Saturday, April 10, 2010

James Herriot, Author

James Herriot is author of the All Creatures Great and Small and its sequels. Dad gave me these books for Christmas, and they have been a joy to read! They are basically the memoirs of Herriot, a vet in the English countryside town of Darrowby in the early 1900s. Herriot's good-humored account of his myriad experiences there are funny, thoughtful, and often poignant. These books are a celebration of life, in all its aspects.

One of the things I appreciate most about Herriot's writing is that he doesn't take himself too seriously. He relates his own strengths and weaknesses in a genuine way, and his overall compassion and understanding of those around him make him a very likeable narrator.

I think it's interesting in the third book of this series, All Things Wise and Wonderful, Herriot has been called into active duty during WWII. Each chapter begins with an experience in the RAF training, but usually transitions to more of Herriot's experiences as a vet in Darrowby. I like reading more about his experiences, but sometimes it would be nice to read about his experiences in the RAF. There have been a few of them, and maybe there are more in store, but I found it surprising how often he reminisced to the time before his enlistment. It was almost as if he needed something to begin each segue, so that's the approach he took. Again, there may be more about his RAF experiences further on in the book (right now I'm a tad over halfway through).

These books are perfect to read when things get a little hard because of their light-filled perspective of life. The feeling of them is as if you are reading the "peaceable things of the kingdon" and you can get back to your own life with a more positive outlook. Any book that can do that is definitely worth the effort to read!

2 comments:

  1. Hey, Mar, when you're done with some of the other James Herriots I would like to reread them. There is something cleansing about his stories of rural Yorkshire and people who love animals. We were reading Ether 6 last night and it struck me that people who are riding in barges with no windows for nearly a year with their animals (including beehives!) need to love animals a lot.

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  2. Haha, Sister Birdsall, you are right... I don't know if I could make it across the ocean living with the animals. (There's a song like that in a musical...) Anyway, on Mary's recommendation I'm reading All Creatures Great and Small right now and I am really enjoying it.

    My favorite thing, along with his great writing style and interesting point of view, is that I can read a chapter and get a does of sunshine every day. It's not a novel in the typical sense and if I don't have time to read a bunch in one sitting, it's okay because the plot doesn't require a connected train of thought!

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