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3.54 AVERAGE
3.54 AVERAGE
I'm thinking about doing away with goodreads star ratings because books like this I really don't know how to rate.
On one hand I whizzed through it and enjoyed the experience of reading it. On the other hand it wasn't life-changing, didn't tell me that much I didn't already know and at some points I found it a bit jarring. I do like Bill Bryson's writing but I feel as if he can be a bit judgemental with his opinions about people that he doesn't ever get the time to really know and he sometimes gives off a very superior air... what redeems it slightly (and avoids me feeling the same way about this as I did about A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell) is that I get the sense a lot of his comments are deliberately hyperbolic in order to get a laugh from the reader. Sometimes it genuinely works but other times I feel like he tries way too hard.
Either way, enjoyed it, probably not as much as Down Under. I wonder if he is getting grumpier in his books or I am getting more cynical.
On one hand I whizzed through it and enjoyed the experience of reading it. On the other hand it wasn't life-changing, didn't tell me that much I didn't already know and at some points I found it a bit jarring. I do like Bill Bryson's writing but I feel as if he can be a bit judgemental with his opinions about people that he doesn't ever get the time to really know and he sometimes gives off a very superior air... what redeems it slightly (and avoids me feeling the same way about this as I did about A Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell) is that I get the sense a lot of his comments are deliberately hyperbolic in order to get a laugh from the reader. Sometimes it genuinely works but other times I feel like he tries way too hard.
Either way, enjoyed it, probably not as much as Down Under. I wonder if he is getting grumpier in his books or I am getting more cynical.
I so, sooo wanted to like this book! I love Bill Bryson and usually think of him as hilarious. And since I am a serial moaner myself, probably complaining about everything, I never thought we would have a problem. But with this book, we do. I found his complaints getting real old real fast. This book does not encourage anyone to travel, most of all not to the places described. Because, apparently, the entire UK is a gigantic shithole and no one should go there ever (or even want to).
When I found myself right in the middle of this book switching (and finishing) not just one other book but various other books (I often read fiction on the side of non-fiction) I realised that I didn't want to pick it up again. So, I'm sorry, but that mean's it's out.
When I found myself right in the middle of this book switching (and finishing) not just one other book but various other books (I often read fiction on the side of non-fiction) I realised that I didn't want to pick it up again. So, I'm sorry, but that mean's it's out.
BQ ✒ - "Nothing - and I mean really, absolutely nothing - is more extraordinary in Britain then the beauty of the countryside. Nowhere in the world is there a landscape that has been more intensively utilised, and yet remains so comprehensively and reliably lovely over most of its extent. It's the happiest accident in history"
I have been itching to get my hands on a Bryson book for ages and I can say I absolutely adored this
I have been itching to get my hands on a Bryson book for ages and I can say I absolutely adored this
I love Bill Bryson. I love his humor. I love his way of looking at things. But this felt really long. Listened on audio.
No where near as good as A Walk in the Woods. Disappointed
Like any Bryson book, it's a little funny, needs more heavy-handed editing, and really is just like listening to Grandpa Simpson yell at a cloud.
Would have given it 3.5 stars.
This book didn't win me over until the last 100 pages. I love Bill and recommend his books constantly. However, his more recent books have him coming across more and more as a grumpy old man, but he comes around to being humorous and slightly grumpy by the end. Finished just in time to spend 10 days in England!
This book didn't win me over until the last 100 pages. I love Bill and recommend his books constantly. However, his more recent books have him coming across more and more as a grumpy old man, but he comes around to being humorous and slightly grumpy by the end. Finished just in time to spend 10 days in England!
While Bryson's moodiness and old man curmudgeonness get boring, he provides so many interesting facts on all these obscure places around England. I liked reading about places like Blackpool and some of the background about these resort towns.
I was honestly quite surprised by how little I liked this book. I'd read A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bryson previously and really liked it. This was a whole different kettle of fish.
Bryson was as funny and engaging as I remembered. The narrator (my copy is an audiobook) was skilled and easy to listen to, thank goodness.
Unfortunately about 75% of this book is what I'd term Baby-Boomer whining. I'll save you time: everything was better in the 70's (even the stuff that wasn't), and everyone is stupider and more callous now; also, industry is evil. It got so bad sometimes I had to pause and listen to something less rampantly negative for awhile just to balance the scales.]
I knew I was in trouble in the beginning of the book when he describes an altercation at a McDonald's during which he verbally abuses a cashier for upselling (you know, the stuff he's required to do as part of his job?) as an example of how terrible McDonald's in general, and this cashier in particular, are. Honestly, I had to take a break for a bit just to quell the rage. Bryson is the worst sort of customer. Seriously, as someone who has worked a lot of customer service my heart goes out to the poor cashier. I did not end the segment thinking badly of McDonald's, but rather mentally commending that cashier for not punching him in the nose like he deserved.
