Notes from a Small Island

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Summary: Many very funny episodes, with tedious bits in between
Review: Bryson seems to have absorbed much of the best parts of British humour during his stay. At times the writing reminds me of Douglas Adams, and there were many times where I laughed out loud.

On the other hand, while his point about the destruction of heritage in favour of concrete and glass needed to be made, it didn't really need to be made on every second page. The judgements that he renders on towns he visits within five minutes of getting off the train wear thin after a while.

As well, at times the humour does seem to descend into the mean spirited. As an example which struck close to home for me, I found his description of a joke you could play on "people from Newfoundland or Yorkshire" using the London underground map to be a little unecessary.

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Summary: Bill Bryson's England is so much like India
Review: Reading Bill Bryson Notes from a Small Island on a 5000km journey across the heart of India on Indian Railways, showed how three centuries of English rule had shaped the way we are today. My India is not very different from Bill's England. We too have bus routes that reach destinations 2 minutes after a possible connecting train leaves; and how wonderfully the two establishments would expect the other to re-schedule; only to immediately change the original timings when one has grudingly agreed to align to the other's.

Its a brilliant piece of humour in which every ex-colony of Britain would find something similar happening at home.

Now if I am to travel to England, I would surely find it homely.

Thanks to "Notes from a small Island".

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Summary: A wonderfully funny insight into rural England
Review: Bill Bryson manages to put into words what many of us "Brits" feel about the quintessential English way of life. Tea at Eleven and crumpets before bed. His travels around the country and his encounters with the dreaded landlady are memories of every middleaged man in England and his holidays with parents in the bleak seaside weather of an English coastal town. A great reminder of how holidays were and perhaps should be.

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Summary: great fun to read while visiting in England
Review: My British hosts gave me a copy of Bill Bryson's Notes from a Small Island to read and enjoy during my visit in July and August. I had researched the traditional British travel books thoroughly so I knew the "facts" but I had great pleasure and fun reading his "personal views" while I was traveling to many of the places he mentioned. I needed the road atlas to keep track of his wanderings to places unfamiliar to me. I wish he wouldn't have ignored major parts of the country (like the Midlands) but it was his trip and not a comprehensive travel guide. It is his ideas and views only and his wit was refeshing. As I read the customer's comments (after I returned home) I was surprised at the enthusiastic response from the British readers themselves...their comments alone would draw me towards his writing. I have become a Bill Bryson fan.

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Summary: If you like Dave Barry, you might like Bill Bryson.
Review: After reading glowing reviews of Bill Bryson's work, I had high hopes for this book. Instead, I barely made it a quarter of the way through. Bryson hits you over the head with his sarcasm and wit, sometimes two or three times to make his point. The writing between sarcastic climaxes is actually quite good, but all that head hitting gives me a headache.

Rating:
Summary: Loved it.
Review: Though he nods in the direction of Kingdom by the Sea, he does what Theroux never managed to do; he gets inside the English psyche. Who in this country could read his account of being bothered by a serial trainspotter or the behaviour of a Weston hotelier following one of his outbursts without a stifled snort? Marvellous, witty stuff. And sadly accurate.

Rating:
Summary: a travelogue that makes you want to stay home
Review: Bryson reaches for at least one homourous quip per paragraph, and usually doesn't even raise a dry smile. As a travelogue it is totally unmemorable and uninspiring. It inspires me to stay home, to travel nowhere. The fact that this book is so popular in Britain just shows what a nation of narcissistic, air-headed twits they are.

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Summary: Couldn't put it down!
Review: Having just returned from England, I found this book very amusing and even had to laugh out loud at the events depicted in the book. I plan to read more of Bill Bryson's works and also to pass along the books to my traveling friends for their enjoyment. On board the flight home, we noticed a couple of people reading one or another of the books, so it has broad appeal I would say!

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Summary: A charming and detailed walking tour by witty Anglophile.
Review: Bill Bryson captures something essential about England and the English in this loving account of his last trip through the island he called home for 20 years. Bryson, electing to use public transport and foot, encounters many amusing and frustrating obstacles as he navigates his "green and pleasant land," and as his journey slows, so can the book. But his keen eye for detail and his self-deprecating humor make this a must for any American travelling to the Mother Country, and a delight for those of us already in love with her quirky people.

Rating:
Summary: Delicious!
Review: If books were food, this would be a big ol' submarine sandwich, and an absolutely delicious one. Similar to Paul Theroux' "Kingdom By the Sea", it's the story of a man's travels around England, mostly by foot. Some of the descriptions of the places send a shiver through my Anglophile soul - what I wouldn't give to hike through Windsor Park, or seek out Arthur's Cave. Even the descriptions of the crummy hotels and bad weather are delightful. Oh, to have the energy and freedom to go exploring England! Bill Bryson is a lucky man. I think anyone who wants to follow in his footsteps should hurry up and do it before they tear down more of their ancient buildings and hedgerows and replace them with more concrete atrocities. I know what he's talking about. I can't wait to read Bryson's other books, but this one is just so wonderful I'm reading it very, very slowly.