| | Notes from a Small Island (Large Print Edition) |  | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Thorndike Pr
Category: Book
Buy Used: £91.95
Avg. Customer Rating:  131 reviews
Media: Hardcover
Edition: Lrg
Pages: 503
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.5
Dimensions (in): 9 x 5.8 x 1.3
ISBN: 0786207000
Dewey Decimal Number: 942.082
EAN: 9780786207008
ASIN: 0786207000
Publication Date: June 1996
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: Hard to Find Title! Sent By Airmail from New York. Please allow 7-15 Business days. Excellent customer service. No VAT or extra charges. Order Confirmation.#
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Amazon.co.uk Review
Bill Bryson is an unabashed Anglophile who, through a mistake of history, happened to be born and bred in Iowa. Righting that error, he spent 20 years in England before deciding to repatriate: "I had recently read that 3.7 million Americans according to a Gallup poll, believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me." That comic tone enlivens this account of Bryson's farewell walking tour of the countryside of "the green and kindly island that had for two decades been my home."
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| Customer Reviews: Read 126 more reviews...
 The yardstick July 2, 2008
This is one of Bryson's very best and cements his place as the don of travel writing.
The quality and density of his writing, brimming as it is with curious facts and gags, make him simply unbeatable when it comes to this kind of travelogue.
Bryson's greatest skill is that he makes us want to follow him around often-dull and familiar corners of Britain, Europe, Australia and America.
If you're not a fan of the genre, steer clear. But if you like his style this is a must-have.
For those looking for a starting point for this type of travel book, this is as good a place to start as any.
better than expected read June 16, 2008
Having read the reviews, mostly anti - I finished reading this book and was pleasantly surprised. It seems to me that Bill Bryson was writing about his impressions, feelings, emotions, call it what you will, as he toured this island of ours, and it came over as a love/hate relationship until the end, when he makes it quite clear he loves the place and will be back. I tuned in to his kind of off beat humour quite early and loved it. Definitely a lot of snorts of laughter and a lot of 'yes, recognise that' too.
An enjoyable read.
 One arduous read. January 24, 2008
0 out of 6 found this review helpful
Whilst this is the first Bryson book I've finished (not the first of his I've attempted to read) it'll almost certainly be the last. I just don't get this guys popularity (a case of "The King's New Clothes" perhaps). It would've been much better if he'd integrated more with people he met on his travels and wrote about their thoughts rather than his own and his transparent exageration of mundane happenings in an effort towards being comical generally fell far short of the mark for me. He'd also benefit from occasionally choosing not to stay in accomodation he initially doesn't like the look of, but then this would leave him something short of to moan about. Disappointing.
Funny January 6, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm really enjoying reading this book. A couple of nights ago I was in bed reading Chapter 11 (the rainy night in Weston-Super-Mare) and laughed so hard I was in pain. I kept letting out the occasional gasp for air as the tears rolled. I had to keep the noise down as my girlfriend was asleep but the part where he tries to remember the name of the kick-boxing arcade game was too much and I've been chuckling about it for the past few days. A very enjoyable read.
Rants about a Small Island January 6, 2008
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
This was the fifth Bryson book that I have read and by far the most disappointing. The appeal of the other books of his that I've read (Short History, Thunderbolt, Mother Tongue, Walk in the Woods) is that they had provided a dose of iteresting trivia in an easy to read format (although I've seldom found them "laugh-out-loud funny" as many a reviewer seems to have done.) Small Island is just about as pointless a book as you could imagine. A journey around some random places in Britain with little in the way of description, history, geography, dialogue with locals or anything else. Instead we're treated to the sorts of rants that any person travelling on their own for eight weeks might have. He hates big dogs, people with interests that he doesn't share, anyone who makes an innocent mistake, architecture, etc. etc. etc. Almost anyone (with two months holiday and a limitless budget) could have written this book but I would suggest that most would have done it better.
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