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3.93 AVERAGE
3.93 AVERAGE
Clever tour of history through the various rooms of a house.
One of the most bizaar books I have listened to.
There were some increadibly interesting pieces of information in the books and some facinating stories. However it meandered far too much for my likely.
Each chapter is based on a room in the house, however, by halfway through the chapter I had completely forgotten which room we were supposed to be in - the links really did not make much sense and jumped about frequently.
I still have not worked out how we got to the hisotry of the Crystal Palace!
There were some increadibly interesting pieces of information in the books and some facinating stories. However it meandered far too much for my likely.
Each chapter is based on a room in the house, however, by halfway through the chapter I had completely forgotten which room we were supposed to be in - the links really did not make much sense and jumped about frequently.
I still have not worked out how we got to the hisotry of the Crystal Palace!
First book completion of 2023 (sort of) on our Christmas/New Years break.
I think I could only read Bill Bryson books forever and still be fairly content. Chris had so many facts yelled at him over the course of this book.
I think I could only read Bill Bryson books forever and still be fairly content. Chris had so many facts yelled at him over the course of this book.
funny
relaxing
medium-paced
informative
slow-paced
I certainly learned a lot reading this book and now have a repertoire of what I would classify as fun facts to share; however, the denseness of content made reading this difficult.
Following Bryson around the rectory he lived in for a time, he goes room to room analyzing the uses and history of each. While some topics made sense to me (ie the nursery depicts Victorian childhood and the kitchen discusses food), sometimes there were tangents so far off the room in the house that I felt like I was reading a hodgepodge of facts. And they are interesting facts! Centrally and thematically though, I was lost and struggled to follow his train of thought.
The rooms weren’t quite the focus of any of the chapters, which I found disappointing. I thought there would be more obscure information about the home and rooms themselves. Also, the paths that Bryson went through included uncomfortable topics and depictions, which I was not ready for necessarily.
His writing style is easy to digest though. He gives off the tone of a quirky historian, where his section endings felt like him giving a shrug and essentially saying, “it is what it is.”
Following Bryson around the rectory he lived in for a time, he goes room to room analyzing the uses and history of each. While some topics made sense to me (ie the nursery depicts Victorian childhood and the kitchen discusses food), sometimes there were tangents so far off the room in the house that I felt like I was reading a hodgepodge of facts. And they are interesting facts! Centrally and thematically though, I was lost and struggled to follow his train of thought.
The rooms weren’t quite the focus of any of the chapters, which I found disappointing. I thought there would be more obscure information about the home and rooms themselves. Also, the paths that Bryson went through included uncomfortable topics and depictions, which I was not ready for necessarily.
His writing style is easy to digest though. He gives off the tone of a quirky historian, where his section endings felt like him giving a shrug and essentially saying, “it is what it is.”
informative
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
informative
lighthearted
reflective
slow-paced
Learning history told by a curious man who lived in a Victorian parsonage for a time and asked around about it and other interesting domeciles during his time in England.
I love the way this man writes.
I love the way this man writes.
informative
slow-paced
LDidn't expect it to be quite so much about (the building of) stately homes & agree with some of the other reviews that say the links of the history shared in some of the rooms felt a bit tenuous. Listened to the audiobook version and enjoyed quite a few chapters/sections that seemed to fly by but did find myself zoning out for some of the more detailed lengthy parts!