Talk to the Tail: Adventures in Cat Ownership and Beyond - Tapa dura

If you think this very funny book is just about cats, you will be joyfully mistaken. Talk to the Tail also magnificently covers everything from depressed tigers to judgmental horses to mischievous alter ego spaniels to Jon Bon Jovi. I, myself, am allergic to cats, but with Tom's realistic and descriptive powers, I'm definitely not allergic to this book. --Rich Fulcher

If you've ever been owned by a cat, you'll love this. Books about animals can be mawkish, but this one is often hilarious, occasionally sad, and full of the strangeness of sharing your life with a loved pet. --Woman's Weekly

Warm, wryly witty, hilariously observed and more often than not, genuinely laugh-out-loud funny --Easy Living

Even a confirmed and partisan dog person such as myself cannot fail to be charmed by Tom Cox's gently seductive prose and his quirky tales of singular feline behaviour. A delight.
--Stuart Maconie

A book with a sting in the tail that may give pause to even the most cynical petaphobe --Mail On Sunday

If you re one of those people with a soft spot for cats who burst into fits of uncontrollable sneezing at the very sight of one of them, this cheerful, tell it how it is collection of animal related anecdotes from the popular young writer Tom Cox might well prove a happy compromise. As you d expect, there s far more to it than a mere recounting of the antics of his six friends: where there are pets there are people and his cast of human characters is no less diverting.... Particularly memorable are the portrait he paints of country walks with his excitable father (very funny); of the animals he has been tempted to steal (an impossibly wise looking sheep from a Norfolk zoo); and of the aunt who used a stuffed alligator as a draught excluder. --Daily Mail

Honestly, the title sums it up nicely. Basically, it s a whimsical book about cats that even dog aficionados will love --Metro

Following on from Tom's life with six cats in UNDER THE PAW, he now picks up the story in TALK TO THE TAIL, updating readers on what has happened with his feline friends as well as looking back for more confessions about his animal-loving past. Readers of Tom's previous book will be delighted to read what has happened to his six eccentric cats. Why does Janet keep bringing 1980s sweet wrappers into the house? Will 24-hour surveillance of The Bear, using a state-of-the-art cat GPS system, finally solve the mystery of his wanderlust? Tom also writes about his bumbling forays into the remainder of the animal kingdom. He attempts to overcome his crippling fear of horses with disastrous results, chase ostriches in Kenya, put his hand into a tiger's mouth for 0.9 seconds and he meets his 'alter-doggo' -- the spaniel Tom regularly walks who likes to roll around in dead animals. Where will it all end? Will he give in to temptation and get a dog, a goat or even more cats? With this soppy creature-obsessive, anything is possible.