Derry Brabbs

Wowwwww, this book is a stunner! I loved nearly everything about it--only "nearly" because I discovered with this read that twentieth-century church architecture styles are not typically my jam, LOL. (And the Christian Scientist church seemed a bit out of place with the rest, as well--but just my two cents.)

The entire book is brilliantly photographed (There were pictures! In the eARC! Yay! :D), with plenty of photos per location--another nice bonus. And the captions and text were super show more helpful; I spent almost as much time reading those and learning about the locations as I did looking at the pictures.

I also loved that I didn't know about most of these places--only recognized one or two--so I really could dive in without any preconceived notions and just be ready to learn and enjoy.

Churches and London are two of my favorite topics, and I can see myself revisiting this book again and again down the line. It's so very pretty, and informative--a wonderful combination.

I received an eARC of the book from the publisher via NetGalley. All opinions are my own. show less

This has been on my shelf for over 11 years and I've finally gotten round to reading it. I LOVED it! The scenery of Yorkshire looks so much like where I grew up in Eastern Oregon. I thought that when I visited York and Haworth in 2016 and was reminded as I looked through the beautiful photos in this book. It was eye-opening to imagine traveling across some of those very sparsely populated areas at night. When I've read things like Jane Eyre or Wuthering Heights, I guess I imagined they show more traveled by streetlight---ha! But no, to imagine a coach traveling through the dark and the cold and the weather---it does seem very bleak!

I especially enjoyed the photos of York and remembered the builders who were working on York Minster when I visited there. Someone told me that they were learning the original ways of repairing and maintaining the building---knowledge handed down over hundreds of years. How wonderful!

I also learned something new: the name prefix "fitz" being similar to "ben" in Hebrew or the suffix of "son" in English---all meaning "son of". show less

I was really looking forward to this book as I am at the stage in my life where I am traveling more and wanted to see here I my want to go. The best part of this book are the photos. They were absolutely stunning and the layout was pretty good for a large format coffee table book (not so much for my pdf version). Unfortunately I have no idea what the criteria was for inclusion or what they really meant by pilgrimage. It would have been nice to break up the descriptive text to cover the show more legend, the physical structures (pictures) and why it is revered today (why are the pilgrims coming). Some of that was in the text, but it didn't seem consistent and was hard to find quickly when I was only looking for one part specifically. Regardless, it seems a little odd not to have Medjugorje among other potential sites. At times it just seemed like the author was including a site simply because it was popular with tourists. I guess that I was expecting something a little more spiritual?

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.
#GreatPilgrimageSitesofEurope #NetGalley show less

I read JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE because I wanted to see all the beauty Herriot spoke of in his ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL series. His descriptions of his veterinary work in Yorkshire, England made me want to visit there. But he was talking about the 1930s in his series, and I’m sure much has changed since then. Everything looks gorgeous in the pictures in JAMES HERRIOT’S YORKSHIRE, but even this was written in the 1970s. I wonder how much has changed since then.

Herriot accompanies show more the photographs (by Derry Brabbs) with his memories, some of his veterinary work in those locations, some of his visits there with his family, and others simply noting history. I admit to getting a little bored when he describes the scenery at length.

After finishing this lovely book, I still want to visit Yorkshire. But here I am in the United States and I don’t know how likely that is. I have to keep reminding myself that we have beauty over here, too, and I haven’t seen all of it yet. show less