Book excerpt: Mysterious, amusing, and always surprising, the domestic cat has padded its way into the hearts of animal lovers and, as this collection reveals, some of the world's greatest writers. Award-winning nature writer Roger Caras provides us with this big, new collection of tales all on the virtues of cats. Representing a wide range of styles, the authors in this anthology provide an irresistible array of stories. Cleveland Amory compares the human and feline aging processes in "A Cat for All Seasons". Ernest Hemingway paints an unforgettable scene about the allure of a wet stray in "Cat in the Rain". And P. G. Wodehouse doles out a generous portion of English wit in the delightful romp, "Sir Roderick Comes to Lunch". This volume celebrates the once-wild creature that has established a special place in the literature, lore, legends, and living rooms of their human admirers.