All Things Wise and Wonderful

5 out of 5

By Donald Wardlow on Apr 11, 2012

This is my second-favorite book in this series, after the incomparable "All Things Bright and Beautiful." Mixed in with his usual animal stories are stories of Herriot's training in the Royal Air Force. Thank the Lord, the Germans never got to shoot at him in anger. Like his contemporary Jean Shepherd, who also never faced enemy fire, Herriot is the sort that the Germans would have wiped out in the first salvo, depriving the world of two fabulously funny men. The most hysterically funny story here is a tale of Herriot having a tooth pulled by an RAF dentist nicknamed "The Butcher." Like him, I had a tooth pulled once that had to be stitched after--I would never have believed it could be that bad. Another classic is another adventure with the playboy Granville Bennett, who does everything larger than life. Herriot, as his readers know, was around 135 pounds soaking wet most of his life, and couldn't hope to keep up with a man like Bennett--but what red-blooded man wouldn't like to try? Then there's Fergus, the guide dog who falls dreadfully sick. If that ever happened to one of mine, I'd wish for a vet I could bank on. In 30 years with a Seeing Eye dog, I've had a grand total of one vet I could trust. I've heard the arguments--Herriot did a lot of fantasizing in his stories. So did Shepherd, so did Bill Cosby. Be that as it may, his books never fail to raise my spirits--particularly when I'm feeling poorly. Like the others in this series, this is a delightful read.