Wednesday 18 December 2013

judging a book by its cover

So Ol' Peepers decided she's gonna grow herself some strawberries next year.  Yeah, I know...  if she's gonna be growin' stuff, she should be growin' the nip but apparently, she has her heart set on strawberries and as long as nip growin' is still on the table, I'm gonna allow her to have her silly berry plants. My guess is that if the plants grow, they might just attract some new characters for my favourite channel, Bird TV.  Bird TV could do with some new characters. Been gettin' a little borin' with nothin' but The Crow Show, as of late.

The peep had already germinated the strawberry seeds in little plastic baggies and yesterday, she was planting 'em up in pots of soil.  I figured she would likely need my supervisory talents so I settled down beside her to watch.

First thing I noticed was that all the little plastic baggies had names.  There were nine baggies in all and each one had a different name written on it.  Most of the names were kind of silly soundin' but there were a couple I found intriguing.  Toscana and Milan were nice names, I thought and I told the peep so.  She agreed with me.  She said she thought she might like to start some more of those two, another year.  "You've grown them before, then?" I asked.  Her answer was no.

Why on earth would the peep think she would grow more of these Toscana and Milan strawberries just because she liked their names?  That didn't make much sense at all.  She has no idea if they'll grow well, if they'll produce lots of berries or even if those berries will taste good.  She has no idea at all.  Judging 'em by their names is a little like judgin' a book by its cover and everyone says you're not supposed to do that.   MOUSES!

I'm not overly happy when peeps out there judge me by my cover.  Granted, my cover is an irresistibly cute sterling silver - some say platinum - tabby cat, marked with a little smudge - some say beauty mark - on the chin.  But I'm way more than just a pretty face.  I'm an award-winning blogger, a hard-hittin' investigative news reporter and a scientist.  My gosh, I'm half of the world's foremost research team in egg beater-whisk time travelling-teleportation physics.  I'm even a member of the FBI.

Just 'cause I'm a cat doesn't mean I'm all about nappin' and nip.  Granted, I do enjoy nappin' and you all know how I feel about the nip but really, I'm so much more than that.  So very much more.  No, judgin' books by their covers is not the right thing to do at all.

Then I thought about it a bit more and realised that I, Nerissa the Cat, judge books by their covers all the time.  In fact, I've been doin' it all my life.  For as long as I can remember, I've had access to books and durin' all that time, I've been judgin' those books by yes, their covers.  MOUSES!

The peep is into what she calls cozy mysteries so we have a lot of those on the bookshelves in my office.  I've often noticed that many of the covers of those books include the picture of a cat.  Makes sense, really.  Add a cat to a book cover and you've got yourself a best-seller.  I mean...  who can resist a cat on the cover of a book?  Whatever else is on the cover will undoubtedly be improved with a cat and clearly, lots of writing peeps out there agree with this 'cause they keep on addin' pictures of cats to the covers of their books.  A very wise decision, indeed.

Ol' Peepers tries to keep her book covers lookin' good but sometimes a book or two ends up lookin' a little worse for wear.  Remember when I did that book review of my pal Dean James' book, Murder Past Due?  Well, that was the first book that I personally had ever read and to be honest, I found turnin' the pages a little difficult with my paws.  I did manage, however.  Well...  well let's just say that this might be one of those books whose cover looks a little worse for wear.  I tried to be ever-so-careful but it turns out that turnin' pages with paws is tricky business.  Stuff can get a bit damaged, here and there.  There might might be a few tooth marks on the cover of that book along with a scratch or two.  Those pages kept escapin' out from under my paws!  Wasn't my fault.

Anywho...  when you see a book with a worn-out cover like the peep's copy of Murder Past Due, that's a true sign of a book, thoroughly enjoyed.  Probably read from cover to cover more than once.  Might even have been enjoyed by multiple peeps or cats or both.  Clearly, one can judge that book as bein' pretty good by the state of its cover.

Sometimes however, book covers have other marks on them. None of the books in my house look like this but I've heard of books havin' circular stains on their covers.  Be very wary of books with circular stains on their covers.  This is a sure sign of a book that was not enjoyed by peeps at all.  The peep readin' that book must have set it down on a coffee table and left it there for so long that it was forgotten about, eventually becomin' one with the coffee table and it ended up bein' mistaken as a coaster or somethin'.  Any book forgotten for so long that it becomes a coaster is likely to be a very borin' book, indeed.  See what you can tell from the cover?

