Why (In Britain Anyway) Do Vets Bother To Write Autobiographies?

Britain. Land of febrile uncertainty at the moment as the Brexit cliff edge approaches. A land where according to reports the government is actually stockpiling canned food in the event of a hard Brexit (I was at the Post Office cum grocery store in Sully last week and I actually looked at the canned items on offer as I was waiting in the queue thinking whether I should start a stockpile now. Didn't buy anything but the fact that I considered it says all you need to know about Britain today)

And yet Britain is also a place you can ask the questions which other places would consider you mad for asking them. So to repeat the title of this post:

Why in Britain do vets bother to write autobiographies?

I ask this question as it occurred to me whilst reading Tales from a Young Vet by Jo Hardy (co/ghost? written by Caro Handley) Ms Hardy was a star of the BBC Two series "Young Vets". It was a series that I wasn't even aware of at the time. But that doesn't matter. As regular readers of this blog will know I wouldn't have been it's target audience.

But anyway the problem Ms Hardy has is this. For the general reader, and probably uniquely in any aspect of literature one man stands as a colossus. In the sub genre that is veterinary autobiography one man alone is used as comparison to any new writer's work. The Dostoevsky of doggies the Pushkin of the Pussy Cats he is the star others try to reach.

I am of course talking of James Herriot.

Even in this book he's mentioned in the blurb where being a trainee vet is described as not "as easy as James Herriot made it seem". Really?

As a child/teenager  I read some of James Herriot's books and whilst not for a moment did it make me consider vetenarionship as a profession I did enjoy them as a reader for reasons I'll be mentioning in the next few paragraphs.

Whilst it would be wrong to say Ms Hardy's book is bad. It does not compare well when facing the Herriotian hurdle of comparison. It's biggest flaw is that it seems too rushed. One moment we're at a surgery, then in South Africa then back in Britain in a stable/zoo etc. This did not happen in the James Herriot books. We were in the Yorkshire Dales and that was that.

This rushing also applies to characters. People are introduced then ignored only to turn up chapters later. James Herriot probably subconsciously knew that the weirdest animals were humans. So there was a regular cast around the Herriotmeister a sort of mini drama when the other animals were not around.

It would appear that the only way Ms Hardy could go away from the shadow of James Herriot was to literally go away. Her next book is set in Africa. In writing terms the logic is simple "How can you be compared to James Herriot when you're in a completely different continent with completely different problems? It's an approach certainly. Whether successful is a different issue.

For the moment James Herriot rules.

Until the next time.

On Books: Read,Borrowed And Bought. Including A Booksale And Why I Might Have Underestimated Bernard Cornwell

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Now that the World Cup is slowly drawing to a close probably the only good thing is that there's more time to go back to reading. I must admit in the past month or so to having slowed up on it whilst there was the distraction of the global footy.

But now normal service has been resumed. And let's start with the book I've read since I last chatted on the subject.

Bernard Cornwell - Fools and Mortals

Now I slight digression is called for to explain why I've never read a Bernard Cornwell book before. In the mid nineties I made the mistake of watching a programme in the TV series of his Sharpe novels. All about the adventures of a British soldier in the Napoleonic wars. And to be honest in my early thirties it just didn't seem that interesting anymore whereas previously I would enjoy them. Only later did the explanation come clear.

I was growing old.

Also though as I've mentioned in this blog I read a C S Forester Hornblower novel about a year back and didn't like it. It's patriotism was over the top. The sort a member of UKIP would love. So not for me.

So Mr Cornwell's books have been avoided....until now. And let me say I loved Fools and Mortals. Set in Elizabethan times it follows a (literally) Shakespearean theatre company in the days where female roles were played by men. One of whom turns out to be the main character. William Shakespeare's younger brother.

Did Shakespeare have a brother? I don't know and it doesn't matter. It's a historical entertainment. Indeed I'll go as far as to say that as an entertainment it's the best book I've read this year.

I might still be right about his Sharpe novels. But reading Fools and Mortals has made me realise that should opportunity come I should give them a go.

I mentioned in my last post that I was going to spend part of Saturday in a book sale in Sully where I'm currently renting. I haven't bought that many books since we moved out of Bridgend so wasn't going to pass away the chance here.

(Another quick aside - Still renting at the moment whilst looking for "the place" - We thought we'd found a house and had an offer accepted only to drop out when the survey revealed a house that didn't so much need updating as upending and demolishing. It was that bad.)

It was held in The Old School Hall, now used for community activities.

Signs and Balloons For Books...I Love It

There was a good selection on display.

Full On Trestle Table Action

Now the price range was 1 book for a pound or six for five pounds. The intention was to buy six. The idea was two were those suggested by my favourite book podcast Backlisted, Two were going to be Penguin Paperbacks and two were going to be "Welsh" books as I've recently realised that I've not been chatting about Welsh books and their authors and this will change.

So the first book was:

Raymond Chandler -The Big Sleep

This is the sort of book I feel I know about even though I haven't read it. Certainly a book I should've read by now. So soon a literary bucket list will be ticked (An author on Backlisted by the way).

Now I only bought one "Welsh" book in the end. Could've bought more but wanted to avoid books by Catrin Collier or Dylan Thomas or about rugby.

(To be fair I've yet to get round to the audiobook I've got of Dylan Thomas' poetry - which I think is better listened to than read. And was tempted by a biography of Richard Burton. It's hardback brick length put me off. When we eventually more somewhere I will seek it out)

So it came to this.

Oliver Balch - Under The Tump 

Then I saw a Penguin Paperback.

Honor Tracy - Mind You I've Said Nothing

"Forays In The Irish Republic" is the description to this travel book. Let's just hope it's not cliché Ireland.

The next one was suggested again by Backlisted

Elizabeth Taylor - Mrs Palfrey At The Claremont.

The next does not fall into any of the categories I intended. Still....as I'm a fan

Clive James - Even As We Speak

And finally. Recommended by Backlisted and apparently David Bowie.

Spike Milligan - Puckoon

All for £5....

And that's not all. Went to the nearby library afterwards. The next book on the non fiction pile to read there was...

Jo Hardy - Tales From A Young Vet

All I can say is. If she can't get me to be interested like James Herriot could then she's failed.

No pressure then.

Until the next time.