A Tale of Two Kitties by Nick Harding

They say in life you’re either a cat person or a dog person…

Nick Harding was neither (although, if he had to pick a side, he would have chosen the canines, on account of his cat allergies). Then he fell in love with a mad cat lady who forced exuberant kitten Alvin on him, and the adventure began. 

A Tale of Two Kitties is the story of Nick’s unlikely trajectory from cat hater to reluctant cat owner and finally to cat lover, via a global investigation of the weirdly fascinating domestic cat world. Nick embarks on a journey of discovery on which he investigates how cats came to rule over us.

The story surfs the kitty zeitgeist and takes the reader on a global odyssey through cat history and the modern-day cult of the kitty. From hipsters using cats to take over the internet, to the richest cat in the world, Nick’s personal cat journey explains how felines have risen to replace dogs as man’s best friend. It’s full of fascinating insights about cat behaviour, cat history and cat evolution. 

Nick lives and breathes cats, all in an effort to understand the true essence of his own badly behaved moggies. It’s a memoir, an escapade, an anthology and a social, natural and cultural history that takes the reader on a romp through our cat planet.

As a cat lover, I jumped at the chance to review this book. Though I don’t make a habit of reading books about cats I have previously enjoyed non-fiction books about moggies and we all know how much I love my own fur babies for it seemed a perfect fit. Let me start by saying this book is definitely for a serious cat person. Not only does it cover Nick’s journey into becoming a cat lover and anecdotes about his own cats, it cover a lot of history of cats as pets, pedigree breed and a look at why cats have become so popular. I found it throughly interesting and I definitely learnt a lot about cats but I am a serious cat lover which is probably why I enjoyed it.

I’ll be honest I did find the book a little slow going to begin with but I really enjoyed the tales of Alvin and Barry, which were told with humour. I’ll all seriousness though, unless you’re series about feline’s this book won’t be for you, I personally think it’s too in depth for a casual cat person. It could have probably benefitted from being a little more light hearted but I appreciate that the author was trying to add a bit of history and factual information to the book too, probably because the author is also a journalist.  

Rating: ★★★☆☆