12 Bookstore Cats

Books and cats go together as well as peanut butter and jelly. You could file them under "things that are nice to curl up with" -at the same time! We featured a list of bookstore cats some time ago, but there are many stores with friendly and attractive cats.

1. Amber

Flights of Fantasy bookstore in Colonie, New York has a Facebook fan page for their cats, Miles and Amber, although I believe only Amber is still at the store. She attacks customers with what they call "love bombing".

2. Cleo and 3. Alice

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The Dusty Bookshelf has two locations in Kansas, in Manhattan and Lawrence. Of course, that means two bookstore cats. Cleo lives at the Manhattan store, where she likes to sunbathe in the window front, and Alice owns the green chair in the Lawrence store. See more photos of Alice here.

4. Kona

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The owners of Bound to be Read Books in Atlanta took in an abandoned and malnourished kitten named Kona in 2005. She loves to climb the bookstore ladder, which once led to a painter spilling latex all over! Kona now "authors" the bookstore's newsletter and has her own Twitter feed.

5. Evinrude and Friends

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The Book Barn in Niantic, Connecticut has several cats on site. Their blog mentions the cats Evinrude, Mrs. Howell, Tiger (pictured to the right of his friend Marie), and Frankie. Evinrude was named after the boat motor -not because of his purr, but because he likes the water! Mrs. Howell passed on in 2010. You can see more of the store's cats, past and present, on their Friends page.

6. Asimov

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Seek Books in West Roxbury, Massachusetts specializes in science fiction (as well as fantasy and horror), so it's no surprise their cat is named Asimov. He lives at the bookstore full time, since he is too noisy to stay with sleeping people. See more pictures of Asimov (shown here examining his robot series) on the store's Facebook page.

7. Linda

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When Skyline Books closed in January, owner Rob Warren worried about what to do with the store's cat Linda. She had been at Skyline for years, after a short career as a hardware store cat. Warren had two other cats at home that might not accept a stranger. Ultimately, he gave the two house cats away and brought Linda home to stay with him in a house full of books. A few months later, he opened Rob Warren Books in a new location.

8. Hayes and 9. Rainer

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Spoonbill & Sugartown books in the Williamsburg area of New York City has a black cat and a three-legged tabby. Their names are Hayes and Rainer, but I'm not sure which one is which.

10. Guthrie

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The Boston Book Annex has a resident cat named Guthrie. He may have a feline companion, which shall remain nameless because I don't have a name. Update: Commenters Terri and Jin tell us that Guthrie's co-worker is named Wakefield. Image by Flickr user Dana H. Gee.

11. Ripley

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The very popular Ripley lived at Borderlands Books in San Francisco. She was a nearly-hairless Sphinx cat born in 2002. Ripley had a calm and gentle disposition, even with children, but when she had enough, she would climb to the top of a bookshelf to watch customers in peace. Sadly, Ripley contracted cancer in 2010 and was euthanized in May. The bookstore set up a memorial blog in her honor. Image by Flickr user Jeremy Fitzhardinge.

12. Sessa

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Sessa is the resident cat at Philadelphia Rare Books and Manuscripts Company. She receives email from fans and collects pictures of cats that are sent to her.

See also: 8 Library Cats and 8 Bookstore Cats.

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