I should just clarify that coaster morphing books left on coffee tables are not coffee table books. Totally different breed of book.  Coffee table books very rarely morph into coasters.

Now if you happen to live with a brother who very occasionally has been known to spray...  you might find a book or two with a little stain on it, especially if said books were left within easy access to said brother.  This too, could be a reason to judge those books by their covers.  My brother Seville has been known to spray on somethin' every now and then, markin' whatever it is as his own.  If a book was sprayed upon, well...  well he wanted that book for himself.  If a set of encyclopedias were sprayed upon, well...  clearly my brother wanted to increase his knowledge of the world.  The peep did manage to clean the books up.  Had they had paper covers, it would have been more difficult but the whole situation just reeks of somethin' needin' to be judged.

And speakin' of covers...  currently, the world outside my office window is covered with a blanket of snow.  It was snowin' when I awoke this mornin' and it's still snowin' now. Looks really pretty out there.  Everything is all clean and sparkling white.  Looks really nice for now but just wait until the dog walkin' contingent appears on the horizon.  Soon after that, some of that cover of sparklin' white snow will be suspiciously stained yellow.  FYI...  NEVER EAT YELLOW SNOW.  Just sayin'...


45 comments:

  1. I thought yellow snow was lemon? Anyway, strawberries, already? it must get warm early there. We always had strawberries in the yard. My great grandma planted them once and they came back year after year for more than 30 years. Delicious, assuming the Chicago rats didn't get them. good luck! We look forward to strawberry reviews! -Crepes.

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    1. Peepers has to grow 'em in the sunroom all winter and then put 'em outside in the spring. Hope they don't take up too many of the sun puddles. *sighs*

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  2. Snow!I wish I had snow Nissy all we have is rainand hig winds yucky!Hmm I might have to come and teat the strawberries next year,xx Speedy

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  3. Lumpy snow is a no-no too.
    The REAL Maple Syrup Mob xxxxx

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  4. We'd heard a rumour about yellow snow being tainted with (whispers) doggy wee wees.
    How disgusting and you never know if they will get addicted to doing it (whispers) in the street!
    Luv Hannah and Lucy xx xx

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  5. Our brofur, Mauricio, has claimed most of the books on the lower shelf of our bookcase for himself. Some on the next shelf up have been convenient as a place to sharpen one's claws. As far as those go, we aren't naming names. Our humans are voracious readers, but Mom says she hasn't had much time for reading anything but blogs. She is currently reading a book that our dad gave her as any early Christmas gift. It's called, "Let it Rot?" We sure hope it doesn't have anything to do with cats. MOL, HO, HO, HO! Have a Meowy Catmess. Purrs and hugs, Lily Olivia, Mauricio, Misty May, Giulietta, Fiona, Astrid, Lisbeth and Calista Jo

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  6. My mom has over a 1000 hardcovers and she has read them all and some, scores..yes scores of times. Like Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury. She read it first when she was 16 and has loved re-reading for all the nuance and subtitles and reminders of her self despite the main character is a little boy.

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  7. If we ever see yellow snow, we will remember your wise words. But first we need to have snow. And that isn't probably going to happen anytime soon.

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  8. Sadie wants to know if you tried any of the seedlings. She says seedlings are delicious.

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  9. Nissy you always have fascinating thoughts and good advise. Stay away from yellow snow! Got it! :)

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  10. Oh the thought of summery strawberries growing is magic! Ditto is a dog-eared book.

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  11. We had the sparkling snowy white last night so know all about that off color snow.
    Purrs Nissy

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  12. Paws crossed that Seville does not spray on the anthology when it is finished!

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    1. The anthology will be a higher-up shelf book, for sure. purrs

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  13. Oh my goodness, that's so true. Everything looks so pretty when it first snows and then, like you said, out comes the dog walkin' contingent to mar the pristine white. My peep likes cozy mysteries too and if there's a cat on the cover, she's an instant sucker for it (she's been suckered into some not so great ones in the past because of that).

