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Summary
Summary
After nearly two decades on British soil, the author takes a final jaunt through the heartland of the United Kingdom. As he travels by foot, train & bus, he encounters quirky age-old customs, charming architecture & salt-of-the-earth inhabitants
Author Notes
Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa on December 8, 1951. In 1973, he went backpacking in England, where he eventually decided to settle. He wrote for the English newspapers The Times and The Independent, as well as supplementing his income by writing travel articles.
He moved back to the United States in 1995. His first travel book, The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America, was published in 1989. His other books include I'm a Stranger Here Myself, In a Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson's Dictionary of Troublesome Words, Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe, Made in America, The Mother Tongue, Bill Bryson's African Diary, A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, Walk About, and Seeing Further: The Story of Science, Discovery, the Genius of the Royal Society. A Walk in the Woods was adapted into a movie starring Robert Redford and Nick Nolte.
Bryson's titles, The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain, Notes from a Small Island and Neither Here Nor There made the New York Times bestseller list in 2016.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
Wrote PW: "Bryson shares what he loves best about the idiosyncrasies of everyday English life in this immensely entertaining travel memoir." (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Kirkus Review
After two decades as a resident of England, Bryson (Made in America, 1995, etc.) bids a very fond farewell to that sceptered isle, to that promontory of clotted cream. Before returning to his native America, Bryson launched himself on a seven-week peregrination through the hills and dells, the High Streets and hedgerows of England, Wales, and Scotland. As always, he found most of the towns and the hummocks very much to his liking, indeed. And who wouldn't smile broadly wandering through the environs of Horton in Ribblesdale or Giggleswick or journeying to Milton Keynes (which is, be assured, a place, not an economist)? The main trick to successful hiking, the author knows, is to take a bus or train or rent a car frequently between the beds and breakfasts--the latter being full English and full cholesterol. Of course, not all he encountered was wonderful. ``Bradford's role in life,'' he notes, ``is to make every place else look better in comparison, and it does this very well.'' ``Blackpool's Illuminations,'' he says, ``are nothing if not splendid, and they are not splendid.'' British Rail and the ubiquitous Marks & Spencer are not favorites, either. Bryson also has an eye, unsurpassed by that of Prince Charles himself, for nasty architecture, especially shopping centers. Despite those dark, satanic malls, England delights him. He asks, ``can there anywhere on earth be, in such a modest span, a landscape more packed with centuries of busy, productive attainment?'' The spelling is American, the writing is English (fat folk are seen to ``Hoover up'' their comestibles), and the wit is genuine. A diverting travel journal, for Anglophiles especially. A short glossary (translating such terms as ``knickers,'' ``loo,'' and ``George Formby'') is provided. A map of the journey (not included) would have been nice, luv. But all in all, a tasty crumpet. (Author tour)
Booklist Review
After a British sojourn lasting 20 years, this celebrated journalist decided to move back to the U.S.--but not before embarking on a prolonged jaunt around Britain, mainly by way of public transportation. Bryson's entertaining travelogue combines the intimate knowledge of one who has lived among Britons for a sustained period with the refreshing sense of wonder from a first-time visitor. When Bryson engages in chronicling typically British customs and characters, his love of the place is as obvious as his writing is delightfully irreverent. A great success in the U.K., Bryson's remarkably lively view should enchant the U.S. travel audience as well. Alice Joyce
Library Journal Review
Bryson, who hails from Iowa, has spent the last 20 years living in England and writing about the often nettlesome relationship between his two countries, especially regarding their shared language (Made in America, LJ 2/1/95). His latest work is "a kind of valedictory tour around the green and kindly island" before he moved with his family back to the United States. With Paul Theroux's Kingdom by the Sea in hand, Bryson braves the inhospitably soggy fall weather to trudge from Dover, London, coastal villages, Wales, Scotland, and back home to Yorkshire on a helter-skelter seven-week journey that only a reader well versed in the geography of the region will follow, since there are no maps to aid the (American) reader. In fact, Bryson is writing here more for his British fans, who no doubt roar with mirth as he gently pokes fun at their excessive forbearance and fondness for Cagney and Lacey repeats. He is hilarious when transcribing a conversation with unsuspecting locals, especially in Glaswegian pubs, but merely dumb when he indulges in a curious (is it British?) bathroom humor. His portrait is certainly heartfelt, and one wonders, as he chokes up describing a stately, vanishing old England, if he will truly find happiness watching the 67 television channels in his native land. For all travel collections.-Amy Boaz, "Library Journal" (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
