Notes from a Small Island - Bill Bryson Reviews

Bill Bryson is a well known travel writer, and this time it's our very own United Kingdom under his humorous microscope. After almost 20 years' living in the UK, the Bryson family are returning to the USA so Bill decides to take one last jaunt across our island, revisiting old favourites and finally checking out places he always meant to visit but ...  Read the complete review

This is my favourite Bill Bryson book and I have read it many many times. It tells of his travels around the uk when he first visited here from the United States as a youth in the seventies. I know a lot of the places he visits and some of his observations are incredibly accurate. I've discussed the book with friends who don't ...  Read the complete review

What’s is all about? …………………………………………… Shelf-marked as a travel humour book this is indeed travel with humour at its core. The entertaining experiences told of ‘one last trip’ an American man makes around Britain, after living in Yorkshire for almost twenty years. As he visits the nooks and crannies far and wide - from John O ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

Not as up as down under. Bill Bryson Notes from a small island. Here is Bryson doing what he does best, travel and write, and in this book in the place that could best supply his dry humour, Great Britain. He tours the island from Dover up to John O?Groats, stopping off at all the major landmarks along the journey. If you have ...  Read the complete review

Notes from a small island are Bill Bryson's thoughts on his final journey around these shores before relocating his family back to the USA. I am not a huge lover of travel type books, I find them tediously boring for the most part and usually only read bits that are relevant to places I want to see, and even then I skim and only ...  Read the complete review

This is the first of Bill Bryson's books I read, and in my opinion, it is probably his best book. It revolves around Bryson's last trip around Britain, before he leaves to go and lives in America, his country of birth. After years of living in Britain, Bryson seems to have a good knowledge of British life, and 'Notes from a Small ...  Read the complete review

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 ...  Read the complete review

For the most part, Notes From a Small Island is a subtle piece of observation. Bryson’s themes are understated, except when building to an exaggerated denouement to one of his manufactured skits. His criticism is often a work of subterfuge, and you find yourself reading between lines of what purport to be praise or fondness to discover a ...  Read the complete review

If you haven't ever read a Bill Bryson book in your life, most of what follows won't mean a lot to you - unless your British... Arguably Bill Bryson's best-known travel book, this is also very likely to be the only book most people would know Bryson for. Although his main aim is to see the parts of Britain he loves (and some ...  Read the complete review

Bryson is that American rarity, a seasoned US traveller who seems eager to experience new cultures and places. After arriving in Dover as a long-haired student in the 70's, Bryson married an English girl and came to live here for 20 years. Consequently he has become fascinated with our country and people, and this book explores his farewell ...  Read the complete review

I never thought I’d see the day I couldn’t finish a Bryson book, but alas that day has come. I’ve been told often enough that there are lots of people out there who can’t stand his stories, but I normally like them. “Neither Here nor There” is most readable, “Mother Tongue” was the basis from half my ...  Read the complete review

This was my first experience of Bill Bryson and I've been hooked ever since. His style is so down-to-earth you can imagine yourself sitting next to him in the pub as he recounts the incidents from his travels. Often I have the feeling he has been watching me secretly as I found myself thinking 'That sounds just like me' when he ...  Read the complete review

Rarely has there been a book that I have wanted to read parts of again and again because I know for sure that they will shock me out of the miserable mood I find myself in (which is quite often caused by overdoing the John Smiths the night before- but that, as they say in their most clichéd of manners, is another story). In the mid 1990's Bill ...  Read the complete review

I think that bill bryson does some really funny notes, may i also add FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO DOOYOO FUCKYOO ...  Read the complete review

“I’d only agreed to go to Newquay because I thought the town was called Nookie and I wanted to stock up on postcards” My favourite book of all time. Bill Bryson decided to move back to America after living in Britain for almost 20 years but not before taking a last tour around the country. Over 6 weeks, and over more ...  Read the complete review

Is Bill Bryson a travel writer? A travel writer records and reflects upon their experiences of people and places to entertain, to inform and excite the interest of their readers. Yes? The thing is that with this book, the majority of Brysons readers will be British or American and so very familiar with the country and the culture he is writing ...  Read the complete review

this book is a very good book about psychology, i loved it from the start and it grew on me further till the conclusion. if u have ever wanted to know how to see what people think, or why people do the things they do, then this is the book for you, as it is a mre suitable version for beginners, rather than those well studied in the field of ...  Read the complete review

At the heart of this book is the knowledge of an American who, upon arrival in Dover in the 1970s, thought he had arrived in the most cold-hearted, stern country in the world. Months later he still felt this way. However, Britain grew on him, and he settled here for over twenty years, in time becoming the world’s most read travel author. ...  Read the complete review