Book (and Show) Review: All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot

Spoilers for the current show All Creatures Great and Small (last couple paragraphs)

As you know, I am an enthusiastic consumer of British period pieces, and when I heard about the new TV series All Creatures Great and Small (ACGAS), I immediately knew I would watch it, as I loved the James Herriot books as a kid. Watching the show made me want to reread the books, so here we are. 

For those of you who don't know about this series, it's the slightly fictionalized memoirs of a veterinarian in Yorkshire, England (I think it's a county? or series of counties idk) in the 1930s. They're very funny and full of amazing, gross animal facts and illnesses and treatments. The title is chosen, for obvious reasons, from a hymn. ACGAS is actually the second line, so the second book in the series has the first line in the hymn, the third book has the third line, and so on. Here's the summary of the first book from Barnes & Noble: 

For over forty years, generations of readers have thrilled to Herriot's marvelous tales, deep love of life, and extraordinary storytelling abilities. For decades, Herriot roamed the remote, beautiful Yorkshire Dales, treating every patient that came his way from smallest to largest, and observing animals and humans alike with his keen, loving eye.

In All Creatures Great and Small, we meet the young Herriot as he 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. Some visits are heart-wrenchingly difficult, such as one to an old man in the village whose very ill dog is his only friend and companion, some are lighthearted and fun, such as Herriot's periodic visits to the overfed and pampered Pekinese Tricki Woo who throws parties and has his own stationery, and yet others are inspirational and enlightening, such as Herriot's recollections of poor farmers who will scrape their meager earnings together to be able to get proper care for their working animals. From seeing to his patients in the depths of winter on the remotest homesteads to dealing with uncooperative owners and critically ill animals, Herriot discovers the wondrous variety and never-ending challenges of veterinary practice as his humor, compassion, and love of the animal world shine forth.

I enjoyed reading this, of course. I think that this first book, ACGAS, is covered by the first two seasons of the current adaptation. They of course fleshed out the characters (Mrs. Hall, the housekeeper, especially) and swapped some things around (in the show, Tristan gets kicked in the leg by a horse, whereas it's James that gets kicked in the leg in the book). They also made the strange choice of making Siegfried, James's boss, a lonely widower in his 40s who is afraid to get back into the dating world. In the book he's in his early thirties and is a total ladies' man. I guess the series thought it'd be better to have Tristan be the ladies' man. He is one in the book, and he's also depicted as being really smart, which doesn't get really depicted much in the show (television deals in absolutes). 

I really like Helen (James's eventual wife)'s character in the show, although of course they made her more spunky. She did wear trousers in the book a lot, and consequently in the show, which I thought was cool. Helen was depicted in the book as being this nice, perfect daughter who didn't talk much but served her dad and doted on him. They made the dad all gruff and kind of scary in the show, while he was all quiet and small in the book. They kept Helen's little sister, expanding her role (great kid actor. She and Helen really look related), but for some reason excised her little brother. They turned a throwaway comment in the book about Helen's dad maybe wanting her to marry his rich friend's son into a whole love triangle, of course, even going so far as to have Helen leave him at the altar. They've also left out the domineering secretary, but maybe they'll add her in season 3. Tricki Woo remains my favorite, although his mom needs her head checked. Anyway, check out the show! It's a sweet, gentle British dramedy (fairly light on the drama).

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: February 12-13
From: gift, I think
Format: hardcover
Status: keeping at my parents' house, where it has been all along

Trigger warnings for this book: animal death; human death mention; animals injured, in pain and suffering; gross medical descriptions such as body fluid mentions, organs, etc.; alcohol and drunkenness (lots of mentions), animal mistreatment out of misguided love, period-typical sexism, poverty, pipe smoking I think

November & December books

I decided to just do short book reviews for the 2018 books I hadn't reviewed yet.

Where Am I Now? True Stories of Girlhood and Accidental Fame by Mara Wilson (early November).
I loved Mara Wilson's movies growing up, and she's really funny on social media nowadays, so I bought her memoir from Barnes & Noble and was excited to read it (which means it sat on my bookshelf for a year). While it wasn't the laugh-fest I imagined, I really enjoyed this book. Mara explores her child star status, her struggle with OCD and anxiety, her awkward adolescence, and how the deaths of her mother and Robin Williams impacted her. It was like a window into her life, and I'd like to be friends with her.  ~~~~~ 4/5, keep


 Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury (mid-November to early December)
I loved The Martian Chronicles when I read it for a sci fi class, so I bought this book when I came across it in a thrift store. Ray Bradbury has just the loveliest writing; everything he writes is a work of art. This book is a love letter to his midwest childhood in the 1920s, while also mythologizing it and imbuing it with sci fi elements and mystery. Some examples: an old woman who hoards objects from her long life is convinced she has always been an old lady by the local children; an old woman recognizes the love of her life as being reincarnated in his grandson, and a heatstruck boy is brought back to life by bottled air from cold lands, sold by a peddler. The only thing I didn't like about this book was the creepy element of a serial killer, which is treated like high adventure by the boys, and it was just too flippant for me.   ~~~~~ 4/5, probably give away


