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Title: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0-380-72750-1 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.1 (211 reviews)
Rating: 3
Summary: Bryson does Britain
Comment: Bill Bryson is usually known for books that provoke an uncontrollable urge to laugh out loud while reading them. That's certainly true of "A Walk in the Woods" where Bryson and a bibulous friend try manfully to hike the Appalacian Trail. It's not so true in "Notes from a Small Island."
Bryson doesn't have his hapless friend Katz along on this jaunt, a walking trip through Great Britain. But his sense of humor is intact and his eye sharp for local foibles. My favorite observation was actually his description of the boundless joy the British express when presented with a steaming hot cup of tea. "Ah, lovely..." At the fifth repetition of this, you begin to appreciate Bryson's description of the British people and their funny rules, such as one that applies to public paths (you can cut right through anything that lies on a public way, and Bryson struts through some remarkable places exercising this right.) He takes the predictable potshots at British Rail and the propensity for tearing down quaint buildings and putting up steel and concrete monstrosities, a trait that Americans seem to share with their British progenitors; I myself felt strangely at home in Birmingham--it could have been any American city except for driving on the wrong side of the road.
While this book was not as scream-with-laughter funny as "Walk in the Woods", it had its moments. If you are a Bryson fan you might be a bit disappointed as this books is a bit subdued compared to his others. And Katz is nowhere to be found. But if you don't require to be entertained every single page, you probably will find this an amusing book. I did.
Rating: 4
Summary: Bill Bryson
Comment: WOW!! Bill Bryson did it again. From notes from a small island to notes from a big country. This was amazing. I'm only 11 and usually wouldnt understand this, but it was GREAT. Better than his later book. I'm thinking of getting The lost continent and this book was phenomenal. 4 stars.
Rating: 5
Summary: The good and the bad
Comment: This is a book I have been meaning to read for quite some time. It was recommended to me by one of my friends who I spent 4 months with in Oxford, England. I don't know what took me so long to finally get to it, but I am glad that I did.
As an American living in England, Bryson is familiar with their culture, their way of life, their idiosyncrasies. His descriptions of English manners and formalities are dead-on. He speaks often of the dry wit and humor that he admires so much in the English people; Bryson himself is a master of this, making me laugh out loud with his summaries and interactions.
This truly is an "affectionate" portrait of Britain, as the book is subtitled. Part travel-narrative, part memoir, "Notes From a Small Island" gives the good along with the bad. As Bryson ruminates between his recent travels along Britian to memories of past trips/his experiences living there, he offers what he loves and loathes about the nation he has come to call home and will miss when he returns to his native land. He speaks with admiration and enthusiasm on the vast number of treasures and historical sites the English have in such a small area, yet many of these have been neglected when they should be revered.
Bryson's final tour around Britian before heading back to America, takes him to some typical tourist destination cities, but he offers an insider's view of places the average tourist may never encounter. As someone who has lived in England, it is usually the places off the beaten track that are the best places to visit. I miss it almost as much as Bryson.
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Title: Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0380713802 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 06 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson ISBN: 076790382X Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0060920084 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 12 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767903862 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767902521 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 04 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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