Gerard Durrell’s book; “My Family and Other Animals”, has long been a great favourite read and re-read of mine.
I think it qualifies as the funniest book I know.
I am not at all a wildlife fan but Durrell’s interest and affection for the subject makes it fascinating.
He also makes his family come to remarkable life on the page.
The book describes a time, when Durrell was a boy, spent in the island of Corfu.
With Durrell are his scatty but extremely tolerant Mother, his elder brother Larry, a writer who lives in a world of his own, his gun mad brother Leslie and his sister Margot, who comes over as not being the brightest.

Durrell’s adventures with various small animals, insects and birds , (which he often attempts to raise in the family home) are described with great hilarity.
The book still makes me still laugh out loud.
One of the telling portraits in the book though is the one of his brother Larry.
This is , of course, the author Lawrence Durrell.
To say that he is portrayed unsympathically would be an understatement.
Even though the tenor of the book is gently satirical, Larry seems to come across as a selfish young man, unappreciative of his Mother’s efforts on his behalf and utterly indifferent to Gerard’s fauna collection.
As a result of this I tended to shy away from the older Durrell’s books, imagining that they would be a bit abstract and intellectual, reflecting the picture painted by his younger brother.
About nine of ten years ago I came upon a second hand copy of Lawrence’s book, Bitter Lemons,for sale, for small change, in a shop.
It reflects the image given me by his brother that, having bought it, this remained unread on my shelf until last week when I thought I should, at last, try and read it.
I have been glued to it since.
Far from being an philosophical treatise it is a moving and fascinating picture of Larry’s time spent in Cyprus before and during the war for independence in the fifties.
He has a marvellous gift for character and obviously a great affection and respect for the Cypriot people.
He spends his time there rebuilding his house and teaching in the secondary school in Nicosia.
While he is there two things happen, one is that the people start to revolt against the British rule of the Island and , at the same time, his brother Gerard comes to stay and gather wildlife together for a film.
The interesting moment happens one evening when the two brothers are abroad enjoying a moonlight stroll in the balmy Cypriot air when all hell breaks loose, bombs and gunfire are heard as the revolution starts.
This is the moment when Lawrence gets his revenge on brother Gerry.
The younger sibling seems to have no care whatsoever for civilian injuries in this outburst of violence.
He leaves the spot quickly to guard his precious animals and just as quickly quits the island muttering darkly about how the fighting has spoiled his movie making.
Lawrence, on the other hand gets down to the police station, in the middle of the action and spends the rest of his time on the island trying to mediate between the Cypriots and the British.

The trouble is that now I fear I will never feel quite the same about Gerry.