Christopher Wren was a foreign correspondent for The New York Times for many years. He worked in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Johannesburg, and Ottawa. And for eighteen years, he and his family shared their travels to far-flung homes with a cat named Henrietta. (Officially, Henrietta Meow Meow Pussycat Wren, named by the children who were age six and nearly three when she first arrived.)This is her story, and it was delightful. She joined the family when a colleague needed to give away some unexpecte...

This was a fun read for cat lovers. However, as a fellow traveler, I wanted more of a sense of the place being explored.

Henrietta was blessed. She led an amazing life so full of adventure. And, as animals always do, she taught her humans the meaning of love. As an ethical vegan, a couple of the stories were difficult for me to read. One in particular left me wondering how her well-educated humans couldn't anticipate the deadly outcome which I could see coming the moment the rabbit arrived at their home. But like so many others, theirs was a pet-one-eat-the-others family.Overlooking those couple of issues that wer...

2020 bk 256. Henrietta hated air travel, but managed to go with her family to Russia, China, France (en transit), Egypt, China, Japan, Canada, and South Africa in what was probably the most exciting of her nine lives. Along the way, she permits the author to describe the world events of the 80's and 90's when he was a foreign correspondent for the New York Times. While Wren had exciting moments (how many people do you know kicked out of Russia for ostensibly spying?), Henrietta found her way int...

Wren is a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, and this is a light-hearted romp through the adventures of his cat Henrietta (and her human family) while posted to Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Ottawa, New York, and Johannesburg. We learn the ins and outs of finding cat food -- and cat litter -- in each of these places, as well as how the humans cope with changes in language, culture, bureaucracy, and cuisine. This charming memoir will cheer up any cat lover.

This is a well-written book! The author tells about his cat, Henrietta, as she travels the world for 18 years with their family. Gives info. about several countries and major cities!

My dad was college roommates with the author, which is how I found out about this book. It's a lot of fun.

This is the right book to cheer up a cat lover and interest a history major. It was such a fun tidy book.

While I'm usually a dog person, Henrietta's story intrigued me as it provided a unique look at a family's frequent efforts to intercalate itself into various cultures of the world, as anyone could write about how the human members are treated, but few people have taken their pet cat with them to live on 4 continents over the course of the cat's 15 or so years of life and know first-hand the challenges and benefits that may be encountered. Wren is a foreign correspondent for the New York Times an...

Don’t read this if you don’t like cats. Don’t read this if you hold the following preconceptions about cats: a) cats don’t like humans, b) cats are intellectually challenged, c) cats like to kill babies by stealing their breath d) you’re a scaredy cat, e) you think cats should be forbidden to travel to foreign places that you will never find the money or time to visit. However, Wren’s memoir of Henrietta’s adventures might be the perfect gift for that cat-loving friend/ spouse/sibling/grumpy co-...

I don't read pet stories very often. I can't handle when the pet dies.I thought that The Cat Who Covered the World sounded fun though. Henrietta, the main catracheter (ha), was owned by a family of a New York Times reporter, so she followed them around the world. There were funny parts of the story. When the Wren family lived Moscow she was able to eat Russian caviar.Henrietta sounded like a fun cat, but I really had a hard time liking her owners. We don't let our cat out because I'm worried she...

My sister lent me this book to read. Her cats had urinated on it at some point so there was a little something extra that made me feel like Henrietta was right there with me. Now, I have barely been able to manage a fifteen minute car ride to the vet's for rabies shots in case my own cats happen to survive a fox attack. The fact that this cat lived through car rides, planes and getting lost in various countries may be enough right there to warrant writing a book. This unusual upbringing also aff...

This is a memoir by Christopher S Wren that has two focuses: travelling the world as a foreign correspondent for the New York Times, and his cat Henrietta. He and his family live in Moscow, Cairo, Beijing, Johannesburg, and Ottawa; they also travel through France and Great Britain. The details about all of these locations make me want to hop on a plane!Henrietta is adorable. All of the anecdotes about her make me want to pet my own kitties. I was a bit appalled at how they allowed her to roam fo...

