Diddly Squat (Books 1 & 2)

 

We've become quite familiar with Jeremy Clarkson at home due to his motoring shows, and so when we discovered Clarkson's Farm on Amazon we decided to give it a go and ended up enjoying it quite a bit. I'll admit, I initially thought the show was a spoof. When I think of Jeremy Clarkson I think of fast & fancy cars and when I think of fast & fancy cars I think of a posh lifestyle and I would have never thought that Jeremy would work on a farm. Turns out I was wrong. Jeremy has lived on a 1,000 acre farm for over a decade and had been contracting the land to a local farmer to work. When that person was no longer available, Jeremy decided to work the farm himself. Trouble is, Jeremy knows nothing about farming. Hilarity ensues, and thus the show has been pretty entertaining. I think knowing that Jeremy lives on a farm and that the show is legit makes it even better than if it were staged.

In addition to the show, Jeremy writes a weekly news column in the paper about his farm. I'm not sure which came first, the paper column or the show, but they are both essentially extensions of each other. Unlike most book - TV/Movie combos, however, I actually enjoy the TV show more than the book. I think Jeremy can capture some of his wittiness on paper, but it is difficult to fully appreciate his humor in a book. It's just more entertaining to watch his actions and struggles than to read about them.

The books are a collection of his newspaper columns about his farm, and thus are very quick and easy reads. Each chapter is short and not too taxing on the brain. After reading the massive and dense Game of Thrones books, this type of reading was welcome. A lot of the topics covered in the book were featured on the show, and thus were recognizable. He spends a decent amount of time in the books discussing governmental restrictions that limit farmers. Situations like beavers causing tuberculosis in cows but you can't kill beavers because they're protected are common. This places farmers in a bit of a damned if you do, damned if you don't scenario. These situations could be common in America too, for all I know. While these are legitimately important topics to discuss, after a while it can become a bit less entertaining and more political. With that being said, however, the books are generally entertaining and I think anyone who enjoyed the show would likely enjoy the books as well.