It was a struggle to find the time to read this month, but I managed to finish a whole book.
This is the third of James Herriot's All Creatures Great and Small series. I couldn't finish the series because I was missing this one, but finally got a copy last month - thanks to PaperBackSwap.
Herriot's books are charming tales of Vet life in the dales of Yorkshire, England from the Thirties to more recent times. Each chapter is written as a single short story. This makes it easy to read a chapter at a time during stolen moments. The books are not for children due to much drinking and some curse words. I have let D begin the series, though, because I gauged her maturity to be suitable.
D also read Howard Pyle's Men of Iron. We picked it up an old, hardcover copy at the thrift store for three dollars. She enjoyed the book, which I thought she would because it is about soldiers and battles.
I haven't read ANY of James Herriot's books but they've long been on my TBR list. My husband read them growing up (as did all of his siblings) and they assure me they are great reads. Sounds like you DO like JH at your house and I need to get to them! Thanks for the review. (And love your blog, btw.)
Thank you, Carrie. I hope you get to read some Herriot soon. He was very funny and so flawed. He readily admits in his stories that he was sometimes wrong or didn't know what to do about certain cases. I never trust a know-it-all Doc or Vet. In every page, though, his deep love for all of God's Creation shines through - be it animals or humans or the beautiful dales in which he lived.
I've read all four Herriot books at least 3 times over the years. They wonderful each time.
If you enjoyed the Herriot books - and there were films and a successful TV series made from them - then you will like the Constable books by Nicholas Rhea.
From this there was another - more recent - very successful series made called 'Heartbeat'. Like many series it has evolved, but the first of the series with Nick and Kate as they started their new life in Yorkshire was the one I liked best. Nick was a Londoner and a 'copper', a police officer. Kate came from the area and was a doctor.
Nicholas Rhea's Constable books. http://www.nicholasrhea.co.uk/heartbeat/
Just as James Herriot was a real man and based his stories on his own experiences so did Rhea.
My maternal grandfather was from Yorkshire - deepest rural Yorkshire, not the Yorkshire of the woollen mills. The ancestry has been traced back to the 1500's. My maternal grandmother also came from country stock, this time Nottinghamshire. They have been traced back to the 1500's - probably because both families stayed in the same few square miles for hundreds of years. They all worked on the land and I think that this makes me half 'earthworm'!
Sorry to ramble -
Minny