Book Club Buzz: ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL and ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL by James Herriot

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February 21, 2021

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

James Herriot

St. Martin's Press

12/29/20

(original: 1972)

Paperback, 448 pages

St. Martin's Press

12/29/20

(original: 1973)

Paperback, 384 pages

Delve into the magical, unforgettable world of James Herriot, the world's most beloved veterinarian, and his menagerie of heartwarming, funny, and tragic animal patients. Herriot's beloved books are now adapted as a PBS Masterpiece series.

In All Creatures Great and Small, young James Herriot takes up his calling and discovers that the realities of veterinary practice in rural Yorkshire are very different from the sterile setting of veterinary school.

“Warm, joyous, and often hilarious."

-The New York Times Book Review

“One of the funniest and most likable books around."

-The Atlantic

All Things Bright and Beautiful picks up as Herriot, now newly married, journeys among the remote hillside farms and valley towns of the Yorkshire Dales, caring for their inhabitants—both two- and four-legged. Throughout, Herriot's deep compassion, humor, and love of life shine as we laugh, cry, and delight in the portraits of his many varied animal patients and their equally varied owners.

“A very warm, very engaging read."

-Associated Press

“A treat, a rare one, and God knows we all need a treat these days."

The Washington Post

ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL

ALL THINGS BRIGHT AND BEAUTIFUL

Book Club Menu

James Herriot’s adventures in 1930s Yorkshire are set in the fictional village of Darrowby, a composite of Thirsk, Richmond, Leyburn and. Middleham —four towns in the Yorkshire Dales where Herriot worked and visited frequently.

Herriot's storires are filled with scenes of country breakfasts, pub lunches, teas, and dinners in his client's farmhouse kitchens.

The young veterinarian savors his first tastes of food and drink local to the Dales. He samples Wensleydale cheese, a firm, flaky, mild cheese first made by the Cistercian Monks in the North Yorkshire Dale. He becomes a fan of Smith’s Nutty Brown Ale from Yorkshire's oldest brewery—“the first of an incredible series of Nutty Browns I was to drink." And he devours many Yorkshire Puddings— baked pudding traditionally served with roast beef and gravy—and is fond of the "little round ones" that the farmers’ wives often bake, "delicious golden cups, crisply brown around the sides."