Notes from a Small Island

I think it can be said very clearly that this book is intended to be funny and that is what it achieves. I like this book not only because of the humour, which is mostly British and therefore funnier, but also because its about travel. Often travelogues tend to get to godly about the entire experience, while this book keeps it human. it talks about the reason for not liking certain aspects of places, in a manner any normal traveller would. I think the fact that he travels on a modest budget also struck a chord with me. There are some brilliant snippets of humour and lots of information about Britain which is the birth place of many fictions I like (Doctor Who, Sherlock Holmes and Harry Potter to name a few). It gives you an inside look at a country with a glorious past but perhaps an uncertain future. One star less because sometimes the humour goes overboard, especially when talking of mental illness, can be slightly offensive. But the book was written two decades ago, so maybe the censors and sensors were lesser back then. Secondly, because of the nature of the book, there is no climax, and one chapter is just like the next and the last as it describes the pros and cons of some place in Britain. It takes some effort to finish the book. But overall, its a nice and light read. Much of what was said in this book back in 94 still applies, and that is saying something.

I found myself thinking about the taxes paid by the most successful of writers like Bryson while reading this travelogue . Why would I wonder about that, you ask? Well, check out Making Expression Less Taxing on Amazon, you will get a clue. Like several of Bryson's books in the library, this is a travel book written by him in anticipation of his moving back to the U.S. (where he grew up) from Great Britain (where he had lived for about twenty years with his British wife). (You've got to wonder about Bryson's wife---who lets him traipse off like he does.) Bryson covers all of the island, watching the scenery, the people, and the services, conversing with mankind from Land's End to John O'Groats. He mostly uses public transportation, eats in a restaurants, and stays in colorful places of logding, finding an oddball here and there to make fun of and exploit in his colorful satire and delightful wit. There are better travelogues of Bryson's though, than this. But I wonder about those taxes.

My favourite Bill Bryson book of all time!!! It was the first book I read of his and I laughed out loud in almost every chapter... !! Fabulous observations of the British.. and slightly cringing at time!!!

I am re-reading this because Bryson is such a good writer and this works to just pickup and walk along with him for a while every now and then.

This is the third Bill Bryson book I've read and it leaves me feeling underwhelmed. His writing is comparable to how he goes on to describe Aberdeen, nothing memorable. It's not that the writing is bad, it's more to do with his writing not being that good. In an effort to spice things up Bryson will punctuate his writing with a swear word to show us his devil may care attitude, all it really does is show us is his inadequacies as a writer. If you're after a book that uses simple vocabulary and offers a banal commentary on Britain, told to you by a conservative American, then this is certainly the book for you.

i always love books by bill bryson... but tbis is my least favorite until this time.... he kept saying that every british village is just like the other for few exceptions

I've been living in Asia for the past 3 years and bought this book out of a sense of nostalgia for my home country. I liked the book, appreciated the observations about the quirks of the English and the descriptions of the scenery and the food made me incredibly homesick. I admit that I probably wouldn't have found the book terribly interesting if I was still living at home, but I feel Bryson has earned my 4 stars for stomping around in all of that rain.

Well, Bill, I'm not sure what to say. I adore you as always. You gave me laugh-out-loud moments and snorty moments with this tour through Jolly Old England. But man, you were kind of a grouch. A lovable grouch, of course. But I wasn't ripping through it with my usual Bryson fever. Which is good. I'm glad I could give one of your masterpieces three stars to just say, "I liked it." It makes you human. It gives me hope. Fine, three and a half stars. I love you, you old grouch.

Bill Bryson takes a sentimental journey around Great Britain in the early 1990s and revisits many places he saw in 1973. Various towns, villages and major cities are on his itinerary throughout England, Wales and Scotland. He describes the people, their habits, manners and speech, and makes incisive and often humorous observations about the architecture of the major office and apartment buildings. He discusses the London Underground Maps displayed on the walls of stations and how they portray only relative locations instead of actual distances. He gives an example of how someone can take an extensive journey through many different places and wind up in almost the same spot. Bryson comments on the the English and how they queue up in patient and orderly ways for long lines at sporting events such as rugby or tennis at Wimbledon. He also visits Stonehenge and marvels at the efforts that must have been marshaled to gather some 600 citizens and drag a fifty-ton stone across eighteen miles of countryside. Once at the Waterloo station, he learns that his train has been delayed because of a fire at another station. He sees a man with a long red beard, waiting patiently for the tracks to be cleared. Bryson asks the gentleman if he's been waiting long and the fellow answers, "I was clean shaven when I arrived here." Towards the end of the book, he reports an encounter with a young worker at a McDonald's restaurant in Edinburgh. The fellow asks Bryson if he wants an apple turnover with his Egg McMuffin and our author gets all huffy about it, saying that if he wanted one he'd ask for it. Must have been out of sorts on that day. If you've ever been to England or Scotland, it's worth the price of this book to take an armchair visit once again and see it through the eyes of a talented traveler.

Bill Bryson is not afraid to make himself look bad. Yes, by the end of the book you do get his sense of fondness for Britain, but my god, what a grumpy and (at times) miserable ride to get there. My only hope is that 15 years on from this book, he has learned to treat hotel and restaurant workers with more respect, and that maybe he's seen the value of paying for things...