A True Masterpiece! This book is a timeless treasure; a masterpiece of folksy writing that just draws you in and makes you feel truly comfortable. You can just see yourself watching in the background and Herriot tackles everything from delivering young lambs to minor surgery on horses. A reader feels connected in a way that is remarkable.
I have no idea how many times I've read this book in the last 10 years, but I've no doubt that I'll continue to read it on occasion for as long as I draw breath.
Just a marvelous adventure.
One Of The Most Special Books Ever Written There's an irony in the fact that this book I always found so calming and happy, that made everything on earth seem perfectly all right to me whenever I read it during bad times or good, is actually set during an era when trouble was brewing in Europe and the Third Reich was on the rise, destined to end this wondrous little world forever. That fact aside, I love this book. It is plainly magical. The stories here about James Herriot and his life as a rural veterinarian in 1930's Yorkshire radiate joy. Herriot knows how to tell a heartwarming, funny tale, but he never lets us forget that a country animal doctor's life is hard, sometimes tinged with sadness, and that even in a lovely place like the farming midlands tragedy is never far away. He practices veterinary medicine in a small town and out on the little family farms that dot the dales. His boss Seigfried (later his partner) and Seigfried's jovial brother Tristan work beside James as they answer midnight calls to birth calves, stitch up injured sows, and partner with the local farmers to keep England's agricultural concerns feeding the nation. Around these duties, James has assorted adventures and is a time or two lead astray by the charming, well-meaning but definitely problem-prone Tristan, who with his skirt chasing and love of the odd pint is perpetually in danger of flunking out of vet school. These lovable men allow us to come along as they mingle with some of the most amazing characters ever seen in fiction. They work with farmers who live in such isolation they have in some cases never been five miles from their own homes, and Herriot's prose celebrates their glorious idiosyncrasies. The vets are also cared for by the stern no-nonsense Mrs. Hall, whose stoical outer features hide a heart of gold within her gray-haired workaholic frame. This novel, set over about two years at the very end of the 1930's always brightens my day. It makes me wish things were still like that somewhere in this world today. (And that I could go there.)All Creatures Great and Small Wonderful stories about farm life in rural Engkand as Herriott lived it, as a young veterinarian. His stories are amusing and " feel-good" all at the same time. Great stories for all animal lovers.
