The Literary Kitty Challenge

 Focus, time to focus back on Books for Walls Project! Summer has been busy with helping Save Troy Public Library, going to the beach, planting our garden, enjoying Lakeside Shakespeare and now a new addition to the family... a kitten.

We need to get back to Reading Books and Writing Stories fun and Weekly Challenges --but the KITTY-- we cannot get our minds off the kitty. And then it hit us! The Literary Kitty Challenge! Cats and books have long been connected, their presence in literature endless, so why not combine them into a challenge. We are still working on a name for The Cat...

We have a bit of a tradition, we name our pets after Shakespearean Characters --in the fine words of William Shakespeare himself from Romeo and Juliet:

"What's in a name?

That which we call a rose

By any other name

Would smell as sweet"

Why is a name so important? Especially for a cat? T. S. Elliot, a famous cat lover, explains in his poem The Naming of Cats:

The Naming of Cats is a difficult matter,
It isn't just one of your holiday games;
You may think at first I'm as mad as a hatter
When I tell you, a cat must have THREE DIFFERENT NAMES.
First of all, there's the name that the family use daily,
Such as Peter, Augustus, Alonzo or James,
Such as Victor or Jonathan, George or Bill Bailey--
All of them sensible everyday names.
There are fancier names if you think they sound sweeter,
Some for the gentlemen, some for the dames:
Such as Plato, Admetus, Electra, Demeter--
But all of them sensible everyday names.
But I tell you, a cat needs a name that's particular,
A name that's peculiar, and more dignified,
Else how can he keep up his tail perpendicular,
Or spread out his whiskers, or cherish his pride?
Of names of this kind, I can give you a quorum,
Such as Munkustrap, Quaxo, or Coricopat,
Such as Bombalurina, or else Jellylorum-
Names that never belong to more than one cat.
But above and beyond there's still one name left over,And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover--
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable

Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

This week your challenge is to think about books and cats and names and then share:

cat inspired literature, 

famous literary cats, 

cat loving authors,

poems about cats, 

stories about cats, and 

while your at it, feel free to suggest a name, or two for The Cat, the newest member of the Books for Walls Project Family! We'll let you know what we decide on!

Now please, comment away!