That would be--a happy alternative to my books! In order to avoid this happening again, I finally got around to looking for something that would appeal to Chispa for her to scratch on. Although I have not had any more scratching incidents concerning my books (mainly due to me keeping any piles out of her reach), I have wanted to find something for her to use that is made specifically for cats. I can't remember who suggested these cardboard things (thank you!), but she seems to like it so far. Perhaps if I pretend I don't want her to scratch on it, she will go out of her way to scratch on it. That seems to work for everything else she has taken an interest in scratching on in my house...a little bit of kitty reverse psychology maybe?
Thanks also to Eve's Alexandria for the heads up on the 2007 Orange Prize longlist nominations. I should really try and read some of the past winners. I know these contests can be controversial, but I love seeing who's listed and who ends up winning. I am not familiar with all of the titles/authors, and so far I have only read one of them.
- Half of a Yellow Sun by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
- Poppy Shakespeare by Clare Allan
- Arlington Park by Rachel Cusk
- The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
- Peripheral Vision by Patricia Ferguson
- Over by Margaret Forster
- The Dissident by Nell Freudenberger
- When to Walk by Rebecca Gowers
- A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary for Lovers by Xiaolu Guo
- The Observations by Jane Harris - I read this last year and thorougly enjoyed it.
- Carry Me Down by MJ Hyland
- The Girls by Lori Lansens
- Alligator by Lisa Moore
- What Was Lost by Catherine O'Flynn
- The Tenderness of Wolves by Stef Penney
- Careless by Deborah Robertson
- Afterwards by Rachel Seiffert
- Ten Days in the Hills by Jane Smiley
- Digging to America by Anne Tyler
- The Housekeeper by Melanie Wallace
There are several titles that look very promising, so I will have to see which are available over here. A little rundown of the authors: nine are British, four are American, two are Australian and two are Canadian. The other three are from China, India and Nigeria. What's nice about these prizes/awards is discovering new and talented authors.