore cats

Hi, it’s Ellen! Sorry about the late post. I had four events – three events in one weekend – to shill for, I mean celebrate the launch of A Very Woodsy Murder, my first Golden Motel Mystery. Two out of the three were policed by those of a furry persuasion: bookstore cats.

I don’t know why I haven’t paid attention to this phenomenon before. There’s a whole thread for this “genre” of store pet on Instagram. (Click here when you’re looking for a new way to procrastinate.) I mean, I’ve noticed them but then never really registered until this particular week. I think it was because my launch was at Once Upon a Time Bookstore in Montrose, CA, which is the oldest children’s bookstore in the country. The shop’s cat Pippi is so popular they threw her a birthday party and kids wrote stories about what they thought Pippen did at night when everyone left the store and she had the place all to herself. Pippi even has her own book selections page:

As the perpetual parent of dogs, not cats, I can guarantee if any of our four-legged children spent a night alone anywhere, the howling would be heard transcontinentally. But these cats seem fine. In fact, they clearly run the place wherever they are. Pippi’s expression in the closeup of the picture below calls back to the old cliche, it’s Pippi’s world, we just live in it:

I didn’t catch the name of the cat deigning to grace us with his/her presence at The Book Jewel, the bookstore in Westchester, CA that hosted Noir at the Bar Saturday night, where I got to read from my very un-noirish book. This kitty was a little wary of the crowd:

I greatly admire these feline friends of the written word. They add a warmth to their book homes and are clearly beloved by each store’s crew and patrons.

Now, if they just actually bought books…

Readers, is there a bookstore cat in your local bookstore?

25 thoughts on “Bookstore cats”

  1. No cat but they now have a dog, at least for the moment. It’s a Saint Bernard puppy so not sure how she’ll do once she reaches full size….but super cute!

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  3. Love bookstore greeters of the feline persuasion! Don’t think I’d mess with that large boned gray-and-white kitty in your launch photo: YOU WILL buy a copy of A Very Woodsy Murder. No, TWO copies! They always know the assignment.

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  4. I, too, am more a dog than a cat person, but I get that having a dog in a bookstore might not be the best idea. Not mine, in any case: Ziggy would bark at newcomers to the store and chase the resident cats.

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  6. One of the bookstores here in Indy used to have a gorgeous cat named Violet who ran the store. To be honest, though, I’m not a big fan of the practice because lots of folks are allergic to kitties. Still, they add a lot of charm to the scene. 😺

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  8. My local indie – Kew & Willow in Kew Gardens, NY – only has a knit bookshop cat (no, I didn’t knit it), I wish I could meet a live bookshop cat. There was a yarn store in Manhattan I used to frequent many years ago with shop cats. You’d be pawing through yarns piled on tables & come across an especially soft one that would turn out to be a cat!

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      1. She is, indeed. When I first heard the name I thought it was Pages. Then I saw it written out. Since she’s a girl they added the “i”.

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