One of my petsitters recommended this book to me ... and how can I resist a kitty story? My awesome sister, Moody-Blue, gave me this book for my birthday. Digging into it right away! :)

Book description:
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," never as playful or independent as other cats. But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo, a tiny daredevil with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path. Homer scaled seven-foot bookcases with ease and leapt five feet into the air to catch flies in mid-buzz. He 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 inspired Gwen daily and transformed her life. And by the time she met the man she would marry, she realized Homer had taught her the most important lesson of all: Love isn’t something you see with your eyes.

Homer’s Odyssey is the once-in-a-lifetime story of an extraordinary cat and his human companion. It celebrates the refusal to accept limits—on love, ability, or hope against overwhelming odds. By turns jubilant and moving, it’s a memoir for anybody who’s ever fallen completely and helplessly in love with a pet.


Click here to see a video on Amazon.com of Homer with his person (and author) Gwen Cooper. Sooo cute! :)

If I could give this book an 11, I would! This story made me smile, laugh, and cry, and being a die-hard cat owner myself, I could totally relate to the author's feelings of love and devotion for her kitties. Overwhelmingly, though, the star of the story is Homer - and what an incredible creature he is! I admit that I really had no idea what a blind cat would be like, and Homer totally blew any pre-conceived notions I may have had straight out of the water! I guess it shouldn't be so shocking to learn that an animal can adapt so well and be so resilient in the face of adversity - but Homer seems to manage it all with such panache, not to mention having such a big heart. What a doll.

I'd highly recommend this book not just to cat-lovers, but to all animal lovers, as a testimony of how much a pet can enhance our lives.

I'm definitely sending this one out as a bookring. Digging up readers now!

This book is being offered as a bookring! General courtesy guidelines apply. Please journal the book as soon as you receive it and PM the next reader for their address so that we can keep it moving quickly. Then, journal again when you have finished reading it. If you are backlogged or need to be moved further down on the list, please let me know. Thanks and enjoy Homer!! >^..^<


Updated 13JUL12
Here is the bookring routing list and order:
1. DanielleChonody (Texas, US)
2. IceAgent (Ontario, Canada)
3. Brookler (BC, Canada)
4. RCLoriH (South Dakota, US)
5. cbostler (Utah, US)
6. sp4home (Kansas, US)
7. dee831 (Ohio, US)
8. mrsboknows (South Carolina, US)
9. surmisez (Massachusetts, US) [Skipping ... no response to PM's .. will try again at end]
10. aetm (Texas, US)
11. Supertalya (South Korea, but with a US military address)[Original book lost/stalled here]
12. piemunga (Sydney, Australia)
13. DebNZ (Auckland, New Zealand)
14. annenz (New Zealand)
15. Rossella05 (London, UK) [Asked to be skipped]
16. Tanamo (Leicestershire, UK)
17. whiskeyjane (New Mexico, US)
18. Moody-Blue (Somewhere, US -- PM for current addy)
19. Alstroemeria (Arizona, US)
back to me --> BethanieKay (Texas, US) ---> Replacement book is back here wtih me now!


I'll update this JE with new bookring members as I get them.

Try again later: surmisez

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

The bookring has begun! Handed the book off to daniellechonody (my friend, kitty-sitter, and fellow Bookcrosser!).

Happy travels, Homer! I hope you bring lots of warm fuzzy feelings to readers around the world! >^..^<

Homer made me laugh and cry. It got a little slow in the middle but the antics and adventures of Homer have to be read to be believed - what a character. Great book for the devoted cat lover - and that's me!

Caught in the mail today. Started reading already.
THank you so much!

I loved this story. It is clearly written by a fellow 'cat-lady' and I can identify with her feline feelings.
Her cats are so special to her, just as mine are to me.
Plus, the fact that she had three cats AND got married lets me know that there is still hope for me! LOL

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed this fabulous book to the next reader in Powell River, BC. Enjoy!

