Homer's Oddyssey: traveling with a cat

Flying west through 3 time zones, I am happy to be gaining back the hours I lost a week ago. My carry-on is laden with  books for the journey, but during our layover in Denver I cruise into Starbucks, then Borders. (I have my priorities!) and browse through mysteries and new best sellers looking for something that might grab me. Well, anyone who knows me will understand why it was  Homer's Odyssey, the story of a Blind Wonder Cat. I didn't even think twice before it was swiped on my credit card. The cover and the blurb on the back sold me, re-emphasizing the importance of these two crucial marketing elements.

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.” But the kitten nobody believed in quickly grew into a three-pound dynamo with a giant heart who eagerly made friends with every human who crossed his path.  

It had everything a traveler could want in a book, intrigue and adventure, a soulful but spunky kitten, love at first sight, heartbreak and humor. Before I was halfway through the book, I seriously considered adopting a blind cat when I got home.  The author's reflections on life with her cat makes Homer's Odyssey one of the ultimate animal lover's book. Her description of rescuing Homer from her apartment after 9/11 is nothing short of heroic.

I had brought books along that needed some different part of my brain, more serious reads, but somehow compressed inside a metal capsule whizzing 30,000 feet above the earth, required a book that took me effortlessly out of my 'real' world. A journey with Homer was perfect.

What about you? What do you read on a plane? Do you use the time to finish books that have piled up on your night stand? Do you browse airport bookstores and 'impulse buy' things you might otherwise wait to check out at the library?

When you travel, do you stick with old favorites or do you explore other genres that you might not normally read on the ground?