The nameless feline narrator is the best thing in Sōseki’s first novel by a mile. Witty and sarcastic, he is a scathing observer of the humans with whom he shares the world. His thoughts on trousers as a measure of human achievement provide an excellent example of his opinions:
Had mankind been created with an inborn readiness to be content with inequality, I cannot see why, born naked, they should not have been content to live and die unclothed. However, one of these primeval nudists seems to have communed with himself along the following lines. “Since I and all my fellowman are indistinguishably alike, what is the point of effort? However hard I strive I cannot of myself climb beyond the common rut. So, since I yearn to be conspicuous, I think I’ll drape myself in something that will draw the eyes and blow the minds of all these clones around me.” I would guess he thought and thought for at least ten years before he came up with a stupendous idea, that glory of man’s inventiveness, pants…
I’ve heard that it took Descartes, no intellectual slouch, a full ten years to arrive at his famous conclusion, obvious surely to any three year old, that I think and therefore I am. Since original thought is thus demonstrably difficult, perhaps one should concede that it was an intellectual feat, even if it took ten years, for the wits of proto-rickshawmen to formulate the notion of knickers. (p245)
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0 comments 2008-04-15 19:53 Categories: Books, Cats, Reviews
- Literary event of the year: Kittenwar: The Book. The launch party was brilliant fun, thanks to everyone who turned up.
- Best book about cats not written by me and Fraser: Cat Getting Out of a Bag by Jeffrey Brown. This is a smashing little book, endearing and beautifully observed. Chronicle are clearly the quality cat-book publisher.
- Best book not about cats and not written by me and Fraser: Oystercatchers, by my mate Sue, read it now.
- Album of the year: We Can Create by Maps. Lovely.
- Most overrated album of the year: Neon Bible by Arcade Fire. Am I the only person in the world who thinks this is a load of whiny rubbish? And I liked Funeral, too. Deeply disappointing.
- Best animated feature, and about time too: Futurama - Bender’s Big Score.
- Best computer I have owned to date: 15″ Apple MacBook Pro. Not quite perfect, and Leopard is a bit crashy still, but much nicer than using Windows on some shonky PC.
- Depressing non-event of the year: our house sale. The current state of this almost eight-month long transaction is so fragile that I’m wary of discussing it in public for fear of the remote possibility that our buyers might read what I think of them and take offence, so I’m going to leave it until the sale has fallen through entirely or (unlikely, this) completed before relating the full saga. It’s a cracking story though; the whole experience has led me to believe that English property law needs serious reform, perhaps involving the statutory deployment of stocks and public floggings as deterrent measures for recalcitrant parties.
- Scary number of the year: 30.
That’s about it, see you next year.
5 comments 2007-12-31 14:05 Categories: Animation, Books, Cats, Comics, Computers, Consumerism, Geek Stuff, Kittenwar &c., Music, Personal, Rage
I’ve been rereading H. P. Lovecraft’s stories recently, because they’re entertainingly detached from reality, and also because I discovered that he is now freely available in .txt format so I can read him on my phone, in the dark, for added spookiness. Whilst digging for background I found his essay on Cats and Dogs, which is new to me, and made me giggle. He comes down firmly on the side of the peerless and softly gliding cat, which performs its mysterious orbit with the relentless and obtrusive certainty of a planet in infinity,
as you would expect from someone who created a Gothic fantasy centered on avenging the killing of a kitten, and who wrote his own mog into one of his best stories. (more…)
0 comments 2007-11-30 22:13 Categories: Books, Cats, Geek Stuff
Finally: the recognition I deserve! I got a gold star from the head of my old sixth-form college (My mum gave a copy of the Kittenwar book to Mr. Rostron, who was deputy head when I was there, and is, as I recall, a very nice chap). I’m reasonably sure I never got one of those when I was actually a student there, although that might just be a result of my mardy teenage self having refused to acknowledge such things at the time. I was a bit like that as a sixth-former.
2 comments 2007-11-17 20:41 Categories: Cats, Kittenwar &c.
Dan of Dan’s Data, one of my favourite geeky technology-related websites and an excellent read if you’re into that sort of thing, has reviewed the Kittenwar book. He says all sorts of nice things about it and even goes so far as to recommend it. This makes me very happy indeed. Hooray!
3 comments 2007-08-05 19:32 Categories: Cats, Kittenwar &c.
I just took delivery of the final, finished copy of the Kittenwar book, written by a couple of shady characters known as Fraser Lewry and Tom Ryan. Coming to a book retailer near you in September.
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0 comments 2007-06-14 20:35 Categories: Cats, Kittenwar &c.