I wasn't sure I was going to continue, but I convinced myself that his other work was good so maybe it gets better? Well, kind of. The 25% that isn't whining is a tour of small town England. I can confidently say I had no idea which town he was speaking of at any given point even though he named them. Perhaps the physical book comes with a handy map? I couldn't follow it at all. But once I made peace with having no idea where in the UK we were it was enjoyable. He basically goes to small, out-of-the-way towns and then either likes their shops or hates them. It's mostly pleasant and sometimes quite funny. He also goes to little historical spots which is the part I really liked. Lots of houses where someone obscurely famous lived so he talks about their biographies. I'm a history nerd so it tickled.
But here we ran into the second major problem. At a more touristy destination he was following behind a group of Japanese tourists as they went through the tour. His patronizing and frankly offensive comments about the Japanese language (how they get so much out of a few "grunts" for instance) may have been well-meant, but it came off racist. I'm surprised his editor didn't catch that one. Later he goes on to refer to a group of women as bitches. It was more hostile than necessary and felt like a slur.
Then, just to top it off he engages in one of his favourite pastimes: reading a magazine or paper and paraphrasing the headlines back to us to show how stupid the world is. (Yes, we get it, celebrity culture is not your cup of tea, just stop). The final article he mentions in this session (he does this several times through out the book) is "an article on transgender issues, put there just as an excuse for the editors to run pictures of Bruce Jenner in drag."
There are at least three glaringly obvious things wrong with that statement. It makes me so angry I'm resisting writing an essay just taking it apart word by word.
I'm giving it 1.5 stars. I didn't like most of it. The parts I did like possibly could make up for all the whining if I'm being generous (which I try to be with books). But with some barely veiled racism, and some not even veiled transphobia I can't.
I'm not sure who would like this book. People from the UK who like local history and can actually follow where he is might enjoy it. Baby-boomers who also think the world was better 30-40 years ago would probably love it.
Bryson was as funny and engaging as I remembered. The narrator (my copy is an audiobook) was skilled and easy to listen to, thank goodness.
Unfortunately about 75% of this book is what I'd term Baby-Boomer whining. I'll save you time: everything was better in the 70's (even the stuff that wasn't), and everyone is stupider and more callous now; also, industry is evil. It got so bad sometimes I had to pause and listen to something less rampantly negative for awhile just to balance the scales.]
I knew I was in trouble in the beginning of the book when he describes an altercation at a McDonald's during which he verbally abuses a cashier for upselling (you know, the stuff he's required to do as part of his job?) as an example of how terrible McDonald's in general, and this cashier in particular, are. Honestly, I had to take a break for a bit just to quell the rage. Bryson is the worst sort of customer. Seriously, as someone who has worked a lot of customer service my heart goes out to the poor cashier. I did not end the segment thinking badly of McDonald's, but rather mentally commending that cashier for not punching him in the nose like he deserved.
I wasn't sure I was going to continue, but I convinced myself that his other work was good so maybe it gets better? Well, kind of. The 25% that isn't whining is a tour of small town England. I can confidently say I had no idea which town he was speaking of at any given point even though he named them. Perhaps the physical book comes with a handy map? I couldn't follow it at all. But once I made peace with having no idea where in the UK we were it was enjoyable. He basically goes to small, out-of-the-way towns and then either likes their shops or hates them. It's mostly pleasant and sometimes quite funny. He also goes to little historical spots which is the part I really liked. Lots of houses where someone obscurely famous lived so he talks about their biographies. I'm a history nerd so it tickled.
But here we ran into the second major problem. At a more touristy destination he was following behind a group of Japanese tourists as they went through the tour. His patronizing and frankly offensive comments about the Japanese language (how they get so much out of a few "grunts" for instance) may have been well-meant, but it came off racist. I'm surprised his editor didn't catch that one. Later he goes on to refer to a group of women as bitches. It was more hostile than necessary and felt like a slur.
Then, just to top it off he engages in one of his favourite pastimes: reading a magazine or paper and paraphrasing the headlines back to us to show how stupid the world is. (Yes, we get it, celebrity culture is not your cup of tea, just stop). The final article he mentions in this session (he does this several times through out the book) is "an article on transgender issues, put there just as an excuse for the editors to run pictures of Bruce Jenner in drag."
There are at least three glaringly obvious things wrong with that statement. It makes me so angry I'm resisting writing an essay just taking it apart word by word.
I'm giving it 1.5 stars. I didn't like most of it. The parts I did like possibly could make up for all the whining if I'm being generous (which I try to be with books). But with some barely veiled racism, and some not even veiled transphobia I can't.
I'm not sure who would like this book. People from the UK who like local history and can actually follow where he is might enjoy it. Baby-boomers who also think the world was better 30-40 years ago would probably love it.
Bill Bryson has turned into a crotchety old man who spends a lot of time complaining.