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My Animals and Other Family

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This finely honed script from Gerald Durrell's witty and extremely well-written memoir is another stunning example of how "the Brits do it better. Despite Mother's attempts to tell Margo not to, Margo kisses the saint's feet and comes down with the flu immediately.

Spending so much of his time in the garden and fields watching one sort of the animal kingdom in their natural habitat allows Gerald to learn more incisively about the habits of an altogether different genus: his family.I have always been a huge admirer and aficionado of Claire Balding, as she is my heroine in both the equestrian and sports world but in the journalism world too because of my combined love of horses and her career. There’s a charm in this semi-autobiographical tale of Gerald Durrell’s family’s life after moving from England to the Greek island of Corfu as a young, inquisitive lad at the age of ten, surrounded by nature and discovering the wildlife of his new surroundings. This is a perfectly charming memoir written by Gerald Durrell, a well known British naturalist and zookeeper. Shortly before I was born, my parents were gifted an Irish Setter puppy from a family two houses away, they owned the sire of the litter, and the puppy had originally been briefly owned by another couple who had it sent straight off to some Edgar-Sawtelle-like intense training camp without ever interacting with it. Mother and Margo are immediately disgusted and worried about disease when they discover that there are funerals galore that day and that Grecian bathroom practices are less sanitary than English ones, so Mother sets out to find a villa immediately.

I also giggled as the ‘magenpies’ – the name Spiro gives to magpies - destroyed Larry’s manuscript; and again when a snake-filled bathtub sent Leslie streaking into the midst of a party with only a small towel for covering. a meeting with a convict let out for a temporary jaunt, and the appointments with various tutors (including one with quite the impressive bird collection) all pointed to the fact that Gerry lived quite an extraordinary young life. An amazing life of where animals come in the pecking line before humans, (in some cases that is true) as well as a long line of heritage (which is baffling) and a grandmother who is not afraid to speak her mind about everything. She also chronicles some of her struggles at boarding school and the difficulties of being a female jockey. Eventually, Mother purchases a horrendous and outdated swimming costume so she can join, and the family plans a moonlit picnic for her first swim.The shepherd Yani tells Gerry folktales about cypress trees, and the peculiar Rose-Beetle Man sells Gerry several pets. When spring arrives, Mother's cooking causes Larry to develop indigestion, and Margo begins secretly swimming with a Turk. And even though I am not into sports and have no clue into horse racing, I found it an enjoyable experience. Looking back, none of these things were all too astonishing – didn’t every little kid have pets and a desire to be a vet? Once I was back in my reading form I picked it up again, and that is when I realized that what worked for me was reading a couple of chapters every few days, and I am glad that I did finally finish it.

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