Woot! Arrived today, thanks so much. Can't wait to read this one.

This is a totally amazing book about a totally amazing cat. This book is well-written and very enthralling. The resident's view of 9/11 is gripping. I have read many animal-centered books, but this one surpasses them all.

This book has arrived just in time for a long weekend away from work. Since I don't have a real kitten to snuggle with, I'll look forward to curling up with the book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

What a fun story. Makes me miss the days when I had a kitty. I'm always amazed (although I shouldn't be) at how important our furry family members can become in our lives.

Book is on its way to cbostler in Sandy, UT. There must be a kitty/sand joke in there somewhere, but can't think of one at the moment. Thanks for sharing!

I received HOMER'S ODYSSEY in the mail this afternoon, and am looking forward to an entertaining read.

My favorite way to read is to shut out all distractions and immerse myself in text for hours-on-end. Luckily, I had a vacation day from work and spent it luxuriously reading HOMER'S ODYSSEY.

What an amazing story! I shared the fly-catching feats, the 9-11 rescue, and the attack on the night intruder stories with my husband, daughters, niece, and grandsons. I'm getting a copy of the book so that all of them can become better acquainted with El Mocho.

In a chapter titled "Cats and the Single Girl", author Gwen Cooper wrote about the impact Homer made on her attitude about life. These powerful, insightful thoughts were my favorite part of the book: (pages 150 and 151)

"If I had died that night, I wouldn't have had any regrets about how I lived."
"If you had work you enjoyed, a home you loved, and friends you could laugh with, you were already luckier than probably 90 percent of the world's population."
"It was the little things that had a way of getting away from you and never coming back... like staying up to watch the sun rise over the ocean..."
"Not everything had to be so goal-oriented. Look at Homer. He had no idea where he was climbing or running or jumping to half the time. Simply to be in motion was a joy undertaken for its own sake."

I watched the Amazon.com video of Homer and Gwen Cooper. (link in J.E. #1)
and found a few others on youtube. They are GREAT!!!

Thank you, BethanieKay, for thinking of me when you started this bookring.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This morning, I will be mailing the book to the next participant in the bookring, sp4home.

The book arrived yesterday. I'll update this post after I have read the book.

CONTROLLED RELEASE NOTES:

This book was finally mailed 26Apr2010. I am so sorry for the delay. Life got in the way. My apologies for holding up the bookring.

2010 Valley Center, Kansas, USA.

Homer made it to OH. I have just a few chapters of another book to finish ahead of this one, but will keep you updated in this same journal entry of my progress. Thank you for the opportunity to read this one! =^..^=

Half way through! Love it so far... contacting next in line for address.
5/26/10 should finish this weekend... and I'll mail on Monday.
5/29/10 Finished! This was very touching. I agree that some parts were rather slow and kind of dull, but Homer sounds like a wonderful cat, one that all of us cat people would be honored to have and hold. He has shown that even in adversity, you can find love and joy all around you. Thanks for letting me be a part of this bookring. Thoroughly enjoyed this one.

Will mail and release on Tuesday. I will post the USPS confirmation here on Tuesday.

Sending Homer off to next reader in Tuesday's post.

Arrived today and is next in line TBR.

Maybe it's because I am a cat lover or because I once had 3 cats sharing my home. Maybe it's because one of those 3 cats looked just like Homer ,or maybe Homer is just one special feline. Could be all of those reasons and more that I read this book in one sitting. I'm not ashamed to say I spent most of it in tears, missing my own onyx kitty and loving the two sitting next to me. This book is definitely for cat lovers. Those that aren't will surely read this book and say, "no way can a cat change a person' s life or teach me about anything."

I am so grateful for the PM that came a few months ago asking if I would be interested in this book. Without it, I probably wouldn't have had the opportunity to read about Homer and they ways he has touched the lives of so many. Thank you for sharing, BethanieKay!

