I've read this several times and never regret it. I thought it was hilarious when I was a kid and I still do. The Durrells move to Corfu, and the youngest son, Gerry (who adores animals beyond all reason) starts to fill up their various houses with all the wild and domestic pets that he can. There are field trips in the surrounding countryside, often with the local naturalist, but as appealing as the nature writing is, the real draw here is the family itself, all of whom are slightly mad in one way or another.

I always wonder, when I read this, what they were actually like. I'm sure there's some truth in their almost-caricatures, but I can't help but picture Larry or Margo or one of the rest, reading this memoir some decades later - reading it for the first time - and their immediate responses. 

I'd pay good money to see that.