Homer's Odyssey

Zusatztext 87516231 Informationen zum Autor Gwen Cooper is the author of the novel Diary of a South Beach Party Girl . A Miami native, she spent five years working in nonprofit administration, marketing, and fundraising. She coordinated volunteer activities on behalf of organizations including Pet Rescue, the Miami Lighthouse for the Blind, the Miami Rescue Mission, and His House Children's Home, and initiated Reading Pen Pals, an elementary school-based literacy program in Miami's Little Haiti. Gwen currently lives in Manhattan with her husband, Laurence. She also lives with her three perfect catsScarlett, Vashti, and Homer--who aren't impressed with any of it. Klappentext ONCE IN NINE LIVES, SOMETHING EXTRAORDINARY HAPPENS. The last thing Gwen Cooper wanted was another cat. She already had two, not to mention a phenomenally underpaying job and a recently broken heart. Then Gwen's veterinarian called with a story about a three-week-old eyeless kitten who'd been abandoned. It was love at first sight. Everyone warned that Homer would always be an "underachiever." But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease, survived being trapped alone for days after 9/11 in an apartment near the World Trade Center, and even saved Gwen's life when he chased off an intruder who broke into their home in the middle of the night. But it was Homer's unswerving loyalty, his infinite capacity for love, and his joy in the face of all obstacles that transformed Gwen's life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized that Homer had taught her the most valuable lesson of all: Love isn't something you see with your eyes. BONUS: This edition contains a new afterword and an excerpt from Gwen Cooper's Love Saves the Day.Chapter One * Socket to Me Yesterday made the twentieth day that I have been tossing about upon the sea. The winds and waves have taken me all the way from the Ogyian island, and now fate has flung me upon this coast. Homer, The Odyssey Years ago, back when i still had only two cats, i was fond of saying that if I ever adopted a third I would name him Meow Tse-tung and call him "The Chairman" for short. "Don't look at me like that, it'll be cute," I would insist when my friends regarded me as if I were a loon. "Little Chairman Meow." The joke was twofold: the name itself, and also the idea that I would adopt a third cat. I might never have taken the monumental step (so it had seemed to me at twenty-four) of adopting two except that I'd been living for three years with Jorge, the man I was sure I'd marry. We'd split up recently, and I had gained custody of our feline offspringa sweet-tempered, fluffy white beauty named Vashti and a regal, moody gray tabby named Scarlett. I was grateful for my two girls every day, but also painfully aware of the potential complications they would create in my newly single life, complications I had never contemplated back in the days when I'd thought Jorge and I would be together forever. I was staying in a friend's spare bedroom while I tried to save up for an affordable place to live, for example, but I would never be able to move into a more reasonably priced pet-free building. There was no point in even considering a relationship with a man who had cat allergies. I worked in nonprofit, running _volunteer programs for the United Way of Miami-Dade, and I never had more than fifty dollars in the bank at the end of the month. Nevertheless, routine vaccinations, injuries, and illnesses would have to be paid for by me alone, no matter what their impact on my finances. "Not to mention the social implications," my best friend, Andrea, would say. "I mean, there are only so many cat...

“A wonderful book for animal lovers."—Temple Grandin, author of Animals in Translation
 
“Entertaining, heart-warming, and sometimes heart-wrenching….Throughout, Homer entertains with his insatiable curiosity and joie de vivre...I couldn’t put the book down and I read half the passages aloud to my husband. I guarantee you’ll find the book as engaging as I did.”—Catster
 
“Moving and inspiring . . . a three-hankie tale of life and the love that can exist between owner and pet.”—*Florida Times-Union

• “This memoir about adopting a special-needs kitten teaches that sometimes in life, you have to take a blind leap.”—*People
• “Cooper is a genial writer with both a sense of humor and a gift for conveying the inner essence of an animal. . . . The indefatigable feline should be an inspiration to us all.”—*The Christian Science Monitor
• “A must-read for anyone who has ever loved an animal.”—Free Lance-Star (VA)

“A marvelous book! Moving, insightful and often hilarious, Homer’s Odyssey is about a blind cat with a spirit of epic proportions. Read and rejoice!”—Sy Montgomery, author of The Good Good Pig
 
 “Delightful…this lovely human-feline memoir, following in the footsteps of Vicki Myron's best-selling Dewey: The Small-Town Library Cat Who Touched the World, is sure to warm the hearts of all pet lovers.”—Library Journal (starred review)
 
“Heartwarming and entertaining.”—PEOPLE Pets
 
“A wonderful story celebrating the profound bond that can form between feline and human, Homer’s Odyssey is an inspiring read, and a perfect holiday gift for any cat lovers on your list.”—Feline Wellness
 
“It took only a glance at the foreword, and before I knew it I was devouring the whole thing like a warm brownie sundae….It was Homer who most often proved to be the hero, once even saving Cooper’s life when an intruder broke into her apartment. (This story alone is worth the price of the book.)”—Christian Science Monitor
 
 “A guaranteed hit with any cat lover…but the account of Cooper’s struggles with her career and love life will also appeal to readers of similar memoirs about twentysomething women (Julie and Julia, for example), as well as to the growing audience for stories of challenging pets of all kinds (Marley and Me).”—Booklist
 
“Tender and affecting.”—*Publishers Weekly

• “Touching . . . one not to miss.”—USA Today
   
  "Homer's Odyssey will make you jump for joy!"—Rita Mae Brown, New York Times bestselling author of Cat of the Century
   
  "I am certain it would be impossible to meet Homer without falling in love with him and it is just as difficult to read this loving account without coming away with a renewed faith in the unique bond that can sometimes arise between two alien species.  Gwen Cooper writes with humor, with wit, with candor and most of all with irresistible warmth for this astonishing little feline who will steal your heart."—Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson, New York Times bestselling author of The Nine Emotional Lives of Cats and When Elephants Weep
   
  “An inspiring story of two souls, one human and one feline, who face significant obstacles on their quest for love. A charming and sometimes humorous tale of what everyday courage and perseverance can look like. And to anyone who knows cats, it comes as no surprise that it is often the feline who leads the way.”—Susan Richards, author of Chosen By a Horse and Chosen Forever
   
  "Homer’s Odyssey will capture your heart and enrich your soul.  Homer’s courageous spirit and triumphant optimism are an inspiration to all who share his story."—Dr. Louise Murray, Director of Me…