I didn't think I would whip through this one so quick so I haven't contacted next in line. I'll have it moving as soon as I get an address. :)

Off to aetm in Texas. Thanks again, BethanieKay for sharing this lovely book!

Homer just arrived - and I guess I'll have to dive to this one right away. One of the kitties that stole my heart and that owns me now is Ernie, a black kitten who was born with cataracts. So practically a blind, black kitty.. so how could I not like the adventures of another brave cat?
I'll definitely have to make a longer entry after reading the book, and perhaps take a picture of Homer with Ernie (and his sister who can see normally).

I forgot which order it went - did I hear about this book first, join the ring, or get adopted by Ernie (and Ellie) first? One of the two black kittens that adopted me and my hubby in January is nearly blind. He was born with cataracts in both eyes, and can't practically see as far as his paws, and further than that it's just the color, no shape and no distance.

Life with Ernie has got to so much normality that I totally forgot about the coincidence (if there is such a thing) with the book subject and him until like a week or two before I got the book. I was planning to take a picture of him with the book and post it to this entry but it's still in the camera (among with photos since like past three months); I'll do that by the release notes time.

Homer makes me want to hug him, play with him, and feed him a nice chunk of tuna. An adorable little fighter that no one thought would do much, and his adventures are described by someone who really loves him. I'm always fascinated by how different characters animals, cats and others, can have, and Homer is just sweet. In a few occasions the book reminded me of Sy Montgomery's Good Good Pig. When I started that book I didn't know much about pigs, and by the time I had read it I want one (one day, when I'll have a ranch of some kind...). I probably should avoid the books of other fabulous species like goats, sheeps, bunnies and so on ;)
The same way Homer runs to his adventures, from finding Gwen to scaring away a thief in her apartment, scaring away the not-the-right-ones (from a lady with not one or two but three cats) to 9/11. Always there, always there to love and be loved.

Other than just a nice cat biography, it makes having a blind (or otherwise "less-than-perfect") pet more acceptable a choice.

When we (both of us have always been adopted by and owned by various kitties practically all our life) were adopting Ernie and Ellie (the adorable sister who's always taken care of Ernie and who sees like any cat) I ended up googling blind cats to see how we should start. Both of them were tiny and just getting out of their URI, and had just been rescued by a shelter from the town shelter (where they were in death row for being too small, and for the URI, and maybe being of the least adoptable color too). Ernie was too small to use a litterbox yet, so we were prapared to accident proofing the whole apartment too. Tiny cats, big sneezes, and Ernie was limping as he had hurt his front paw jumping from a high bed in the foster home, and no one thought he'd really see anything and would probably have other health issues too.
They quickly found their favorite spots in the house and dragged us around their tails, and Ernie keeps surprising us constantly. Try to enjoy anything he likes when he's in an other room - he hears and smells everything, ears and nose compensating the eyes. Most of the days we can forget his limits. Everything in different heights is different color, so he can see the color of carpet from bed or sofa etc. He doesn't jump too high up or down (perhaps after the jump that hurt his elbow when he was small). Only occasionally we hear a bump when he forgets where things are, like walls or doors or furniture. And he's such a love bug - meowing when he needs a tummy rub, lately that being one of his needs even at 4 or 6 AM...

As someone who is owned by a kitty with cataracts (the normally black parts of his eyes are milky gray, otherwise he looks like any kitty) I was curious to see how much different or similar would Homer be compared to Ernie. Homer makes more amazing jumps when catching the flies in mid air, Ernie doesn't (yet?). Both are sweet and loving and loveable - but so are so many more kitties too. Maybe it's in being found by the cats in your life that you need... bottom line being it doesn't matter how one is defined. Blind, eyeless, too small, never-going-to-be-anything can be as big as one's internal panther...

I've got Supertalya's address, and will send the book to her by the weekend.

And as promised, here is a picture of Ernie with the book.


I'll upload more pics of them and the book to this set. (I couldn't resist so I made some bookplates with this pic, http://www.bookcrossing.com/mybookplates)

Sending to Supertalya (in media mail with a few other books too). Safe journey kitty book!

