My Family and Other Animals (Collectors Library) by Gerald Durrell (1-Apr-2012) Hardcover

I loved this story written from the point of view of an English teenager on the beautiful Island of Corfu.He introduces in a funny and endearing way the life of his expat family in strange circustances (before the onslaught of mass tourism) and also makes you love his animals and discovery of birds and insect life. Recommended for the young and adults alike.

Funny, beautifully written, full of tales of his eccentric family, the critters that enthrall him and the characters he meets on the Greek island of Corfu fill this autobiographical account of a young boy's exploration of the natural world.

A delightful book. For anyone who remembers Gerald Durrell and his programs on the BBC, it is wonderful to know about his childhood and how his fascination (obsession) with the natural world developed. The friends and mentors he met as a child in Corfu are as singular as Mr. Durrell.

Gerald Durrell's classic reminds us of a gentler time when 10 year old boys roamed the hillsides,stopping at each olive grove to enjoy the hospitality of the hill farmers . The often hilarious anecdotes are always affectionate, never cruel. From Achilles the strawberry-fanatical tortoise to the kind-hearted Belgian consul who puts feral cats out of their misery to Spiro, the Durrell's huge, glowering Greek guardian angel, the characters are charming and vivid. A great book to read aloud.

Condition as described. he story is amusong and very typical of Gerald Durrell's work. The audible coy is very enjoyable as the narator changeds his voice slightly for the characters and uses dialects that may slow down reading the book..

I have learned about Gerald Durrell later than many readers and animal lovers. I am so thankful that I did hear about him. I just finished reading and laughing through his book, My Family and Other Animals. Let me start by saying that my home is filled with animals. Currently, we share out house with two dogs and two cats, but at times we have also hosted frogs, guinea pigs, and rabbits. Our back yard is often visited by red foxes, beavers, raccoons, and deer.
I tell you this about myself because I detect a kindred spirit in the young Gerald as he recounts his adventures in Corfu where he amasses an impressive collection of pets. Durrell's genius lies in his ability to make readers feel they know the members of his families as well as the personalities of the animals he encounters. In addition, his writing is so beautifully descriptive without becoming cumbersome.
I heartily recommend this book to observers of animals and families. It is highly entertaining and I plan to read whatever else he has written.

The hardcover book is adorable.. matches the story which is about closely observing everything beautiful and odd! —Embossed palm-sized book with gilt edges! Perfect for this nature lover who travels!

Gerald Durrell has written a number of books about animals and their environment and all of them are funny. This book, however, is the first one he wrote and produces a laugh about every three pages! Do buy this.

This is one of my favorite books. Gerald Durrell (younger brother of author Lawrence Durrell) writes engagingly of his family's life on Corfu.
I laugh till I cry, every time I read it (and I must have read it a dozen times by now).

If you've never read anything by Gerald Durrell, and if you enjoy stories of young boys growing up in an extraordinary environment, with a delightful cast of his family and other memorable characters, READ THIS!

An absolutely delightful tale.Gerald Durrell has managed to recapture his childish innocence to relate the hilarious tale of hisquaint family's time in Crete from a young boy's point of view. I have read this book many times and it never fails to capture me completely.

hilariously funny book, autobiography of Lawrence Durrell's family life on a Greek Island. It is laugh out loud book about the antics of all the family members and local characters. The author's love of all animals creates a fascinating story of an unusual family living a somewhat nomadic life after the death of their father/husband. Well worth reading, a great summer read.

This is my favourite book, bar none. I first studied it in school which should have been a reason for disliking it; instead I have fallen in love with Durrell's autobiographical description of his somewhat dysfunctional family, their gang of eccentric friends, and the fauna and flora he studies and collects ardently and for the seemingly magical island of Corfu. Overall a hillarious and very warmly and beautifully written book. My only regret is in not having a similarly magical childhood.

This memoir carries the reader to the Mediterranean fifty or more years ago, and captures the ambiance with humor and vivid portraits of all the family members, including the esteemed author Lawrence Durrell. A great vacation read.

Such a good and endearing book about the author's childhood in the isle of Corfu and the animals he tracked, studied and helped to collect. The contacts and adventures he and his family had there with Greek people and all the interesting adventures, are a good introduction to the many lively books by Gerald Durrell, some of them are so hystericaly FUNNY reading that I had had TEARS
streaming down my face while reading them. Terribly interesting!! I have also visited the Zoo for endangered animals that he had established on the British isle of Jersey (which can be visited from France or England) and his current widow is still running it, I believe. (The ONLY book of his that I didn't like, was, "Rosie is my Relative" about a drunken elephant, which I regarded as silly.)