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Summary: It's popular in Eastern Europe
Review: My friend in Kiev, Ukraine lended me 'Notes from a Small Island'. I've never been to UK, but I got to love it while reading this book. I'm not a native English speaker, but I think it's exceptionally well written. I love this book! I laugh so hard that I start crying. Bill Bryson has an ability to give everyday things a whole new perspective. And I also like the fact that he is never offensive - he manages to make fun of things without putting them down. Also, one of my American friends confessed he have read only 5 books in his entire life. Well, 'Notes' was his sixth one. He was reading it for three days straight - from the beginning to the end.
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Summary: Dear Old Blighty
Review: I read this book while I was living in England, and again when I returned home to Australia. Bryson manages to find the truth in the stereotypes that are found in that funny, fabulous island of witty, erudite whingers! Now, I also enjoyed The Lost Continent as much....Bryson's travels around small-town America. I have noticed (as evidenced in the reviews) that Americans on the whole LOVE this book, being as it is about people strange to them, but are not as enamoured of his observations closer to home. I wonder if that is because Bryson does take the broad, stereotypical brush out, and those close up can see that the detail is lacking. Maybe in this book he takes a more affectionate view of his subject matter - it is after all a 'farewell tour'. I am looking forward to his book on Australia, to see how I react from a local perspective!NB - This one had me laughing out loud, and boring people around me by insisting on reading bits out loud. Don;t you hate people who do that?
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Summary: OH TO BE IN ENGLAND NOW THAT BILL'S BEEN THERE !
Review: Bill Bryson does it again. Delights and entertains with his tour of the British Isle. Sharp, sarcastic, and oh so so funny ! Do yourself a favour and buy this book - it will entertain you, make you laugh out loud and make you want to meet this author who does not condemn Princess Di for "spending $28000 a year on leotards and making occasional crank phone calls to hunky military men (and who among us has'nt?) is his unanswerable reply." Bill, keep those books coming, my man, my devotion (and those of others) is going to make you a very very rich man. Thanks for the laughs !.
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Summary: Read This Book
Review: If you are even slightly interested in England or in the English, read this book. It has been years since a book made me laugh out loud. This one had me laughing so hard, I kept reading passages over and over. I even called my friends to read them passages over the phone. I can't recommend this book highly enough.
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Summary: There will always be an england...
Review: I have read and re-read this book in the way some Trekkies watch the cycle hundreds of time-(though hundreds would be an exaggeration in terms of my reads) It is fiendishly difficult to imagine a funnier ,non fiction book about england and i defy anyone to show me one that IS funnier!(Evelyn Waugh can be pretty damned funny -but he's no Bryson.) Bryson is a great companion as he finds his way around a country he obviously loves-a love that emanates from nearly every page. If you like travel/humor you can't go wrong with this book (though i admit it may be a 'guy' thing) I can also highly recommend Neither Here Nor There (howlingly funny 1970's era europe travelogue -another bill bryson book)) and "A Walk in the Woods " ..too a joyously funny adventure along the Appalachian trail. Bryson is the funniest writer alive(in my book) My explicit directions should i die suddenly include a direction for the the full Bryson catalogue to be entombed with me!
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Summary: Yet Another Brilliant Bryson Book
Review: If you have a sense of humour, you'll love this. If you don't, you won't. As simple as that.
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Summary: Soooo glad I didn't buy it!
Review: I borrowed the recorded book from a lending library. I am sooo glad I did not spend money for it, and I surely don't mind spending money for good books. Early in the book, Bryson refers to the RO-RO (roll on-roll off) ferry from Calais to Dover, as the roll on-roll over ferry, due to the numerous ferry accidents in recent years. That was the last piece of humor I found, and I expect it was not original. Mr. Bryson's endless hyperbole grew tiresome very quickly. Many of his attempts at humor are of the bathroom variety, and are not of much interest to one much beyond puberty. His four-letter word vocabularity reminded me of a teen- aged boy just out of earshot of any adults. It is amazing that people earn large sums for such drivel. Don't buy this book. Don't read this book. Don't listen to this book.
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Summary: I'm Swearing Off Bill Bryson Books, I Promise
Review: I have to stop reading these books. People are looking at me funny in restaurants and on the train when I burst out laughing. But Bryson's books are SO GOOD. What's a person to do? If you read A Walk in the Woods and felt a deep yearning to walk the Appalachian trail, haul out your suitcase. This book will make you want to follow Bryson's footsteps again as he travels across England, Wales, and Scotland by foot, by bus, and by train. He spends a day or so in dozens of small towns and cities, disecting them for our education and amusement. He tours galleries, musuems, and historic homes; visits pubs and restaurants; and stays in an amazing variety of shoddy hotels. (There are fine hotels in England. They just cost more than he is willing to pay.) Even if you don't plan to go to England anytime soon (and why not? it's a lovely country full of friendly people we Americans and Canadians can mostly understand) this book is a reminder to those of us who are far too insular that the world out there is different and that difference is a good and quite frequently amusing thing.
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Summary: This book is to England as Lost Continent is to America
Review: This book is a perfect followup to reading Bryson's book Lost Continent. I like this book significantly more. Mainly because it is about a country I am not familiar with so it was more interesting (the English are an odd bunch!). And the fact that Bryson made his travels by foot & mass transit is more admirable than his travel by car in Lost Continent. Bryson paints a nice picture of Britain, and as always includes his distaste for shoddy architecture that clashes with most of the old buildings through the country. I'll outline the typical chapter for you: Bryson arrives in a town. Finds a hotel, either nice or shoddy. Takes a stroll through the town, complains about or praises it. Finds a place to eat, more complaints or praises, finds a pub, drinks, comments on it, and finally goes to sleep. I'm sure some people find it quite dull, but I like it. If you're an American read this book and leave Lost Continent for the Britains to read.
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Summary: Good Old Blighty
Review: One feels as though one has visited England purely by Bryson's writing. This is a charming, witty and warm book that should be an essential travelling companion when visiting our neighbours across the pond.
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