From the Bookshelf of Challenge: 50 Books…
Find A Copy At
Group Discussions About This Book
No group discussions for this book yet.
What Members Thought
This is a well written and at times funny book but for me I just did not connect with it. The reason being that I do not know a great deal about the places Bryson talked about nor did I have a strong visual impression of the changes. I may have appreciated the book more if I knew more about the places he visited.
Bryson laments how progress has eradicated a great deal of character in townships and I do empathise with that. The great race to build malls and modernise has forgotten that what draws ...more
Bryson laments how progress has eradicated a great deal of character in townships and I do empathise with that. The great race to build malls and modernise has forgotten that what draws ...more
Everything I've ever read by Bryson has been great. He writes about interesting places, people, and even when they're not interesting, he makes his writing funny and worthwhile. This book is a love letter to Great Britain. Bryson lived in the UK for about 10 years in his 30s and then moved back to the States, and the travels he describes in this book were taken during an approximately 8 week period before he and his family moved. He wanted to have 1 last extended time to see parts of Great Brita
...more
Bryson is the go-to travel writer for an escape. Funny, witty and full of wry comments on his visits over include had all the pleasures of a great vacation -- relaxation, laughter, a sense of not having really accomplished anything and a renewed vigor to get back to work.
This book has many of the elements of Bryson's best travel writing, but it seems he gets bored after a while. Not only with the travel, and the sameness of many British small towns, which he cops to, but also with the process of trying to find things to say about his travels. If you ever intend to travel around Britain and stay in many places, I heartily recommend this book as a supplement to whatever travel guide directs you to places to stay and to eat (Bryson's perfectly happy to tell you how
...more
I am a huge Bryson fan, but was disappointed with this stomp through the English countryside. Although enjoying the part about Scotland the most since I've been there, I got very bored with the "get on bus, travel by bus, get on train, find an Indian restaurant" throughout much of the book.
I do recommend that, if this is the only Bryson book you've read, you read In a Sunburned Country and book entitled "The Lost Continent." I found those entertaining. I'll be starting on his "Neither Here Nor ...more
I do recommend that, if this is the only Bryson book you've read, you read In a Sunburned Country and book entitled "The Lost Continent." I found those entertaining. I'll be starting on his "Neither Here Nor ...more
Feb 12, 2008
Fiona
marked it as to-read
Mar 11, 2008
Jennie
marked it as to-read
Sep 02, 2009
Arlene
marked it as to-read
Jan 07, 2011
Megan
marked it as to-read
Sep 11, 2012
Tammy
marked it as suspended
Aug 30, 2013
Readingallnight
marked it as to-read
Mar 16, 2014
Barb
marked it as to-read