I just received it. I am in between books so I will start this one now.

Update on this book:

Supertalya received it in Sep 2010. When there were no JE's after 2 months, I sent her a PM asking if she still had the book in Nov 2010. No response. I sent another PM in Dec 2010 and sent her an email as well (I found her email address from the blog listed on her BC page). She finally replied that she did have the book, and that she'd forgotten about it. She asked if I would email her the name/addy of the next reader, which I did, on Jan 2, 2011.

It's now late Feb 2011, and still no additional JE's indicating if this book has been read and/or set to the next reader. I sent Supertalya PMs and emails again, asking if/when the book was sent. After a series of unpleasant, unapologetic and defensive messages from her via email and facebook, I have learned that she sent the book "a while ago", but she did not give me any specific (or approximate) date. She said the book was sent "slow boat" and that it may take 3-4 months. She says she is unable to access the BC site at work anymore (what about home, internet cafes, friends houses?), so she cannot make any JE's. (She did have my email address, though, and could have given me all of this information via email. I would have been happy to make updates to the JE, or to just know what was happening with my book that has gone without a JE for nearly 6 months now).

So, here I am making an update -- hopefully the book will arrive to piemunga in Australia sometime in the next couple months.

It's now been 7 months since Supertalya supposedly sent this book to piemunga. At this point, I think it's safe to say that either the book is lost in the mail, or it was never sent in the first place. Considering the nasty and immature attitude and behavior that I experienced from Supertalya (see JE above), I'm guessing the book was never sent. After all, in a message she sent to me right after she supposedly mailed the book, she did tell me "I hope it is lost". Why would someone say that? Terrible.

Anyhow -- I'm contacting every member on the bookring who still hasn't gotten to read this book, thanks to one person's inability to respectfully and correctly participate in a bookring. I'm going to see if there is still interest in reading this book after all this time, and if so, I'll try to locate a replacement book.

It must be lost. I have been the owner of many bookrings and bookrays. I understand your frustration as many of my bookrings/bookrays have been lost but it is no reason to take it out on me with negative posts. Do you want me to find another copy of the book? I would prefer if you would stop making negative comments about me on this thread.

On another note, I am currently in the US, where I can get into Bookcrossing. My ISP has blocked Bookcrossing in Korea and cannot access it. I have tried telling Bethany this but she refused to listen to me. Once I get back to Korea to my home computer network, I will not be able to access it anymore.

Supertalya - you have some nerve saying I am taking anything out on YOU. Your behavior was disgusting, and you know it. If you don't want people saying negative things about you, then you shouldn't exhibit negative behavior. I saved all the messages back and forth between you and I, and I think any BCer who read them would agree that your actions and your words to me were inappropriate. Not only did you break all the unwritten rules of participating in a bookring, you were unresponsive, rude, and immature. You bet that I'm going to document this journal so others know about what happened, and so they can decide for themselves if they want you on their bookrings in the future! You didn't make any JEs for numerous months or respond to my numerous emails and PMs, and I don't care if you say you weren't able to access BC from WORK (it's not that I "refused to listen to you", I just think it's a totally LAME excuse. In today's world, there are numerous places you can access the internet, so not being able to get on BC from your work, or even home, computer is not a legitimate excuse. You know you signed up for this bookring so you needed to be responsible for the book, actually send the book along to the next reader in a reasonable time frame, and find a way to make the appropriate journal entries. PERIOD!). Strangely, you seemed to be able to access the internet just fine to update your daily blog, or to send me messages through facebook and email, so surely you could've made a JE from a friend's house or an internet cafe, or you could've just sent ME a message as to the whereabouts of my book and I would've made a JE myself. But no, you didn't even have enough concern or respect do so that. Then to top it off, you also acted completely immature by telling me to 'go to hell', and that you 'hoped the book is lost', and that you 'had no intention of apologizing to me'. Very mature behavior.

