Books for Pet Lovers

by Donna Huber

Have you finished your holiday shopping? If not, and you have pet lovers on your list, these books would be perfect for them.

Amazon affiliate links are used on this site. Free books were provided for an honest review.

Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism by Stewart Reynolds

June 2025; Grand Central Publishing; 978-1538778005
audio, ebook, print (64 pages); parody

I think I prefer this book's tag line, "The Subtle Art of Resistance", a little more than the title. I feel like the author (or publisher) was trying to capitalize on a hot keyword and may be more polarizing than it needs to be.

The advice given would apply to resisting many forms of oppression, inequality, and injustice.

This is a short book with 11 behaviors of cats that we could use whenever resisting oppression in all its forms. I think sometimes the explanation of the cat behavior was a bit of a stretch, but it makes good points.

It is meant to be the kind of book you would gift to someone. Since I read a lot of WWII fiction and love cats, this is a cute thing to display in my cat room.

Buy Lessons from Cats for Surviving Fascism at Amazon

Pets and the City by Amy Attas

June 2024; G.P. Putnam's Sons; 978-0593715673
audio, ebook, print (320 pages); memoir

This is a great memoir of a New York City veterinarian. Not only will pet lovers enjoy this book, but people who love celebrity stories or everything about New York City.

Amy Attas was the veterinarian for a wide range of the rich and famous (and some regular people). After Joan Rivers inadvertently got Attas fired, she started a house call business.  And in this memoir, she shares stories of the pets she saw, the people she met, and some of the sights of New York.

The pet stories were really great. I just couldn't get enough of them and read through this book quickly. While most are heartwarming, there are a few heartbreaking stories as well. I was a little teary-eyed in the first 5% of the book. Attas opens with a story about a woman who is a hoarder but loves her cat. I worried that we wouldn't find out what happened with her, but the story is revisited towards the end. 

It is cool that she met so many famous people (in addition to Joan, she was the vet for Billy Joel's dogs and saw a dog rescued by Cher. I really preferred the stories about regular people. Like the maintenance man who took care of a working cat (the cat hunted rodents in the apartment building's basement), and how the whole building chipped in for the vet care, even when the cat needed expensive care. I live in a rural area, so I'm familiar with working cats being barn cats, but I never would have thought of one in an apartment building. 

I feel like there were a few more dog stories than cats, so if the person you are buying for is more of a dog lover, this would be a great book for them.

If I had read this before I did my book-buying guide, it definitely would have made the list.

Buy Pets and the City at Amazon

Poets Square by Courtney Gustafson

April 2025; Crown; 978-0593727614
audio, ebook, print (256 pages); memoir

I saw this book on one of the Goodreads challenges, and since my digital library had it available, I knew I had to read it. I'm so glad I did.

I volunteer with a group that takes care of community cats, and I'm in a Facebook group where many of the members are feeders and trappers. So some of what Gustafson experienced was familiar to me. 

As this is a memoir, there are also personal stories of Gustafson's life. She detailed personal struggles and how caring for the cats but things into perspective or revealed patterns in her life.

People who work in rescue, particularly with feral or community cats, will relate to Gustafson. I hope that they would find encouragement and not feel like they are alone in the struggle of caring for a problem that is way bigger than one person.

I worked a fundraiser event this weekend for the cat group I volunteer with, and there were people who did not know how much of a problem feral or community cats were in our area. I didn't really know anything about it either before I adopted my brother pair from them. If you haven't heard the term feral or community cat before, these cats are unsocial, having lived on their own in the wild for their whole life. They are different than stray cats, who are typically lost or abandoned cats. However, these stray cats, if not spayed, will give birth to feral kittens if left on their own. 

While Gustafson does not shy away from the hard truths that have led to so many unsocialized cats living on their own, she is not judgmental or accusatory. She has a section about cats who are being cared for by people who can barely afford to take care of themselves - they are living in cars or in condemned houses or squatting in apartments where they had been previously evicted. It is a heartbreaking reality, and Gustafson has great empathy for these people.

Buy Poets Square at Amazon

Donna Huber is an avid reader and natural encourager. She is the founder of Girl Who Reads and the author of how-to marketing book Secrets to a Successful Blog Tour. 

Enjoyed this post? Never miss out on future posts by following us. Get even more book news in your inbox, sign up for our newsletter today! Or Follow Girl Who Reads with Bloglovin. Girl Who Reads is an Amazon advertising affiliate; a small commission is earned when purchases are made at Amazon using any Amazon links on this site. Thank you for supporting Girl Who Reads.