All Creatures Great and Small

All Creatures Great and Small is the first of three books that comprise James Herriot's memoirs of his time as a country vet in Yorkshire, circa 1930. A few months ago I read the second book, All Things Bright and Beautiful, loved it, and decided I really needed to read Creatures (and the third book, All Things Wise and Wonderful, which is still on my list).

Creatures begins with Herriot newly qualified from veterinary school and seeking a position - no small feat in Depression-era England. He finds one, as an assistant to the somewhat temperamental and slightly scatterbrained Siegfried Farnon, in the far north of England. His adventures in these early years and memorable; many of them are also side-splitting in their retelling. I noted of Bright and Beautiful: Herriot creates a sense of time and place, so that the reader is quite certain that Herriot's adventures could only have happened when and where they did. Many are sweet, some are laugh-out-loud funny, and all are tinged with a heavy dose of nostalgia.

So it is with Creatures (although this first book is even funnier than the one that follows, I believe). This is another lovely book, which should appeal to readers of all stripes. I very much anticipate including it on my year-end, "best of" list.

Four great, bright stars.