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Oct 14, 2008

Meg rated it:

I have this problem--an addiction, really--called BOOKS. I start reading one and I usually can't stop until I realize that awful smell is... ME!... or my kids do that incessant-tapping-on-my-shoulder thing to ask if dinnertime will be occurring before bedtime... (I know, I know. Probably shouldn't have put that in print. Now CPS is gonna come after me.)

Point being: This book was NOT like that. I could read one chapter each night, then put it down without my brain going all... t More...

4 comments like (13 people liked it)

Jan 14, 2008

Dale rated it:

It's semi-astonishing that I've been married to a veterinarian for a year and a half, which followed a year and nine months of dating/engagement, in which time I went on many emergency calls with her to treat sick horses (and the occasional goat), adopted a dog and a second cat to go with the first one my dearly beloved already owned, and various and other sundry proximity-to-a-vet type stuff has gone down AND YET only now have I finally said to myself, "Hunh, I should read that James Herri More...

0 comments like (12 people liked it)

Aug 28, 2011

Valerie added it

My uncle had such a harried schedule and such uncertain breaks that he too often couldn't indulge his love of reading at work. He carried these books to work because you could read a chapter in five minutes--then go on to the next chapter hours later with no loss of continuity.

He also loved the tv version, though he was getting a bit hard of hearing by the time I lived in his house, and often needed a translator at hand for the Yorkshire dialect.

If I were recommending, More...

3 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 08, 2009

Shoap rated it:

This book is well, spectacular, in a normal day way. James Herriot had a way of showing how little annoying, silly, and/or normal everyday events are truly remarkable. This book has those fuuny moments, embarrasing moments with those sweet ones that can only be called miracles.

I have really enjoyed this book and I recomend it to everyone, whether you like animals or not (This one is different from other animal stories, because its not only about animals, but about a world of people w More...

2 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 14, 2009

Lady Danielle "The Book Huntress" rated it:

As a future veterinarian growing up, I was told by many people to read this book. It is apparently considered a rite of passage for those who want to enter the veterinary field. Finally I did read it when I was in my junior year of college before vet school. It was wonderful. Herriot is a hilarious,heart-warming and talented author. He writes with an ease that is addictive to read. He manages to imbue every chapter with scenes that are laugh out loud funny, but also scenes that will bring tea More...

3 comments like (4 people liked it)

Jun 27, 2008

Krystal rated it:

This book was a fun read. Very humorous, and funny characters. If you like animals this is a good book for you.

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Mar 04, 2009

Zoe rated it:

I had always been curious about this book, because there was such a great fuss over it that persisted well into my life (it was written shortly before I was born). Well, the fuss is all true - this is one of the best books I have ever read - an autobiography, technically, about a simple man who loves his job. Not only is he a good author, but he is perhaps the best observer of people I have ever seen - he can make 20 english farmers all seem different. I laughed frequently - his descriptive skil More...

0 comments like (3 people liked it)

Jun 11, 2007

Razzberry rated it:

I wasn't sure that I would like James Herriot's works when I first came across them. A collection of animal stories by a country vet, I thought, but how wrong I was. I was well and truly engrossed the minute I started. His tales are so much more than that! They are beautifully crafted stories that are funny, touching, and quite simply, likeable.

What makes his memoirs truly remarkable are the vivid pictures he paints of the Yorkshire Dales, his self-depracation and the evident love an More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Nov 20, 2008

Ron rated it:

Good story telling, but even more enjoyable: a window into a time and place not so far from our own to seem really foreign, but still different.

Almost magical, like seeing a white rabbit carrying a watch or a river rat punting across the shallows.

1 comment like (1 person liked it)

Apr 06, 2011

Blah rated it:

I've been a fan of the BBC Television series based on these books for quite some time. Some how this book managed to be even more warm and inviting the the TV Program.

These stories are simply charming. It's rare that I literally laugh out loud while reading or listening to a book. The people I drive past on the way home must think I'm a stark-raving lunatic. Herriot tells his stories with a self-deprecating humor that is quite engaging.

Beyond the humor, Herriot powerfully communicates his l More...

