My Animals and Other Family

My Animals and Other Family

  - Clare Balding

4 of 5 stars

This is a book that has perhaps been longest in the "currently reading" stage for me, without being abandoned at any time. I started reading it nearly 11 months ago, and even though I liked it, I wasn't able to make good progress with it. Last year for about 5 months I just couldn't read anything, and I think that pushing myself too much on this and another book may have created that reading slump. 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.

I am not a pet or animal person myself, but I do like reading warm stories about animals - James Herriot's works are amongst my favorite books. Though I would not compare Clare Balding to Herriot, I do find a similarity because of her love for animals, mostly dogs and horses though, and a very subtle streak of humor in her narration.

Her father was one of the most famous racing horse trainers of the time, and therefore she grew up on the training yard, developing an affinity for horses, riding and racing. She herself had a short but successful career as an amateur race jockey. She relates her childhood and racing career (to about the age of 19) in this book, and I loved her descriptions of her life on the farm, the scrapes she got into at her home and school, and her racing experiences. In the last one- third of the book, it gets a little deeper into the technical details of horse training and racing, and I found these a bit confusing and somewhat boring.

Each chapter in the book covers one of the stages or milestones of her life, and focuses on the animal that played a key role at the stage. I liked the format of the book, as well as her writing style. It's very well written, fluid and with just the right amount of detail to keep you engaged. I loved to see her bond with her brother, and the constant support of her mother. I didn't like her father too much, who seems to be a little self-absorbed and very chauvinistic. But her grandmother comes across as a really mean person who is particularly scathing to her, and I didn't like her at all.

Overall, I found it lovely, though slow read. And even though I am not into sports and have no clue into horse racing, I found it an enjoyable experience.