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All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

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All Creatures Great and Small (All Creatures Great and Small, #1-2)
by

James Herriot

Tom Mathews's review

Jul 09, 2016

it was amazing

bookshelves: non-fiction, biography-memoir, audiobook, read-in-2016, u-k-stuff, beasties, humor

I've read a lot of James Herriot's stories over my life but haven't read this first volume of his beloved series of memoirs. It is delightful, touching and often knee-slappingly funny. I highly recommend it.
FYI: The audiorecording of the book is narrated by Christopher Timothy, the actor who played Herriot on the BBC series based on the books.

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Reading Progress

November 1, 2014 – Shelved

November 1, 2014 – Shelved as: to-read

January 4, 2015 – Shelved as: non-fiction

January 4, 2015 – Shelved as: biography-memoir

September 1, 2015 – Shelved as: to-read-owned

July 2, 2016 – Started Reading

July 2, 2016 –

page 96

19.24% "“Oh Mr. Herriot,” Mrs. Pumphrey said. “I’m so glad you’ve come. Tricki has gone flot-bot again.”
This ailment, not to be found in any textbook, was her way of describing the symptoms of Tricki’s impacted anal glands. I hoisted the little dog on to a table and, by pressure on the anus with a pad of cotton wool, I evacuated the glands.
It baffled me that the Peke was always so glad to see me."

July 4, 2016 –

page 203

40.68% "“What have we done this time?” I asked.
“He says we sent him a treacle tin full of cow shit with instructions to rub it into the boar’s back three times daily.”
Tristan, who had been sitting with his eyes half closed, became fully awake. He rose unhurriedly and began to make his way towards the door. His hand was on the door when his brother’s voice thundered out.
“Tristan!”"

July 5, 2016 –

page 301

60.32% "Left hand on tail, right hand between the legs…At first my brain didn’t take in the fact that there was something different here…something vastly different. Instead of an udder a deeply cleft, pendulous something with no teats anywhere.
I came awake suddenly and looked along the animal’s side.
The farmer spoke up.
“You’re wasting your time there, young man. There’s nowt wrong wi’ HIS bag.”"

July 6, 2016 –

page 333

66.73% "Siegfried had offended him deeply on his very first visit. It was to a moribund horse, and Mr. Sidlow, describing the treatment to date, announced that he had been pushing raw onions up the horse’s rectum; he couldn’t understand why it was uneasy on its legs. Siegfried pointed out that if he were to insert raw onions in Mr. Sidlow’s rectum, he, Mr. Sidlow, would undoubtedly be uneasy on his legs."

July 9, 2016 – Shelved as: audiobook

July 9, 2016 – Shelved as: read-in-2016

July 9, 2016 – Shelved as: u-k-stuff

July 9, 2016 – Shelved as: beasties

July 9, 2016 – Shelved as: humor

July 9, 2016 – Finished Reading