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  14. dood...ewe iz sew rite bout catz on book coverz N best selllerz...look at de cat in de hat seereez...now we iz knot veree good at math but we iz prettee sure cat in de hat haz selled 942,093,566, 125 copeez.......awesum huh....N ya sure yur mom iz knot tryin ta grow wine ! :)

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  15. My mom used to have two huge bookcases filled with her precious books. Books she's had since she was a kid! She had them arranged so nicely on those shelves, every one of the spines perfect, no cracks cuz she loves books so much. And then....
    AND THEN...
    She adopted Barney at the last minute before we left Kentucky. He was a barn cat! Not that I thought anything less of him cuz he was born in a barn...but he had no respect for my...I mean, our stuff. And one day mom saw something funny on her books. Yep. He sprayed on them. Got mostly the bottom shelf, but it broke my mom's heart. And that's why I always hated him from that day on.

    Barney's now gone, and so are many of the ruined books. I'm told you just can't enjoy a book once it's been peed on. Who knew?

    Now Mom has new book cases and yes, there are books in them, but only on the first few shelves. Even though we are all very trustworthy, she sez once bitten, she can never truly trust again.

    Ain't that a shame?

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  16. Sivvers just can't help himself...and the yellow snow thingy...true, very, very true

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  17. I wish my hoomin would get snow. She really likes it. :)

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  18. Haha! Great post!!! Very wise of you to advise against eating yellow snow! Lol very wise!! There seems to be a whole lot of that mysterious white snow in my backyard...hmmm..........
    (Hugs)) from your husky pals at "love is being owned by a husky"

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  19. the one genre that my Mom just has no patience for IS mysteries...she always says she doesn't care "who done it" MOL! Thanks for the advice about the snow!

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  20. Dang, yellow snow?!?! I didn't know we had a choice of colors!

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  21. M loves mysteries. You are right - you shouldn't judge a book totally by it's cover. You are very wise kitty.

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  22. Coaster morping books. Coffee table books. This is all very confusing. We are going to have to take notes.

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  23. I don't know from snow, yellow or white. The Human finally gotted rid of almost all her books (except for one little bookcase of things) she couldn't part with because now she uses her library card. She decided the library could store efurrything for her. Me, I don't read much.

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  24. Wes has a whole room of books in the basement, and there is stacks of them littering the office! Wes don't has quite so many snince Mommy gots a nook. And wes has a strawberry patch!! They is Kozmo's favorite place to sleeps when its hot and he say they is FANTASTIC for catching mousies!!! And SNOW! ME HATES IT!!!
    Kisses
    Nellie

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  25. Waffles here.
    Um, so what's wrong with yellow snow?
    You mean it's not sunny snow???

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    1. Uhhh... nope. Not sunny. Not sunny at all. You REALLY wanna stay away from the yellow snow. Seriously. purrs

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  26. Wow I am going to have to do some looking and see what books we have here!

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  27. Thought-provoking post as always Nissy.......We have books all over our house too but one thing we don't have (thankfully) is yellow snow! My Mom has always wanted to have a strawberry patch because she loves strawberries but every time she's tried, the bunnies have eaten everything right to the ground! Mouses!

    Holiday Hugs, Sammy

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  28. Eeek better tell those kids that live here not to eat that yellow snow. They see snow and grab a fingerful and lick it up. The Boy even licks from the bottom of his boot, even I wouldn't do that. Actually, maybe I will let him eat the yellow snow since he doesn't share his snacks with me hehe ;-)

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  29. I agree, cat's on book covers are totally pawesome, but then I am on a book cover myself!!! :D MOL

    Great post Nissy, mew will have to let us know how the strawberries grow, my P.A. is furry interested in the outcome :)

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  30. I happen to like strawberries, so I might have to visit your human come springtime. I hope I remember!

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  31. So to précis. Strawberries planted in yellow snow is a no no and sprayed books upset the peeps! Hmmmmmmm!! Thank for that Nissy :)

    Austin xxxx

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  32. If we get any snow, I will be sure to avoid it.

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  33. Our momsy doesn't understand how anybody could use a book as a coaster! That's just wrong.

    Carmine used to like to chomp book covers as a kitten. He seemed to do it to the most boring books (social work policy books) so maybe he knew what NOT to read, LOL!

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  34. Are strawberries nommy for the kitties, nerissa?

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  35. Coaster books that aren't really books probably deserve to get sprayed. Just a little.

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  36. Sounds jummy with strawberries !^Here we have a looong winter ahead of us before we can put any strawberry plants out in da earth :(
    XOXO

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  37. Look at those goggles. What do you use them for?

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    1. The goggles? Those are the goggles I had to wear for my laser treatments. You know... when I had my knee bionicized. Peep had to wear 'em, too. So did the nurse doin' my treatments. purrs

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