This is a really cool book! First of all... CATS! If you love cats, you will love the photographs. I also learned so much about people I already knew and learned about people I'd never heard of doing incredible work in the world. Though not a traditional coffee table book size, it definitely has the potential to be a beautiful book left out for frequent browsing by you and guests to your home or office. You'll also want to read it cover to cover (not something usually said about a book of photography). I've already alerted my friends to watch for the release of this book in May 2021 to add it to their collections. What an inspiring and fun idea for a book!

#QueerIconsandTheirCats #NetGalley

Thanks to the authors, Chronicle Books and NetGalley for an ARC in exchange for my honest review of Queer Icons and Their Cats. While I learned a good amount of background information on each of the people highlighted in this book, I felt that in my mind most of them weren’t really icons per se, but LGBT+ personalities and allies that had cats. The cats seemed to be the least important part of some of these people’s lives. For each celebrity, there is a 1 page bio and for most of them, a somewhat dull photo with a cat. I was expecting more Drag Queens and legends than celebrity personalities and felt a bit disappointed in that sense, but this was still an enjoyable and informative read.

This was a fun and fast read that reminds me of a coffee table book. it gives a lot of information about various queer icons, and shows fun photos of them with cats. I learned about several people I didn't know before, have a few books to add to my reading list, and overall really enjoyed the book.

It also includes some fun facts, books, films and achievements of queer people. One of my favorite facts was that Freddie Mercury liked to call his cats when he was away from home. They also didn't shy away from queer people who had sad histories, which I think is really important when discussing Queer Icons and history. Especially inclding HIV+ queer people.

I will reccomend this book once it's released, and am thinking about buying a copy for one of my queer friends. Overall a short, informative, fun Queer book.

Queer Icons and Their Cats is exactly what it says on the tin. It is a lovely coffee table book that features pictures and mini bios of Queer Icons like Freddie Mercury, Elton John, and Alison Bechdel with their cats.

With a small introduction, the book is laid out in a logical manner -- organized by first name since several entries feature icons that only have one name. It's a light fluffy book that doesn't try to be more that what it is. It's the kind of book you leave open on your coffee table when company comes over. The kind of book you'd give your cat-loving relative as a gift.

It's cute. It's light. It's got pictures of cats.

It gets:

Five Stars

I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley.

I am mostly pleased that I took advantage of the opportunity to read this book, because not only were there cat pictures (as promised!) but there were so many interesting queer icons profiled in this book. Each icon gets about a brief page of biographical information which also includes their relationship to folks of the feline persuasion (some of these biographies felt more like resumes, to be honest, and were pretty dry, but others were not). Natasi seems to have made an effort to put together a broad cross section of (often intersectional) LGBTQ folks, reaching back more than a century in some instances as well as highlighting contemporary figures.

The photos do not always depict the human subject’s actual pet(s). That was kind of disappointing, actually. Surprisingly, the portraits are not necessarily flattering to human or cat, either, but it is nice to see folks in more candid moments than their official portraiture typically presents. I rather wonder how the photos were selected. (Yes, every image is credited in the back of the book, but I’m not curious enough to compare photographer and subject for each picture, though it is at least possible to do so.) There were, of course, professional photographs as well, or at least ones which were obviously more deliberately staged. These were more flattering, but I think less interesting.

As many nice things as I have to say about the book, this is very much a book to be read over a long period of time, rather than all at once. Reading this all at once was a bit like reading a hagiography, which can be interesting and informative, but also a bit of a grind. It would be a great gift or addition to a library collection, and invites readers to do further research on their own due to the brevity of each icon’s entry (an impulse made easier by an extensive suggested reading section). This is an ideal coffee table book, or a bathroom book (this is not a snub, perfect bathroom books are very hard to find).

An interesting and creative way to spotlight queer icons. I loved the variety of icons featured--both historical and contemporary. At the same time, the connection to cats often felt tangential and almost unnecessary. While some sections, like that of Freddie Mercury, focused on how central his cats were in his life, the references to cats in many other sections felt like an afterthought.

I greatly enjoyed Queer Icons and their Cats. However the title was misleading. The people in the book are not all, in my opinion, icons and they are not always photographed with their cats. I found many of the photos stunning, but several were like snapshots you never print. The bio’s were educational and entertaining but the title evoked a need to see beautiful photographs. I wanted a coffee table book of photos, but each icon had a one page bio and one photograph. Overall, it was entertaining, but did not fulfill the expectations I had based on the cover.

I didn’t really get what I expected with this book. I was prepared for a book that focused more on personal stories between known LGBT+ persons and their cats.

This is more of a gift/ coffee table style book, that introduces you to some very cool gay icons, who also happen to like cats. You get a short bio about each person featured, and a nice picture of them with a cat (often but not always their own.)

I don’t recommend this if you’re looking for that feline-friendly heart tug. However, I do really like the variety and diversity in the people featured. And I think it’s a really cool way to be introduced to some new personal heroes. I think if you either like viewing different portrait styles, or are looking to introduce/ be introduced to more LGBT+ personalities, this could be a good starting point.

This is a coffee table book of famous queers, past and present, with their cats. Some are posed, as the cover is, some are from historical documents. Anthony Perkins is shown with his cat, as is Elton John. The modern icons, the ones who I have never heard of because I guess I am not keeping up with the current queer icons, look more posed, perhaps having been shot for this book.

It is interesting reading the little one page blurbs about each icon, and how they are important to queer history. And it is fun to go through history and see how cats were favorite pets of people like Freddy Mercury, who would call his cats when he was on tour.

