Simon’s Cat in Good Company: Franny, Skylight Books (Los Angeles, CA)

October is cat month here at Akashic, as all of us adore those furry felines (well, almost all of us—someone here has allergies). We’re celebrating the release of Simon’s Cat Off to the Vet . . . and Other Cat-astrophes! (available everywhere October 29!) by bringing back our Simon’s Cat in Good Company feature, spotlighting some of our favorite bookstore and library cats from around the world. Check our website throughout October to be introduced to some new purrfect pals.

(Interested in finding a feline friend of your own? Consider adopting one on October 29th, also known as National Cat Day!)

Today, meet Franny, who lives with our friends at Skylight Books in Los Angeles! From the store staff:

Photo: Frieda Gossett

Franny surveys her land from a mezzanine upstairs office, occasionally strolling amongst her subjects down on the sales floor. Her favorite places include a cardboard box of files under our bookkeepers desk, the bench around the tree in the middle of the store, and the lowest shelves of the Literary Criticism and Travel sections. She cannot be bothered to attend the more raucous or crowded author readings but will sometimes disrupt the more quiet and serene ones with a slow traipse between the podium and front row.

She is a spinster.

Caught in her stare, one ponders their right to exist.

Franny is named for the first half of a J.D. Salinger book, possibly giving her a life long neurosis, constantly searching for her other half.

She will turn her head to Francis as well as Franny but does not prefer it, like Francis Albert Sinatra preferred to be called Frank.

Except for the very beginning of her life, she has spent all of her time inside of Skylight Books. The world outside the front windows is her television screen. But Franny rarely watches it, I think she would prefer to read and ponder.

Franny with a book from our friends at Coffee House! This cat has great taste. Photo: Jacob Rosenzweig

Posted: Oct 16, 2015

Category: Akashic in Good Company, Akashic Insider, Akashic in Good Company, Simon's Cat in Good Company | Tags: Bookstore cat, Franny, Simon's Cat, Simon's Cat in Good Company, Simon's Cat Off to the Vet, Simon's Cat Off to the Vet . . . and Other Cat-Astrophes, Skylight, Skylight Books