0 comments like

Nov 15, 2011

Tessa rated it:

Don't deny this happens to you. We all get down, hit a rough patch, lose a job or get a divorce. Sometimes a gripping action movie is just what you need. But sometimes nothing works but a good, heartwarming laugh. For those moments, there is one author I can always count on. He's gone now, but his works will endure. The author is James Herriot, whose real name was James Alfred Wight, or Alf. The books are collectively known as All creatures great and small, as was the BBC tv series. Eve More...

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Oct 24, 2011

Sarah rated it:

Busy with work and school, I haven’t had much time for pleasure reading recently. But even in the short, five minute stretches I’ve managed to wrench from my chaotic schedule, it’s inevitable that I lose myself completely in the enchanting stories of James Herriot’s life as a veterinarian in the Yorkshire Dales. Mr. Herriot- er, Dr. Herriot- effortlessly animates the pages of his book as he remembers the entertaining details of his tumultuous veterinary practice, the country-esque scenery and m More...

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Aug 25, 2011

Lillie rated it:

I can't remember how old I was when I read James Herriot for the first time. It must have been late elementary school or middle school. What I do remember is the burning desire it fostered in me (and in probably every other child who reads it) to be a vet. James Herriot adored his life, and his passion pours through in his simple, straightforward, but absorbing, storytelling.
It was recently, standing beside (and filming) one of our vets as he put his arm to the shoulder up the back ends o More...

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Sep 14, 2010

Jane rated it:

Pleasant and enjoyable stories about a veterinary surgeon and his farm animal patients and their owners in the 1940s.

I listened to the audiobook narrated by Christopher Timothy. It was pleasant. It is partially autobiographical, but primarily fiction. It was written by a veterinary surgeon who worked in Yorkshire, England, starting in the 1940s. It is told in the first person and describes the working life of a country vet whose primary patents are large farm animals. He is some More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 28, 2009

Rosemaryknits rated it:

My family and I are working our way through this excellent series of audio books. I read them way back when, as the author was writing them, and while I completely enjoyed them, I missed a lot because I had no idea what the Yorkshire farmers were saying. In this version, the reader delivers the vernacular in such a way that I have no trouble understanding, whatsoever.

Christopher Timothy, the reader, is the actor who played the role of James Herriot in the television adaptation. He More...

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Sep 07, 2009

Shanna rated it:

All Creatures Great and Small opens an unforgettable series of personal memoirs by a country veterinarian in 1940's Yorkshire (also known as James Alfred Wight). These are written in a series of short chapter vignettes, with a warm, wry humor that vividly, affectionately, and sometimes mercilessly captures human nature in the context of this cultural scene. Many descriptions are laugh-out-loud hilarious, and will be spontaneously read aloud to the nearest listener. But Herriot is no cynic -- More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 04, 2011

Brittany rated it:

I can't remember how old I was when I read James Herriot for the first time. It must have been late elementary school or middle school. What I do remember is the burning desire it fostered in me (and in probably every other child who reads it) to be a vet. James Herriot adored his life, and his passion pours through in his simple, straightforward, but absorbing, storytelling.

It was recently, standing beside (and filming) one of our vets as he put his arm to the shoulder up the back More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 28, 2011

Kelda rated it:

Any book by James Herriot is like comfort food.
You read it and you feel warm and fuzzy, like everything's right with the world, and it's as if time freezed for a few moments as you let the words roll over you; making you laugh or cry, or float in the clouds.
I usually like to read books with action; sword fights, guts and glory, dragons-
But at the end of the day, somehow I always come back to this book. When I pick up this book, I'm lost in Yorkshire, or wherever James Herriot More...

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Jun 18, 2011

Alexis rated it:

This is a book that any animal lover will enjoy. James Herriot is a newly qualified veterinary surgeon in the Yorkshire Dales. He takes a position as an assistant to Sigfried Farnon after completing his coursework in 1937. We learn of his struggles and triumphs, both in caring for the animals and dealing with the people in his daily life.

His writing is so vivid and detailed that you feel as though you are right there with him as he is caring for a sick cow, a dying dog, or any num More...

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Apr 16, 2008

Stephanie rated it:

I don't know how it has taken me this long to discover this classic. James Herriot writes about his experiences as a country vet in the Yorkshire Dales just before WWII. Reading about the treatment techniques used at that time was far more interesting and engrossing than I thought. I found the stories heartwarming, funny, and even sad at times. A beautiful book!