It is rather fun that queer culture has a coffee table book, now, with LGBTQ people and their cats.

Thanks to Netgalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Honestly, what could be better than learning about Queer Icons? A book full of Queer Icons and their cats!!!!
This book was amazing! I am not a member of the LGBTQ community, but I consider myself an ally to the community and with that being said, there were so many icons in this book that I did not know! Reading through the bios of these incredible people was inspiring and humbling and eye-opening. The fact that it was all topped off with pictures of adorable cats was perfection!

--Boring Photos of People with Their Cats--

Based on the glamorous cover photo of the drag performer Jujubee, I thought the book would be filled with similar photos of various human beings, on some spectrum of the LGBTQ, dressed to the 9s (meow!) and with some kind of cat.

So, what is actually in the book are some lighthearted short bios/stories about various people you might term "celebrity", who identify with the LGBTQ label, and who own a cat.

The book seems to be an occasion to celebrate LGBTQ celebrities that own a cat.

Hey, why not?

So, if you are a person who will buy anything with cat pictures in it...This is your book.

And if you are a person who will buy anything that has an LGBTQ theme...This is your book.

If you are a person, like me, who likes looking at stunning fashion shots like the Cover Photo, this is NOT your book. Looking at the cover was the only gratification I got...oh...except for a profile in there of someone I knew a long time ago before they became famous. That was a nice bonus.

The bios are quite nice, but as this is supposed to be a "coffee table photo book", if the photos are boring, and the stories are "nicey nicey stories about people and their cats"...it only gets 3 stars from me for "being nice" and boring.

Loove it! It's exactly what the title says, queer icons and cats - a perfect combination if you ask me.
I love the write up for each person, it was very informative, and the photos were fantastic.

For generations, cats have been a symbol of deviancy, of witchcraft and negative feminism. In recent years however, the cat has been reclaimed and lovingly exalted as a positive image of femininity and companionship in the LGBTQIA+ scene. This book is a compendium of stories - of queer icons, and their cats.

This book took a much more serious tone than I had expected from the title and cover, but after that initial surprise wore off I found that I enjoyed that more I would have liked a silly tone. This book is a treasure trove of facts and small insight into the lives of some of the most influential and wonderful trans and queer celebrities of the last 120 years.

There were quite a few people in here that I hadn't heard of, which makes this a wonderfully educational book for those of us less well informed on the subject of queer history in popular culture. I feel that if I had read this book before reading Paul Takes the Form of a Mortal Girl earlier this year, I would have more fully understood a lot of the cultural references.

Overall I found this quick read to be informative, empathetic and insightful, as well as being a lot of fun.

Queer Icons and Their Cats
ARC uncorrected proof, Netgalley Review

I did a double take when I saw this cover (internal monologue :"wait a minute, is that Jujubee?! It is!! I have to read this"), and read it I did.

Queer Icons and Their Cats opens with a passage about the importance of pets, but specifically cats, in the lives of LGBTQ individuals. What follows are short bios and photos of, you guessed it, queer icons and their cats.
There's a wide range of people featured: chef, drag queens, actors, comedians, and activists to name a few. It was easy to read and informative.
It's the type of book that I definitely think does better in a physical copy vs ebook (which is how I read it). There are a few people in my life who I know would also enjoy this book. -- it would make a great gift.

This book is pretty much exactly what it says on the tin: it features of variety of queer icons photographed with their feline friends.

This would make a great coffee table book as it features beautifully-captured photos alongside short bios of the queer icons featured. It made for an interesting read.

I really enjoyed the book even though I am not a cat fan but it was really good. I was cool seeing all these queer icons and their cats. I would love if the was a version that included queer icons and their dogs. I can see purchasing this book for friends who are cat lovers.

Queer Icons and Their Cats does what it says on the tin, mostly: a page or two about a famous queer person and the beloved animals in their lives, with a photo filling the opposite page depicting them with a cat. Frequently it's their own companion; sometimes it's a cat who lives with someone else. But with one appalling exception, it's always adorable.

Unfortunately, the copy I saw also included a certain self-proclaimed “man with a pussy” along with a glowing description of him. That guy isn’t a queer icon, he’s a jackass who was assigned jenny at birth. He said non-binary people like me don’t deserve access to hormones, and he said that when a trans woman is murdered by her date, it's her fault if she didn't disclose beforehand that she has a penis. I’ve explained to the publisher that he’s no angel, and my opinion of the book will be heavily influenced by his inclusion or removal.

I am grateful to the authors, the publisher, and NetGalley for a free advance review copy.

I loved reading about all the icons and the subsequent cats. There were so many people included that I hadn’t heard of and now am glad I know a little sliver of their life and work. The prospect of cat photos is what drew me to the book and it didn’t disappoint. This would make a beautiful coffee table book to dip in and out of! The only thing that is a bit misleading is that not all the cats are owned by the people highlighted, that doesn’t bother me, but it may for some others.
Thank you to NetGalley and Chronicle Books for the early digital copy of this in exchange for a review.

Queer Icons and Their Cats show us how influential cats have been in the lives of different queer people. I think this book was great and would love to have is a ta coffee table book for all my friends to read. I of course loved every single cat in this book but I also got to know all the different people a bit more.

what a lovely view of LGBTQ icons and the cats they loved <3. The short little vignettes are delightful and informative, and made me want to look up, follow on social media, read further, about all these inspiring people. and KITTIES!!!
thanks to Netgalley for an early review copy.