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Summary: Hard to keep reading when you're laughing out loud
Review: Loving books, I read a lot. But few books cause falling down, tears streaming down the face, gasping for air laughter. This book had me giggling, then laughing, then roaring. Do NOT eat while reading this book, you may choke. Highly recommended.
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Summary: I'd Give It 11 Stars If They Let Me
Review: Simply the best. Freakin' hilarious from start to finish.
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Summary: Almost as much fun as traveling yourself
Review: Before embarking on a longish trip, Jill and I like to read about the places we are going to visit. Not just guidebooks--although I must admit we buy those by the pound--but travelogues, histories, and novels set in those areas. Sometimes this is easy. Italy and the Galapagos are well represented in literature. Other places are not so visited by those whose inclinations are to put pen to paper or hands to keyboard, including Ecuador and Costa Rica. At the present, I am unsure of where Austria and Switzerland will fall, but the thought has crossed my mind that a well-placed proposal might nab me a book contract.As histories go, Austria is completely overshadowed by its larger German-speaking neighbor. This is unfortunate. While it is understandable that historians be interested in Germany, Austria has plenty to answer for in the last century as well. The same goes for the Swiss, who sorely need some bright lights shone in their shady vaults and executive suites, as the recent findings about Jewish bank accounts proves. The problem in travelogues lies in the fact that no travel writer seems to go to either of these countries by themselves. Nestled in the heart of Europe, they are waystops between places--like from Germany to Italy or France to Russia--and while travelers may make it a point to stop in, say Salzburg or Zurich, for the night, the urge to stay never comes over them. According to Bill Bryson, the lack of this urge may not be wholly the blame of the visitor. Austria and Switzerland each get a chapter (out of the total 22) in Bryson's Neither Here Nor There. Similar to his first travelogue, The Lost Continent, this one has Bryson still trying to recapture earlier days, but in Europe. Although American by birth, Bryson is thoroughly British in his writing and wit. His journeys resemble those of Redmond 0'Hanlon, except more cosmopolitan acid without a companion. It is not that things go wrong necessarily, but that when they do so he describes it so hilariously. Something that Bryson does not describe is how he can afford his trip-- both in time and money. He mentions wife and children seldomly, although he has both. He does not mention regular employment, but I get the feeling that he is not independently wealthy either. It is neither here nor there, but I am intensely curious (if only to see if it is possible to emulate). I am not sure that I learned that much about my upcoming vacation here, but Europe through Bryson's eyes is almost as much fun as going yourself.
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Summary: Uncontrollable laughter!
Review: I'm glad I read this book in the privacy of my own home. If I had been reading this in public, I would have been mistaken for one of those crazy people you see sitting at coffee shops and laughing hysterically by themselves. This is the first book I have read by Bill Bryson, and I was completely impressed. As I was reading through this book, I had to keep myself from running back to the bookstore and buying his whole collection. In "Neither Here Nor There" Bryson is reliving a journey he had taken through Europe in his youth. If you've ever been to Europe, you will deeply appreciate the sarcastic humor that Bryson uses to describe the people he meets and the places he visits.
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Summary: Ugly American on the loose
Review: Loved 'Walk in the Woods' so I bought all BB's work. I finished this one thinking BB is kind of a jerk. I am a long-time resident of Yer-up and his methods are cringe-inducing. To wit: BB never seems to reserve hotel rooms, planes or trains, yet feels the locals should see his crises as theirs. He never speaks any of the local language, yet is mystified at being misunderstood. And toward the end, BB declares that, alas, he must work his way home to the UK because his "long-suffering wife is on her semi-annual pregnancy." Ooooh! I'm surprised she didn't change the locks as our buddy Bill pranced around Europe on a protracted midlife-crisis tour.