The Nutcracker by Alexandre Dumas (Christmas eve)
I bought a copy of the Nutcracker story in a beautiful binding from Barnes & Noble. I read the story as a child, although I'm not sure it was the Dumas version. It's pretty weird. This one starts out with the author at a Christmas party at a friend's house. He sneaks away from playing with the kids to take a nap, but wakes up tied to the chair. The kids agree to release him only if he tells him a story, so he tells them "the history of the Nutcracker". It's not at all a story that would entertain children, as it's way too long and tied up in weird bureaucratic and historical details, with the kind of long-winded and rambling writing typical of the 18/19th century. Clara is supposed to be 7 and a half and she's this perfect little lady who is always sweet and kind and acts way older than her age. What's insane to me is that at the end, the Nutcracker marries her after a year has passed. She's only 8 and a half at that point!! So weird.  ~~~~~ 3.5/5, keep

Christmas In My Heart 1 ed. Joe L. Wheeler (Christmas)
Every year Joe L. Wheeler puts out another compilation of Christmas stories from the good old days. Each one has stories from the Victorian era through maybe the 1960s, chock full of adorable precocious children, forlorn but cheerful orphans who find a home, lonely people finding each other, people learning the true meaning of Christmas, separated couples getting back together, and occasionally nice white people helping brown/foreign children. It's all very treacley. At the end of each one is a long sweeping story by Joe L. Wheeler himself that is full of romance between beautiful/handsome Christians and involves either music or books and is bound to give you diabetes. I've read at least four of the CIMH books and they're all the same. My mother gives the new one to my father each year, and we are at volume 27. When will Joe L. Wheeler's reign of terror end?  ~~~~ 3.9/5

Book review: My Son, Beloved Stranger by Carrol Grady

heavy spoilers throughout I guess

One of my tasks as a reference librarian is looking over the new books that are processed and ready to be shelved. One of them was My Son, Beloved Stranger by Carrol Grady. It is about an Adventist mother who is devastated when she learns her son is gay. She and the rest of the family struggle with this new side of their son as well as what others might think, their church's beliefs about gay people, and the looming threat of AIDS. The family eventually comes to accept their son and his sexuality.

MS,BS was based on the author's personal experiences, and I believe the feelings and experiences are very similar to, if not exactly, what happened. It was originally published in 1995 under a pseudonym (visible on the book cover above-left). The writing was, in my opinion, somewhat flowery and dramatic, with some unnecessary details. I do think this book was and probably still is very important for SDA parents of LGBT+ children, as at the time it was published there was little to no literature or visible support around this issue (from/by/to the Adventist church).

While I understand this book was written specifically for parents who might be blindsided by their child coming out to them and what that might entail for their religious beliefs, I thought that it made the son's being gay all about his family, especially his mother. The parents did worry about whether their son Danny would be fired for his orientation (he was a K-12 teacher), or if he would be beat up or ostracized, or if he would get AIDS, but most of their worries seemed to be about their own situations. The parents worried about what other people might think of them and leaned on their son to stay in the closet. The mother mourned the loss of the "straight" son she knew and was crushed that her son would not be able to marry and have children. She was also extremely worried that she or her husband had been responsible for her son's gayness: she and Danny had always been very close (the smothering mother theory), and her husband was a missionary pastor and was often gone for the better part of the year (the distant/absent father theory). She felt like she couldn't talk to anyone about it out of shame, seeing herself as being in the closet as the parent of a gay son, and she sank into a deep depression. Her husband was no help because he, in denial, insisted that Danny was just going through a phase and needed to snap out of it.

I suppose it is a testament to how much things have changed in society at large, my own worldview, and even the Adventist church when it comes to LGBT+ people, but I confess I was rather surprised at how hard Danny's parents took everything. When the mother learned about her son being gay, she started screaming and sobbing and punching the walls so hard she hurt herself. I've already mentioned her deep depression. The father was in denial and refused to reevaluate his worldview or listen to his son. At some point, Danny moved in with his brother and sister-in-law because of the difficulties he was having with his parents. All of this just seemed so extra to me. They were seriously reacting as if their son had been murdered, or as if he had turned out to be a serial rapist or something. And this was from Christian parents who loved their son! I was like secondhand offended at all the homophobia and narrow-mindedness.

After Danny broke off his engagement to a nice girl his parents loved, his mother started remembering all these super gay things he did as a young child, such as being really happy when his female friend let him be the mommy when playing house, saying he was going to be a ballerina when he grew up, begging his mother for  a twirly skirt and then twirling around in it, loving music and art and hating sports and cars, etc. All that and she had no idea?? To be honest, that's pretty stereotypical and imo more indicative of someone being a trans girl than a gay guy, but whatever. I was also deeply amused when Danny's dad said that all teenage guys experience feelings for their guy friends due to hormones. Like what??? Sounds like dad is bi!

Anyway, the book ends with Danny, a couple of failed relationships under his belt, telling his mother that he's going to be celibate from now on and is joining an Anglican church, and she rejoices. The author wrote an afterword that included a more affirming viewpoint for LGBT+ people (i.e. the gays don't have to be celibate to be accepted by their church/God). Overall, I think this book might be helpful for Adventist parents of LGBT+ children, as well as people studying the acceptance of LGBT+ people in the SDA denomination or Christianity in general. I don't think I'd recommend this to LGBT+ people themselves, as the negative viewpoints and situations might be triggering to them. Ultimately, this is a book for straight people, and while some might use it to pat themselves on the back for being so accepting, it might help others, especially the more traditionally minded, to become more accepting themselves. However, a lot of change has happened in the last 20+ years, and there are better books out there, such as Justin Lee's book Torn.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Read in: late April
From: the library
Format: paperback
Status: still at the library obvs

EDIT: if you're interested in this book/topic, read this article by Mrs. Grady where she looks back over the 30 years since her son came out and inspired MS,BS. Very interesting.