30th June, 2021
Bookish Stuff: Books and Pets
Books and pets have always gone well together. Our local indie has a bookshop dog. Many writers had canine or feline companions, there are rather famous library cats, and many books have been written about this special relationship between readers/writers and their pets.
I used to have a reading buddy called Chester who lived with me (and eventually with us as a couple and eventually a family) for thirteen years before he passed away. We spent several years without a pet, but last Saturday we finally got a puppy again. Her name is Ivy, she's a ten-week-old Havanese (the same breed as my first dog), and she's the fluffiest reading buddy you can imagine. :-) Needless to say she already introduced herself at the bookshop earlier this week.
But it doesn't really matter whether you have a dog, cat, guinea pig, budgie or iguana for a reading companion. Everyone obviously has their own preferences when it comes to animals and a lot of people don't want a pet at all. And that's perfectly fine. However, I've found that having a dog or cat nearby relaxes me and that also goes for the times I'm reading. While books are comforting or soothing in themselves, the sound of a sleeping animal peacefully breathing next to you is like the patter of light rain on the roof while you lying in bed on a Sunday morning. I didn't know how much I had actually missed it until Ivy moved in.
Do you have any animal companions who keep you company while you're travelling through fictional worlds in your head? I'd love to hear about them so please feel free to share in the comments.