3 comments like (1 person liked it)

Sep 24, 2010

Jelinas rated it:

When I was five, I wanted to be an artist. I was crazy about drawing. When I wasn't fighting with my sibs over something, you'd likely find me holed away, either reading or drawing. My dad was an artist, you see. Sure, running that liquor store in the ghetto was what paid the bills, but it was firmly stamped in my six-year-old mind that he was meant for a higher calling. I mean, look at the gallon of milk he painted on the side of the store. Was it not the perfect rendering of a gallon of milk? More...

0 comments like

Nov 09, 2009

David rated it:

James Herriot's memoirs of his country veterinarian practice are the perfect anodyne after you get all worked up by Michael Crichton. It's amazing how much humor and humanity he packs into such an unlikely and obscure subject. It is simply superb writing, and the world he opens is one you'd never see otherwise.

All Things Wise and Wonderful
All Things Bright and Beautiful
The Lord God Made them All
James Herriot More...

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Nov 09, 2007

Dixie Diamond rated it:

I used to work for a veterinarian and I still cannot believe the number of people, even animal lovers, who have not read Herriot's accounts.

These are pure gold. They are not painless Disney fantasy--there is plenty in them that is gruesome, maddening, and heartbreaking--but they are all amazing stories and beautiful in their own ways.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 11, 2007

Moonburst rated it:

I thought I had read this book all the way through when I was in elementary. However, I found a bookmark in the book, so I think I only made it to chapter 52 or so. So I'm re-reading it.

Having re-read it, I can honestly say that I love the book, and am looking forward to getting my grubby little paws on All Things Bright and Beautiful.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Kerry rated it:

Yet another book I loved lent to me by Bonnie during college. It appealed to childhood Kerry and said, "Remember how you wanted to be a vet for about three years in elementary school? Yeah, you would never have been able to handle it. But don't feel bad. Read me and live vicariously through me. Also, enjoy my charming rural European setting."

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 30, 2009

Megan rated it:

I belive Herriot will eventually gain the reputation he deserves as both a short story writer and non-fiction essayist. He is already beginning to appear in some anthologies, but deserves more attention from the academy. It seems to me there is a tendency for academics to prize literature that is self-absorbed and angsty and to under-rate the power and richness of creative non-fiction from and about people like the Yorkshire farmers and townspeople whose livestock and pets formed Herriots' vet More...

1 comment like

Feb 06, 2010

William rated it:

James Herriot's love for animals shines through in these feel good stories of his life as a country vet in England. From taking care of kittens and puppies all the way up through large farm animals, Mr. Herriot always has an interesting anecdote and lesson it impart. His entire series are a pleasure to read.

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Oct 06, 2011

Aerin rated it:

There's a Latin proverb: Aliud legunt pueri, aliud viri, aliud senes - Boys read books one way, men another, old men another. Which for me is often true - there are so many books whose messages have waxed and waned and transformed as I've gotten older. But it's not true of every book.

There are some books that were pure magic when I was a kid, and whenever I reread them, that sense of wonder and overwhelming love comes back in a way it never will for books I read for the first time as More...

2 comments like (15 people liked it)

Jun 24, 2009

Katie rated it:

I gobbled this book up when I saw it at a friend's house in Belgrade...(weird.) Anyway. I read most of it in one day, and then the rest out loud to my husband. The details about the Yorkshire dales, the animals, the food, the people, are yummy. My only qualm was the narrator seemed to take a passive role quite a bit. If something went wrong, it was his loopy boss, or his evil temporary boss, or the charming-but-dim villager, or whatever. I kind of wanted him to lash out at his frustratingl More...

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Aug 09, 2011

Liska rated it:

Why do they say that this book is about animals? It is about people. Whenever I think about this book, I think of Siegfried and Tristan and other farmers of Yorkshire.
Though I am being unfair, there are lots of animals in this book too, but they have personalities too. You cannot forget Tricky Woo, for instance, and how he sent wine to his Uncle James.
This book is about days gone, and, lit with memories, they look simple and warm and kind. And even though I dreamed about being a vet only for a s More...

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