Define Books Toward Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1)
| Original Title: | Notes from a Small Island |
| ISBN: | 0380727501 (ISBN13: 9780380727506) |
| Edition Language: | English |
| Series: | Notes from a Small Island #1 |
| Setting: | United Kingdom |
Bill Bryson
Paperback | Pages: 324 pages Rating: 3.91 | 89014 Users | 4032 Reviews
List Containing Books Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1)
| Title | : | Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1) |
| Author | : | Bill Bryson |
| Book Format | : | Paperback |
| Book Edition | : | Special Edition |
| Pages | : | Pages: 324 pages |
| Published | : | May 28th 1997 by William Morrow Paperbacks (first published September 7th 1995) |
| Categories | : | Travel. Nonfiction. Humor. Autobiography. Memoir. European Literature. British Literature. Biography. Audiobook |
Ilustration As Books Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1)
"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson - bestselling author of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home.
Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.
Rating Containing Books Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1)
Ratings: 3.91 From 89014 Users | 4032 ReviewsComment On Containing Books Notes from a Small Island (Notes from a Small Island #1)
Taking a trip with Bill Bryson is always a crap shoot. Am I getting the funny self-effacing Bill? Am I getting bilious Bill? Am I getting drunken Bill on a murderous rampage? Okay, that last one, sadly, was never published.Here, Bill wants to get a last look at Great Britain before he moves back to the good ol U.S. of A., so he schleps around that island nation taking in the sights. As someone who has been to those environs or thereabouts a few times, Mr. Bryson gets it right and then some.It took me forever to read this because I was constantly picking it up and putting it down, not because I wasnt enjoying it, but because its one of those books where it works to read it in this way, and I read so many other books during the times I took breaks from reading this book.Sometimes I just dont like Bill Bryson as a man. Theres a smattering of things he writes that are cruel, crass, and otherwise makes him unappealing to me, and he sure drinks a lot of beer, but the nasty material is a
Bryson, true to spirit, makes you laugh at everything about the place and fall in love with the place at the same time. No wonder for years the Brits have considered this the most representative travel book about themselves. Full review to follow.
I only got about a third of the way through this book. I was giving Bill Bryson one more chance to impress me, but he didn't quite do it. I would recommend this book for anyone who has lived in England, as many of the references in the book would escape someone who has not spent much time there. However, I was just never pulled in by his narrative. I felt like Bryson writes with a perennial smirk on his face, laughing at his own cleverness as he pens various turns of the phrase. But a few funny
"One thing I have learned over the years is that your impressions of a place are necessarily, and often unshakably, colored by the route you take into it."- Bill Bryson, Notes from a Small Island It is really hard not to like Bill Bryson's travel books. Actually, it is hard not to like his dictionaries, travelogues, or explorations of: the Universe, the home, Shakespeare, etc. He is, essentially, our Falstaff. He stumbles from bus to train, from pub to pub, from city to city exploring Britain
Notes from a Small Island and Neither Here nor There are Bill Brysons early travelogues concerning his journeys through Britain and other European countries respectively.Both of these books are the strongest and the funniest of Brysons earliest work and undoubtedly established his reputation (at that time) as a travel writer and commentator of repute, producing engaging and very entertaining travelogues. Now very much the Anglo-American (having lived at times in the UK and now holding dual UK/US
I enjoyed this - a fun look at Britain and British life, a little out-dated now but thoroughly funny and insightful throughout.
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