All Things Wise and Wonderful: The Classic Memoirs of a Yorkshire Country Vet

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He's dreaming of his beloved Helen, now pregnant with their first child and thinking of the salt of the earth farmers scratching out an existance with smallish herds of cattle. If the story of the town mischief maker and his dog didn't put a lump in your throat you have to be made of stone. In the course of my successive re-reads of James Herriot's books as a child, I would routinely skip this one, which I thought of as "the sad one.

I was not thrilled with the start of All Things Wise and Wonderful, because from the get-go we learn that James Herriot is going to be writing about his wartime experiences. He showed me how to focus not just on the animals, but on the people who lived with the animals, and their loving, sometimes difficult and very wonderful connections with one another. Inspiration for Alexander's hymn text "The purple-headed mountain, The river running by" has been attributed to four separate locations in Wales, Ireland and England.I read the children’s books to my children over and over again and we have visited the town of Thirsk in Yorkshire and the James Herriot Museum, which we loved. James gives him some pills but that doesn’t work and James realizes the dog has Hodgkin’s disease. As a social worker by profession, and an individual who struggles with depression myself, I can attest to the healing power of our four-legged companions. One of the beauties of the book is that every chapter tells a different story, so the reader never loses interest. The surface has a special matte coating, designed for high quality fine art reproduction with giclée technology.

She is also known to have visited Markree Castle near Sligo, and some sources link Alexander's text with the surrounding gardens there. When I get to this volume in reading through the series, I'm tempted to hold my breath and rush through.Along the way, as the barracks becomes a center of lung infection and depression and James’ crazed flight teacher screams in his ear, Herriot remembers the successes and the heartbreaking failures: the cat who died of cancer on Christmas after delivering her kitten to a safe and loving home; the emergency road-side resuscitation of a Golden Retriever asphyxiating on a rubber ball; the miraculous recovery of a mauled and mutilated dog brought back to life (and a good owner); the adventures of a cat meant for death who instead lives and loves with the Herriot’s – while also attending all village meetings and get togethers; and much more ranging from horrific epidemics of foot-and-mouth to simple stories that revealed the strength and hardship of life and learning. Since they were first published, James Herriot’s memoirs have sold millions of copies and entranced generations of animal lovers. Having said that, the service of the men and women who fought in WWII should always be revered for the sacrifices they made. And of course the nostalgic stories of events before the war (especially the flatulent dog) are as fun as his other books.

I grew up reading James Herriot's book and I'm delighted that thirty years on they are still every bit as charming, heartwarming and laugh-out-loud funny as they were then. I've heard the actress from the show say the children have told her stories about their mother and she was quite exceptional. There are a few redeeming qualities from the abusive treatment Herriot and his companions are meted out. During training, though, all the men are instructed to always have their ID discs with them, since this will be the only way their bodies can be identified if they happen to be shot down.Highly recommended especially in the audiobook versions read by the actor Nicholas Ralph who plays Herriot in the TV series.

The continual gassy emanations from his non-embarrassed airmen remind him of the unfortunate instance of Mrs. Many of Herriot’s works—including All Creatures Great and Small, All Things Bright and Beautiful, All Things Wise and Wonderful, The Lord God Made Them All, and Every Living Thing—became international bestsellers and have been adapted for film and television. James convinces him that Digger needs him more than ever and eventually, Andrew gets over it and realized James is right.These memories, as it were, serve as James’ life preserver and the instigator to go back-in-time, spinning more vet adventure yarns for the readers. it seems each time he enters a new adventure in the RAF his mind wanders off to the hills and dales of his home county. Hensfield is a dreary, dark mill town, and the vet he is covering for generally works on animals for poor owners, for low pay. Herriot doesn't worry too much about strict chronology, and he doesn't try to hide the fact that most of the time his RAF life serves only as a backdrop to his memoirs, stitched in with hasty segues.