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Summary: neither here nor there
Review: "Neither here nor there"
by Bill Bryson In the book "Neither here nor there" the American writer Bill Bryson tells about his adventures during his trips to Europe. The hole book is divided into twenty two chapters and every chapter tells the reader about a different place. In the first two chapters he describes his trip to the northernmost European town Hammerfest and in his typical sarcastic way he tells about the exhausting bus ride and the people he get to know. After an apparently endless journey by bus he finally arrives at Hammerfest. At first he is really bored in the small town as nothing ever seems to happen there, but after he have spent some weeks in the dark Hammerfest, he starts to enjoy the easy way of living there. He gets to know the advantage of having time for things you usually can't do. Furthermore, he starts making friends with the Mayor and some other inhabitants. So at the end of his stay in Hammerfest he doesn't only has got to know most of the people there, but even has seen Northern Lights, which had been the reason for that trip. After the fascinating event of the spectacular Northern Lights, that impressed him deeply, he decides to return to Oslo, although for a moment he has doubts if he should leave Hammerfest so quickly
He also remembers his first trip to Europe as a young man in the seventies, where he went by plane and got impressed by Europe and its people as it seemed to be so different from everything he had known before. He got to know the hospitality of a couple from Belgium and their Citroen 2CV as he hitch-hiked to find a room for the next few days. Although the wife didn't really trust him, the man was fascinated of him and wanted to spend more time with him, but Bryson himself thought that they had been very strange. So he was glad when he finally found a small hotel where he could stay. That summer he also tramped through Britain, Ireland, Scandinavia, Germany, Switzerland, Austria and Italy.
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Summary: Boring Bryson
Review: First, let me say I'm a Bill Bryson fan.
His "A Walk In The Woods" and "In a Sunburnt Country" were brilliant, witty, informative and thoroughly entertaining. They were, in short, everything this book is not. "Neither Here Nor There" is a travellogue with the emphasis on log. What we get is a listing of the author's various motels, transportation and meals in different European cities. This book is heavy on the actual travel and accomodations and very light on the places he's visiting. In other books, Bryson would tell the story of the place, livening up his observations with fascinating tidbits of history and curiousities that made most of the places interesting in themselves. In this book, the places seem just an excuse for him to ride the train or bus, change hotels, and drink beer and eat. There are a few -- disappointingly few -- laugh out loud moments in the book. On the whole, the witicisms and wry observations are replaced by overly long descriptive sentences. This book was written before some of his more recent successes. The earlier Bryson doesn't compare well with the current model. I'd skip it (and "Notes From a Small Island" which suffers from some of the same deficiencies) and go to his other books if one is looking for the enjoyable Bryson reads.
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Summary: Don't read with your mouth full!
Review: This book was a riot! I found myself laughing out loud and desperate to read aloud passages to anyone nearby. I highly recommend this book.
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Summary: He hits the nail on the head -- hilariously!
Review: Having just returned from Japan, Kuala Lumpur and Australia, I'm not yet ready to attack "War and Peace." But after reading Bryson's "In a Sunburned Country," which gave us a hilarious and tantalizing introduction to Australia, I'm finding "Neither Here Nor There" just as much fun and an easy read while suffering from post-Australian jet lag. I've visited most of the cities he describes, and he brings back lots of funny memories and also takes me back to places and points out things I really didn't pay enough attention to when I was there. As another customer reviewer said, if you don't laugh a lot when reading Bryson, you don't have a sense of humor, and I wouldn't want to be stuck on a desert island with you. Although I winced a few times at some of his crude language -- he doesn't use it in "Sunburned"; maybe he found his vocabulary during the 90's -- he didn't use any words I haven't used myself when the situation warranted it. Read it and laugh.
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Summary: Could have been so much more
Review: This audio book of Bill Bryson's is not bad, but the abridgement really hurt it. The parts in the book concerning Katz was deeply needed in order to liven up the audiocassette. Sadky, this was not done. It has many great moments, such as when Bryson comments on the idiosyncies of various nations, but the good parts are rather far in between.
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