I wish cats were real ( )

This book had been on my shelves for a VERY long time, so I decided to make this the first book I read for National Poetry Month.

I was so impossibly charmed by the first poem, "The Naming of Cats!" Especially the lines:

His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

Listen. Ineffable has been one of my top ten favorite words ever since reading Good Omens back in my college days. But effanineffable!

After that poem, the rest were cute enough. I can see how they were designed to charm children, but the passage of time and dislocation of place has soften the corners of some of the particulars. Especially some of the tired Asian stereotypes.

But the illustrations by Edward Gorey won me back over any time my interest started to dim. ( )

Ao contrário do mundo real, este é um mundo estranho : os gatos de Eliot são muito mais animados e sociáveis com outros gatos. Na verdade, seus caracteres são tão irreais que nos perguntamos se Eliot alguma vez chegou perto de alguns gatos. As personalidades que o primeiro atribui aos segundos são aquelas que costumamos atribuir a reacionários, drogados, sociopatas etc.
E "Aspargo" talvez seja o único deles que faz sentido, mesmo remotamente. A versificaçao é hábil, claro , em se tratando do maior poeta do seculo passado. ( )

I love some songs from the musical and found myself reading these and actually singing them instead of just plain reading them. Just a delightfully light read in general! ( )

A book of practical cats? Cats can be practical? Tell me more.

This is the first book I've read by T. S. Eliot and the poems made me smirk and read in wonder because it's so creative. I also rarely read poetry, so it was an interesting experience. ( )