Thursday, April 8, 2010

James Herriot

It's happened!  Finally, once again I've found a book that transports me to another time and another place.  Of course I have heard of James Herriot.  I had even tried to read one of his books as a little girl.  I must have been too young to appreciate it, because I certainly don't remember loving it, or even finishing it.

My Grandma Gilliland, a lifelong reader, recently passed away, and one of my aunts told me that in her last few weeks, she went back to these animal stories, and read them over and over.  Her copy of All Creatures Great and Small, is tattered with dog-eared pages.  I have been longing for one of those books that touch the soul, restlessly casting about for just the right read.  When I heard about Grandma's last reading days, I rummaged under my bed until I unearthed the dual copy of All Creatures Great and Small and All Things Bright and Beautiful that I had purchased from the bargain bin at Barnes and Noble several years ago.  If cliches originate with the truth, then that old saying "it made me laugh, it made me cry," could have been first written by a reviewer of this book.  Last night in bed, I was shaking with laughter (silently so as to not awaken Pat), reading about Tristan wrecking not one, but two of his brother Siegfried's cars in a 24-hour period.  Earlier in the day, though, I was fighting back tears when James had to put down an old widower's loyal dog, his last companion on this earth.

The first thing I wanted to be "when I grew up" was a veterinarian.  Reading All Creatures Great and Small was giving me twinges of regret that I never pursued that career.  Then I remembered the best thing about reading.  When I read this book, I am a vet.  When I read Pride and Prejudice, I am Elizabeth Bennet.  I am Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing.  I am Lucy loving Aslan with my whole heart.  This does not happen to me with every book, but once in a while, if you are very blessed, you open a treasure, one of those books that touches your soul, and you forget you are reading and are whisked away from your own life to Regency England, to a veterinary practice in the British Isles, to Narnia.