Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson

I have to say I am not a massive fan of Bryson, I found a lot of his stuff condescending (the European book), boring (Walk in the Wood) or rather adolescent (flatulence based humour); but this was the first book of his that I ever read and it my mind remains his best one (I use it as my bath/toilet book a lot). 'Notes' is essentially an account of a journey that Bryson makes round Great Britain some time in the early 90's after deciding that he will leave UK and go back to the United States. He starts with a recollection of his first arrival in Dover good 20 years before (this *IS* truly hilarious, had me actually laughing out loud, even at the adolescent ...

This sort of book would not be my first choice of material, but finding myself away from home with Tonsilitis and a limited choice of reading material available I reluctantly picked up what I considered the best of a bad selection, and was very glad I did. Not knowing much about the author, the thought of an American writing a travelogue of our green and pleasant frankly seemed daunting. After all England is a place of subtlety and reserve, and most of the people that were born here dont really understand it, how would a stranger from the colonies understand our ways. The answer is of course, exceedingly well. Bill Bryson first came to England in 1973 and ...

It would be fair to say that my knowledge of the UK doesn't extend much beyond the Midlands. No, scratch that, it doesn't extend much beyond Birmingham to be honest and even then north Birmingham is a blank in my mind. So when reading a book of travels round the UK I could just as easily be reading about some foreign land. Bill Bryson is an American, having lived in the UK for almost twenty years he decided to move back to America to give his family the chance of living in another country (and a very good idea that is to). But, before he went he embarked upon one last trip round the UK to remind himself what it is he likes about it anyway. Notes from a ...