My Animals and Other Family

Product Information

My Family and Other Animals (The Corfu Trilogy Book 1) is a delightful memoir by Gerald Durrell, a British naturalist, conservationist, and author. It documented with hilarity the Durrell family’s five-year sojourn on the Greek island of Corfu, a magical island paradise that I would love to visit one day. I read it rapturously over a few days and learned so much about the flora and fauna while vicariously tromping all over the island with the enthusiastic child botanist the author was at that time. Amongst other things, I learned that crab spiders can change color just as effortlessly as any chameleon and that lacewing flies lay eggs on stilts. I looked up pictures of yellow crocuses and majenta or wine-colored cyclamen. Now I dont normally go for biogs, preferring fiction; but something about this book made me want to read it. I loved how each chapter was seperated into each different pet or horse Clare knew growing up. It had me laughing and crying in many places. She tells her story so well, which is easy to read and understand. I’m horsey but not that interested in Racing, but I understood what she was on about and could easily visualise the races or mishaps Clare got herself into growing up! She evoked fond memories I have, especially as I was a fearless tom boy growing up too who would get myself in lots of trouble sometimes involving a pony or friend. Wildlife Preservation Canada established the Gerald Durrell Society in 2006 as recognition for individuals who have made legacy gifts. I laughed at so many of the personal anecdotes, savored the beautiful descriptions of the island, and was entertained by his interactions with many of the island locals. The encounter with the Rose-beetle Man (what a fantastic figure this man must have been!), 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. I expected to be amused by and pleased with this story, but what I found to be a pleasant surprise was that Gerald Durrell could really write! I didn’t just highlight the funny stuff (although there are loads of those bits marked up too), but passages like this one left me gaga over his choice of words: George discovered that by seasoning a series of unpalatable facts with a sprig of zoology and a sprinkle of completely irrelevant detail, he could get me interested. Thus I became conversant with some historical data which, to the best of my knowledge, have never been recorded before. Breathlessly, history lesson by history lesson, I followed Hannibal’s progress over the Alps. His reason for attempting such a feat, and what he intended to do on the other side, were details that scarcely worried me. No, my interest in what I considered to be a very badly planned expedition lay in the fact that I knew the name of each and every elephant . I also knew that Hannibal had appointed a special man not only to feed and look after the elephants, but to give them hot-water bottles when the weather got cold . This interesting fact seems to have escaped most serious historians...The lectures were attended by Gerry, his dog Roger, Achilles the tortoise and Quasimodo the pigeon. The four musketeers doted on the juicy big grapes of Corfu. Achilles loved the wild strawberries the best though.

In Nanny Ogg's Cookbook by Terry Pratchett, there is reference to a fictional book titled My Family and Other Werewolves. I got hooked on the show which was amazing, and was recommended to read the book, which I'm glad I did because it's equally amazing yet different. The Durrell's story is an escape from ordinary life in a way that I can't articulate but I kind of love. It's also hilarious - what a family! I really feel like I got to know Larry, Leslie, Margo, Mother, Spiro, even Lugaretzia. Pardon me, I never even realized that I might ruffle a few feathers by using it myself! That's beside the point. But it isn’t just his love of these creatures, or his love of nature in general that moves this story along, it’s this delightfully quirky family he happens to belong to, and their various reactions to coming home to yet another new strange “pet” that he has brought home. A curious boy and a lenient, loving mother together make this a wildly eccentric ride, in the best way. Shared with a sprinkling of nostalgia, a love of family and a captivating humour throughout, he managed to make me wish I’d been there through it all (well, almost all… I think I would take a pass on the incident with the scorpions.) Leslie, the typical gun-toting, empire-building Englishman whose life revolves around guns and shooting;Clare Balding is a well known sports presenter with a special interest in horse racing. I have no interest in sports and an out and out dislike of racing......but I adored this book, and could not put it down. It's that bloody boy ... he'll kill the lot of us ... Look at the table ... knee deep in scorpions ..."

The Visitors' Centre at the Belize Zoo is named the Gerald Durrell Visitors' Centre in honour of Durrell.Perhaps my favorite comfort read. This is the book I turn to when I'm blue and need to laugh. Hilarious chronicle of a budding naturalist and his eccentric family when they are living on the lovely island of Corfu. My favorite part, the part that reminds me most of my own house, my own boy is this: