The Lost Words discussion

For our March/April read - I've been meaning to read this for ages!

I'm looking forward to reading this.

I started reading this last week and only managed to read the prologue as it's been a mad week. This weekend I've been digitising some old home files so haven't been able to physically read but it's a monotonous job so I've got the audiobook and managed to listen to the first 6 chapters.


~~~Don't read beyond this if you haven't read up to chapter 7 yet.

I don't think Bill Bryson is for me. I'm not sure I like the way he talks about people. It's hard to describe but there are a few passages I've listened to so far where he talks about what he calls 'fat people' and I just don't appreciate it at all. I think it's really uncalled for.
At one point he refers to someone, I think it was a child (can't remember exactly), as a fat pig.

Maybe he's trying to be comedic and I'm not sure if it's just the narrator's tone of voice and accent (Bill Bryson doesn't narrate it William Robert does) but he comes across as quite sarcastic. It's really put me off.

I won't be able to read the print copy much the next few days, I'll probably switch back and for between it and the audiobook but I'll see if the print copy gives me a different impression.

Hopefully he'll redeem himself haha.

Ok I've finished reading this and given it 2 stars. I was really disappointed in this.
I think I went into this book expecting something else. I think I was expecting it to be more about nature or nature as well but this was just a travelogue.

Don't read this if you haven't read the book.

I don't think he was particularly flattering much of the time about a country he claimed to like.
It's put me off reading any of his other books.

I ended up listening to the whole book and as I said before I'm not sure if it was the way the book is written or the way it's read by the narrator but I couldn't take to him at all. I feel like I wouldn't like the kind of person he seems to be in this book. He seems mean and rude and at times a bit of a snob.

One of the parts that really galled me was when a man in a restaurant, I think it was McDonalds, asks him of he wants an apple pie I think and he's really rude basically saying that if he wanted one he had enough brains to ask for one himself.

I just couldn't wait to finish it and be done with it.

Let me know what you think of it when your finished.