★★★★★☆☆
Title: My Animals and Other Family
Author: Clare Balding
Genre: Non-Fiction / Memoir / Autobiography
First published: 2012 by Viking
Edition: Audio book, narrated by Clare Balding
I have always admired Clare Balding, a sports presenter for British television. I know her from the racing coverage the BBC used to carry, but she has since gone on to do all sorts of events, including the Olympics and Paralympics. I have always admired her a lot. She always comes across as an intelligent, knowledgeable and most of a genuine human being. I decided to listen to this book on Audible. It makes sense to me listen to memoirs narrated by the author and I had a lot of fun with this one.
Clare tells stories of her childhood with a lot of warmth and good humour. All the chapters are named after animals, dogs and horses, that have played a part in her life. She paints a vivid picture of growing up with a father, who is a race horse trainer, and a grandmother who thinks women are second-class citizens. Everything, from her first pony to being caught shop lifting at boarding school to becoming an amateur jockey, is told with enthusiasm and often you can almost hear her smile at the memories. There were definitely some laugh out loud moments and some sad moments and I lived them with Clare as she told me about them.
These tales of the first twenty years of her life are probably most interesting to those who know and like her, but if you like horses, you might like it regardless. If you don’t, well, maybe this one is not for you.
5 out of 7 stars
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