With all that in mind, I will say no thank you, I would not like you to find a replacement book. I will find one on my own and keep the bookring going, as it's been stalled for far too long already.

I have a new copy of this book that I will send along to jump-start this stalled bookring. This new copy is the paperback version (with Homer sitting on a yellow chair), so shipping will be a bit cheaper.

The bookplate inside the front cover of this replacement book was custom-made by aetm, and the photo is of her two black kitties (one who is partially blind himself), relaxing alongside the original copy of this book while their Mom was reading it ;) [It's actually the same photo that she uploaded to her JE above] I thought it would be the perfect bookplate for this book :)

I'll mail/release soon -- just verifying piemunga's addy first.

Homer is on his way Down Under! Shipped the replacement copy to piemunga in Australia today. We don't have international ground shipping (via boat) available anymore, so this was sent via Air Mail. Hopefully it will arrive within 2 weeks.

Happy Travels Homer -- I hope you will enjoy visiting the rest of the readers on this bookring :)

I'll get to thiis as soon as I can - half way through another book at the moment and it's been a bit slow going due to a baby in the house! I will do my best though :)

Wonderful book! I enjoyed it very much and have recommended it to all my animal loving friends.

Posted off to NZ today.

Received book & will get to it asap! Thanks, am looking forward to it :)

Oh I so enjoyed reading about Homer, thanks Beth for recommending it! I loved the part about the makeshift musical instrument out of a kleenex box - am going to make one as soon as we use up the tissues! :) 2 yrs ago we found a bunch of stray kitties - one of them lost an eye to infection just like Homer, we couldn't keep them all and we were lucky enough to find true animal lovers who now have a very spoiled one eyed cat. It's nice to know that there are people that will go above & beyond for an animal... need more of them around! Annenz pm'ed, will send along as soon as I have an address.

Arrived todat, look forward to reading this!

This book was a fantastic read, thanks so much for sharing with us all!!
Homer was definitely a character:))

Now on it's way to the UK!

Homer has arrived safely in the UK and I hope to get to spend some time with him soon. However, I do have another two books in front of him so I hope he's a patient kitty.

I enjoyed reading about Homer and can well see how his attitude was inspirational to his owner and others. However, in the aftermath of 9/11 I felt the author came across as not very concerned about other human beings and their suffering. This perception may be wrong but it's the way I felt.

I'll now pm the next participant so I can get this book moving again.

Mailed to the next recipient.

This book arrived safely in today's mail. Thanks for mailing Tanamo. Thanks for sharing the book BethanieKay. I will start reading it this weekend! Looks good!

A wonderful story. What a loving home Gwen gave her 3 cats. The only thing that would have made this book better would be if she had dedicated the book to her parents. And maybe left out the last 3 chapters, which were about some man. I admired her bravery during 9-11. Ready to be mailed - awaiting addy of next on list.

UPDATE 03/22/12: I will put this in the mail on March 31, on my next trip to the post office. Sorry for the delay in mailing!!! Thank you for your patience!

In the mail to Moody-Blue!

Arrived today. Thank you everyone -- esp. to whiskeyjane for the bookmarks! :)

Overall, an excellent and surprising story. How about that "cat stopped eating" incident? We've all been there, haven't we? Gwen was a great mom and Homer... What a sweetheart! It makes me want to adopt a special-needs kitty.

Picked this up from my sister, Moody-Blue, when I visited her in Tennessee this weekend. Will now send it to our mother, Alstroemeria, to finish off the bookring.

Sending this to my Mommy, Alstroemeria, as the last reader on this bookring. I'm sure she will love the book, although I doubt she'll actually make a journal entry :) I'll make one for her when she's done.

Homer is back home again after visiting 17 different Bookcrossers! Thanks to all for playing along with this bookring :)

Loaning this to Whitney at work, a self-professed cat lover :)

Received this back from Whitney - it's back on my shelf as a PC