Back at last! It’s been so long since the last edition that I now have a whole pack of pets to share. I also bring news of a new staff member and (just as important) new staff pets.

Ailbhe McDonnell is our newest Library Page and brings two cats into the fold. Cordelia chose Little Fish purely for the title, but Thunder, a Russian Blue, is learning about his heritage with The Master and Margarita.

Xena is Catherine and David Budd’s rescue dog from Puerto Rico. Despite her book choice of Don’t Know Tough, she’s extremely gentle, shy, and sweet, and would also read books about running in the woods. Xena loves coming to the New York Society Library and is thankful for the kindness everyone shows her—as well as the treats at the circulation desk!

Although Kip Langton’s Oscar is called a Nova Scotia Duck Tolling Retriever, he’s actually a New Yorker who loves bones (especially on Christmas and his birthday) and Central Park. In his own words: “Besides cookbooks, I really love Cormac McCarthy. His work reads like nothing else out there. Pure originality of sentence structure and storytelling, which reminds me a lot of Ernest Hemingway, whom I also love. So if it’s not McCarthy or Hemingway, I’m reading Ina Garten or browsing Chewy online.”

Accompanied by Nicole St. John, Mango is a frequent visitor to the Library (at least to the lobby!) and is thoroughly enjoying her Year of the Puppy. Outside the NYSL, her favorite activities are chasing squirrels around Central Park, sitting for treats, and devouring good books.

Like his human, Lars Boomsma, Freddie is a philosopher who’s fascinated by language and wordplay. A polyglot who can read in five languages, he’s currently enjoying An Attempt at Exhausting a Place in Paris by Georges Perec, whose Species of Spaces he very much admires (both in the original French, of course).

If you’ve got pets of your own, feel free to send in a picture to kcarleton@nysoclib.org, along with what they’re reading and why. And feel even freer to bring them into the Library, where  we’ll treat them to some treats!

In the sidebar: Reigning Cats and Dogs by Katherine MacDonogh