The Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by T. S. Eliot (1939) is one of most creative and fun collections of poetry ever written in the English tongue. With splendid illustrations by Edward Gorey, the book is very short -- only 56 pages. The genius of this collection of 15 playful poems on the adventures of anthropromophic cats is that Eliot beautifully describes the many "personalities" of cats -- and humans, for that matter. Reading this is a cat lover's must. These poems are part of our culture already: they inspired the Broadway musical CATS, for instance. And the...