ALL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL
Simple, sweet and sunshine stories of man and animals, this collection is once more entirely readable. The old world charm is interestingly captivated. The World War forms the backdrop to all the stories here. Herriot, the vet and Herriot, the Airman form an interesting combination and as he narrates the stories of his travails as a recruit for the British Airforce, the reader is taken once more to the farms of Darrowby.
Herriot is the quintessential vet of the past, someone who formed a bond with every animal he treated. Every patient of his, becomes an interesting character and one can almost palpably feel the goodness of life flowing through.
I'm glad that I had the opportunity to read Herriot again.
Saturday, November 28, 2009
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
James Herriot
Herriot, James. All Things Bright and Beautiful. London: Pan Books.1978
Darrowby comes alive with its green hills, rolling farms, animals and people as James Herriot, the veterinary surgeon talks of his early practice there in a collection of short stories. A classic Coverley Papers by itself.
Each story is heartwarming and Herriot's humour is never far behind to make it all lively and real. He laughs at his own inability to hold a few mugs of brown ale, beer and scotch and to hold a ball at a cricket match as it fell from the heavens straight into and out of his hands.
The stories are a peek at a slowly changing pastoral scene - before the War. The modernity of veterinary practices had not evolved - this is dung, wet noses, uterine entrails, animal deliveries, castrations, colic, ringing bull noses, healing ulcers, emphysema, TB, lockjaw etc in the raw. But the one thing that stands out is, however gory, bloody or sickening the scene, Herriot infuses it with a sense of wonder, tenderness and warmth.
Each story is a gem - the drunk Harold, Tom, the city returned young man determined to make a success of farming, the chirpy Cliff, the Mr.Pickergill whose mauls English with his 'semolina' for 'salmonella', 'rectrum' for 'rectum', 'labrador' for 'laboratory', 'bled a lot from his biblical cord, didn't 'e?' etc , the sprightly Siegfried, the talented Tristan, the ghost walker, the nosy parker Mrs.Donovan, the vagrant Pip, Granville, who always held his own when it came to drinks, the cricket matck in the Darrowby vicarage, the straight talk of the farmers, the brood of Dimmocks whose dog Bonzo becomes Herriot's professional challenge, Sam his dog and the long line of his grateful and ungrateful animal patients...
What a kaleidoscope! I savoured each page of the book which made for such good reading pleasure in the midst of murders, crimes, betrayals, mafias, pedophiles, sex, political intrigues, philosoply, spiritual quests and all other possible scenarios in books that we read, this was a whiff of pure, rejuvenating, oxygen filled, clean and fresh air.
Here's some interesting information from the web:
Trivia: Herriot's old veterinarian practice is still run by his son, James Alexander Wight. The veterinarian's daughter, now a physician in Thirsk, thought the original book should have been called "Ill Creatures Great and Small."
Fictional places we love: Darrowby of 'All Creatures Great and Small'
John FlinnRead more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/28/TREVRQEBS.DTL#ixzz0XDRPZmtL
Darrowby comes alive with its green hills, rolling farms, animals and people as James Herriot, the veterinary surgeon talks of his early practice there in a collection of short stories. A classic Coverley Papers by itself.
Each story is heartwarming and Herriot's humour is never far behind to make it all lively and real. He laughs at his own inability to hold a few mugs of brown ale, beer and scotch and to hold a ball at a cricket match as it fell from the heavens straight into and out of his hands.
The stories are a peek at a slowly changing pastoral scene - before the War. The modernity of veterinary practices had not evolved - this is dung, wet noses, uterine entrails, animal deliveries, castrations, colic, ringing bull noses, healing ulcers, emphysema, TB, lockjaw etc in the raw. But the one thing that stands out is, however gory, bloody or sickening the scene, Herriot infuses it with a sense of wonder, tenderness and warmth.
Each story is a gem - the drunk Harold, Tom, the city returned young man determined to make a success of farming, the chirpy Cliff, the Mr.Pickergill whose mauls English with his 'semolina' for 'salmonella', 'rectrum' for 'rectum', 'labrador' for 'laboratory', 'bled a lot from his biblical cord, didn't 'e?' etc , the sprightly Siegfried, the talented Tristan, the ghost walker, the nosy parker Mrs.Donovan, the vagrant Pip, Granville, who always held his own when it came to drinks, the cricket matck in the Darrowby vicarage, the straight talk of the farmers, the brood of Dimmocks whose dog Bonzo becomes Herriot's professional challenge, Sam his dog and the long line of his grateful and ungrateful animal patients...
