Our Favorite Bookish Pets Read, Recommend, and Repeat

Recommended by Zeus and Apollo, feline booksellers at the Iliad Bookshop in North Hollywood, CA

If you ever see cats staring at something you can’t see, you know they’re watching ghosts, don’t you? Although Zeus and Apollo are disappointed that this otherwise fine history of their paranormal friends doesn’t specifically talk about this feline superpower, they still love cuddling and falling asleep after a good ghost story.

“I’m sure most of you have a hard time seeing the correlation between the Meiji era in the early twentieth century and today. (I saw it right away, of course, but everyone knows we cats are the superior and more intelligent species.) However, I know you’ll relate to these cat’s-eye visions of the enduring value of family and work. And you look like you need a laugh. Trust me, I spend all day watching you.” —Spike

Recommended by Trini, feline bookseller at Wild Rumpus in Minneapolis, MN

It is said that seeing yourself represented in literature is incredibly important, and Trini is here to validate that claim with his favorite picture book!

Recommended by Gunner, canine sales rep at Simon & Schuster

During these dog days of summer, Gunner likes to revisit the classics. When he stumbled across this reimagined story from one of his favorite Brontë novels, he simply couldn’t resist diving into this tome. The fun in seeing another’s point of view in an already familiar tale—both broad in scope and ambitious in subject—keeps the pages turning well into the night. Though, he confesses to having dog-eared a page or two.

Sounder never understood the human love of World War II fiction until his owner brought home a copy of SIRIUS. Now he won’t stop barking about what he calls a “delicious” novel about an extraordinary dog who helped his Jewish family escape Germany, became a Hollywood star, and even contributed to Hitler’s downfall!

VALIANT AMBITION recently won the George Washington Book Prize, conferred by Washington College in Keke’s quaint, colonial hometown. Washington College students who miss their pets often come to the store to play with her, so Keke knows that this book is a winner.

Is it a dog? A cat? A monkey? Neil is very accustomed to being misidentified, but that doesn't stop this chicken from choosing I AM A FROG! as her staff pick.

Like many booksellers, when asked to name a favorite book (besides LASSIE), Desi couldn’t choose just one. His favorite activity is being read to and he recommends all these dog-and-cat-themed picture books and love to the children he works with.

If you’ve ever wondered what pets do while their owners are at work in their publishing offices, the answer is obvious: they form their own book clubs. Huck and Pepper devoured IN A DARK, DARK WOOD and were excited to sink their teeth into Ruth Ware’s new book. They say it’s about fascinating human concepts, like boarding schools, cliques, lies, and possible murder, with a nice dog cameo to start the story off right.

After getting over his initial disappointment that this book was not about birds—or cats, for that matter—Magic became engrossed in this story about two adult sisters living through World War II in occupied France. While he still insists the story needed more cats, he called the book “more suspenseful than the last time my food bowl was empty,” and highly recommends it.