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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
An enjoyable read. Although I do wish Bryson would work harder to be less negative. He seems to see the ugliness in everything and spends a great deal of time telling us how nothing is as good as it used to be and things are only going to get worse. I think he needs to inject more cheer in his next book. I still enjoyed it though.
funny
informative
medium-paced
adventurous
informative
lighthearted
slow-paced
I never laugh so much as when reading a Bill Bryson book, and The Road to Little Dribbling is no exception. I constantly chuckled at the author's wry observations about life in Great Britain as he travels the length of the island from south to north. Bryson's self-deprecating humor is a winner and his ability to be amused by local places piques my interest for future trips to the UK. Read if you enjoy: travel memoirs, visiting the UK, rambling, humorous books
lighthearted
I generally like Bill Bryson but I stopped reading this about a quarter of the way in because basically it was just an old git whinging on about how times haven't changed for the better. I think it was meant to be humorous but it just came across as one more 65+ person complaining about kids these days. I'm 50 years old & still really really hate that even though it's hardly me they are bitching about.
Wow, I don't remember Bill Bryson being quite so snarky in the last book of his that I read, but every time his grumpy commentary turned me off, he'd follow it up with something funny, heartfelt or beautiful, so it was a hard book to walk away from. His grumpy codger commentary is quite funny in its own way, but it gets sort of depressing because the world he mourns is lost, and is unlikely to return.
adventurous
funny
informative
medium-paced
I was very happy to discover Bill Bryson had written a sequel to Notes from a small Island . It's laugh out loud funny and my favourite of his travel books; the ones that I have read anyway.
Reading Bryson's books tells you a lot about Bryson himself as well as the country he's writing about. He is observant of course, passionate about lots of issues: environment , grammar and punctuation,what he sees as the general dumbing down of life due to a growing stupidity of the human species. He writes enthusiastically and inspiringly about what he loves, especially the countryside and it's beauty . He has a constant thirst for knowledge and genuine interest in all he encounters making him an authority on many subjects. On the flip side of the many things he loves there are many things that irritate him ,many many things. in fact he writes lists of them on more than one occasion throughout the course of his book. I actually feel I would love to have him as a next door neighbor and can imagine lots of friendly hilarious evenings full of discussion and laughs and going home rather merry!
Bryson undoubtedly does love Britain and it's people, despite our many faults and idiosyncrasies. I think on the whole we are good at laughing at these ourselves. He has a knack of finding the most beautiful and often little known parts of Britain. It's made me determined to walk more and to spend more weekends exploring parts of England I've not been to. His descriptions made me google places to find out more about them. I am in awe at the number of miles a man of over 60 can walk and ashamed of my own lack of fitness. My only big gripe about this book is that half way through Bryson still hadn;t left the south coast.! The northern parts and Scotland felt rushed and there was so much more he could have explored. However I loved the book, it was funny, interesting and inspiring and I recommend it to anyone. If you're not in the habit of reading travel books I would suggest ill Bryson as his books are so much more,
Reading Bryson's books tells you a lot about Bryson himself as well as the country he's writing about. He is observant of course, passionate about lots of issues: environment , grammar and punctuation,what he sees as the general dumbing down of life due to a growing stupidity of the human species. He writes enthusiastically and inspiringly about what he loves, especially the countryside and it's beauty . He has a constant thirst for knowledge and genuine interest in all he encounters making him an authority on many subjects. On the flip side of the many things he loves there are many things that irritate him ,many many things. in fact he writes lists of them on more than one occasion throughout the course of his book. I actually feel I would love to have him as a next door neighbor and can imagine lots of friendly hilarious evenings full of discussion and laughs and going home rather merry!
Bryson undoubtedly does love Britain and it's people, despite our many faults and idiosyncrasies. I think on the whole we are good at laughing at these ourselves. He has a knack of finding the most beautiful and often little known parts of Britain. It's made me determined to walk more and to spend more weekends exploring parts of England I've not been to. His descriptions made me google places to find out more about them. I am in awe at the number of miles a man of over 60 can walk and ashamed of my own lack of fitness. My only big gripe about this book is that half way through Bryson still hadn;t left the south coast.! The northern parts and Scotland felt rushed and there was so much more he could have explored. However I loved the book, it was funny, interesting and inspiring and I recommend it to anyone. If you're not in the habit of reading travel books I would suggest ill Bryson as his books are so much more,
Twenty years ago Bryon wrote Notes from a Small Island, a hilarious account of his journey round the coast of Britain. Now he writes about the country again, this time following "The Bryson Line" from Bognor Regis in the south to Cape Wrath, the northern-most tip of Scotland. I thoroughly enjoyed being in his company - he's both funny and erudite. He is enough of an outsider to see the British clearly, and enough of an insider to understand it. He has a sincere appreciation for the countryside and all the things that make the country special. He is appropriately grouchy about all the things that make the country crap (like bad service) and you just hope that the right people have the folly of their ways pointed out to them with this book.
The audiobook is also very good.
The audiobook is also very good.