What a kaleidoscope! I savoured each page of the book which made for such good reading pleasure in the midst of murders, crimes, betrayals, mafias, pedophiles, sex, political intrigues, philosoply, spiritual quests and all other possible scenarios in books that we read, this was a whiff of pure, rejuvenating, oxygen filled, clean and fresh air.
Here's some interesting information from the web:
Trivia: Herriot's old veterinarian practice is still run by his son, James Alexander Wight. The veterinarian's daughter, now a physician in Thirsk, thought the original book should have been called "Ill Creatures Great and Small."
Fictional places we love: Darrowby of 'All Creatures Great and Small'
John FlinnRead more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2007/09/28/TREVRQEBS.DTL#ixzz0XDRPZmtL
Friday, November 6, 2009
The Snow Tiger
Bagley, Desmond. The Snow Tiger. House of Strauss: London. 2000. (First printed in 1975).
After the fiascoed reading of the previous book, I tried to go around a little more carefully to
select my book. Desmond Bagley...a vivid picture of a book with an airman in flapping cap came to my mind, though I had forgotten the name. I decided to go in for the book 'The Snow Tiger' and am I glad!
The simple storyline...alternating between a Commission enquiring into an avalanche and the role of a mining company there...the good at heart Ballard, the snow expert Macgill and the town's characters were an enjoyable ensemble. An avalanche is sommething that I've only seen in a National Geographic telecast and now what goes on when the avalanche is peopled is something that I've never seen or read anywhere. I enjoyed the simple lines of the story though there were plenty of opportunities to dramatise it and Bagley did not. The story was entirely credible although to most readers like me, the setting and ambience are of another country, another clime and another people.
Bagley, you charmed me. Thank you.
( Bagley, born in 1923, wrote for two decades and his novels won great acclaim as good adventure novels).
After the fiascoed reading of the previous book, I tried to go around a little more carefully to
select my book. Desmond Bagley...a vivid picture of a book with an airman in flapping cap came to my mind, though I had forgotten the name. I decided to go in for the book 'The Snow Tiger' and am I glad!
The simple storyline...alternating between a Commission enquiring into an avalanche and the role of a mining company there...the good at heart Ballard, the snow expert Macgill and the town's characters were an enjoyable ensemble. An avalanche is sommething that I've only seen in a National Geographic telecast and now what goes on when the avalanche is peopled is something that I've never seen or read anywhere. I enjoyed the simple lines of the story though there were plenty of opportunities to dramatise it and Bagley did not. The story was entirely credible although to most readers like me, the setting and ambience are of another country, another clime and another people.
Bagley, you charmed me. Thank you.
( Bagley, born in 1923, wrote for two decades and his novels won great acclaim as good adventure novels).
Last Man Standing
David Baladacci. Last Man Standing
David Baladacci is no doubt a good story teller...but, the slow, painstaking unravelling of a mystery by a policeman who finds himself being the only one who has escaped from an ambush by a group of druglords made unbelievable reading. All right, my understanding of the underworld is limited to my reads about their devious plans etc, but honestly, the scenario here was totally so very cinematic, like a 70s Bollywood and Tollywood movie of a gangster's den doing unbelievable acts of torture and revenge. It appeared as if there Baladacci intended his story for effect rather than for authenticity. Gwen, her farm, her husband, their trusted secretary, the kidnapping for revenge...all carried the sense of boredom that comes with an unconvincing setting. Not impressed at all.
David Baladacci is no doubt a good story teller...but, the slow, painstaking unravelling of a mystery by a policeman who finds himself being the only one who has escaped from an ambush by a group of druglords made unbelievable reading. All right, my understanding of the underworld is limited to my reads about their devious plans etc, but honestly, the scenario here was totally so very cinematic, like a 70s Bollywood and Tollywood movie of a gangster's den doing unbelievable acts of torture and revenge. It appeared as if there Baladacci intended his story for effect rather than for authenticity. Gwen, her farm, her husband, their trusted secretary, the kidnapping for revenge...all carried the sense of boredom that comes with an unconvincing setting. Not impressed at all.
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