Purchased on the fly and enjoyed highly. I'm not an avid reader of the New York Times and have not read Wren's articles, but his writing style really clicked with me. This is an ideal book for any cat lover, with heaps extra bonus points if the reader is also a travel enthusiast. And the Meilo So illustrations were whimsical and perfect.Three and a half stars, rounded up to four possibly because of the illustrations. I had a lot of fun reading this, but I won't be likely to have the urge to read...

my friend claire lent me this book. usually i don't read animal stories because the animal in question always dies at the end. Guess what? henrietta dies, but she has quite a life traveling around with the family of a ny times foreign correspondent. it is not as long or as involved as the last book i read, the man who loved china, but it is quite delightful and enjoyable.

Much better than the "average" cat story, because the author is a writer for the New York Times--he is smart and funny and so is this book.Most cat books end with the cat dying...and I end up crying, which I don't like. In this one, yes, the cat dies at the end, but the author tells that part so quickly that I was able to read it without tears. That's a good thing!

A very fun memoir of sorts by a NYTimes foreign correspondent about his traveling cat. A must-read for any cat lover, and quite an interesting look at life in several foreign countries as well. Reading this made me want a cat.

Supping on caviar in Moscow, getting lost in Cairo, writing the Christmas letter in Ottawa, Henrietta was a "worldly" cat who accompanied the Wren family around the world. Enjoyable story, told with a great sense of humor.

If you love a cat, or have ever loved a cat, or have ever loved someone who has loved a cat this is a must read. Such a well written story detailing the adventures of a world traveling family and their beloved Henrietta.

I love books like this! In the beginning I didn't like the author and his anti-feline feelings. Thank goodness he was convinced to change them by none other than Miss Henrietta! I enjoyed seeing different cultures through a cat's eye!

This book is a lot of fun to read. I love the authors sense of humor. I love cats and I love reading about them. I was very touched by the love the author and his family had for their cat. I cannot imagine life without cats, or dogs, or books about them.

For anyone who has ever had a cat or for that matter a dog and traveled with them, this book certainly resonates. A delightful true story. You regret never meeting Henrietta.

The adventures of Henrietta and her foreign correspondence family traveling to Moscow, Cairo, Bejing, Ottawa, and Johannesburg

Just a silly, light read but interesting! Reminded me of my Charlie Kitty & our travels together.

I don’t think this was the book for me. I always get so excited about nonfiction books, but then I start reading them and they’re usually so dry. This was definitely no exception, but I had bigger issues with it. I can’t even explain how nervous it made me that they just let Henrietta wander all over the place. I mean it’s one thing when they’re living somewhere, but why would you do that when you’re on vacation??? Especially when she’s disappeared and come back after a long time before. What if...

The Cat Who Covered the World was penned by Christopher S Wren, a journalist whose job as a foreign affairs correspondent (that is the simplest way of expressing it) brought Wren and his family to several different continents. Included in that family: Henrietta, their cat, and thereby hangs a tail, ahem, tale. Henrietta's (mis)adventures made for some fun reading. Cats have been my constant companions since my early twenties and I enjoy reading about them. Though one might argue that the Wrens w...

Joyful nonfiction. This is not a heavy book, but is a delight to read. Following Henrietta, an intrepid cat who in her life covered 4 different continents, and visited more countries than most humans manage. Written by a New York Times international correspondent, you can feel the love he had for Henrietta (however unwittingly). It also gives the occasional exciting glimpse into the world events, crises, and turmoil he covered across the 70s-90s; Henrietta and family in unwitting tow. It is not

I loved this book...would have loved to have met Henrietta. She reminds me very much of my beloved Simone, the most extraordinary of all of the cats I've loved over the years. Christopher's conversion into a cat lover was heartwarming and the tales of their adventures around the world were hilarious! This is a really quick read...I was reading it simultaneously with another book that I'm having a hard time staying interested in.

The amount of traveling this cat accomplished is impressive, but also terrifying. I cannot imagine traveling internationally with a cat. A 2 hour domestic flight with my cat was enough to keep me from doing that again.

"The Cat Who Covered the World" is a novel written by a journalist for the New York Times. This story begins with a coworker of the author bringing him a small cat and a bottle of Scotch. The author is called to work in Moscow, Russia on a writing assignment. Pressured by the pleads of his two children, Celia and Chris, he decided to take the cat, Henrietta, to Russia with him and his family. During the duration of the author’s time in Russia, Henrietta turns from a shy little cat to a full gro