Customer Reviews: Read 272 more reviews...
 Notes from a Gonna Be Big Author October 8, 2008
While not his best, it is always enjoyable to read the work of this, then aspiring, bestselling author. He just got better and better over time and Notes from a Small Island clearly shows his potential. Some of his authorial quirks, like overuse of sensational adjectives and truly uncontrolled use adverbs, aren't as charming in this earlier work but I'm glad he tamed those quirks latter without eliminating altogether. I've not spent any time in Britain and so some of his trademark dry wit may have whizzed over my head. Still, his style hits the mark.
 Bless Bill Bryson September 30, 2008
If there is anyone out there who has never read Bill Bryson I urge you to start. His books will warm your heart and make you laugh out loud....you can't stay blue or depressed when you're engrossed in one of his works. In spite of his penchant for being an Anglophile (no doubt because he's married to an Englishwoman), you realize, after reading between the lines, he's an all-American kid.
What's so delightful about him is that he not only entertains but educates as well.
Hurrah, hurrah, hurrah! Bill. There is no one like you. I have one complaint and that is there aren't any new 'travelogues' on the horizon. Come on, Bill. You're not that old!.
 Amusing but somewhat repetitive September 20, 2008
Bryson has a keen eye for the amusing and unusual details of British life and culture and he writes some very witty and memorable lines. I enjoyed much of this but at times it seemed he was stretching his idea a bit and the book became repetitive.
This could have been a funny magazine article if edited down to the best bits but there's really not enough here to rate this more than 3 stars.
 Couldn't finish this one.... July 21, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
I've read five of Bryson's books so far, but this one has put the nail in the coffin for me-there will be no more Bryson books for a while. I'm about half way through it but am finding it increasingly difficult to tolerate Bryson's mean-spirited remarks about people he's never met. Bryson's comment that an overweight teenager was a, "greedy, fat, pig" wasn't funny at all. It was just mean, plain and simple...and this coming from an author who needs to take a look at himself in the mirror. In the last Bryson book I read, his wife comments that all he does is, "b**ch, b**ch, b**ch. I agree with her. I find this book to be repeatedly filled with whining, and mean-spirited comments about people Bryson has never met and places he doesn't spend enough time in to know anything about. If you want to read good Bryson books try, "A Walk in The Woods" or "A Short History of Nearly Everything". This one will will be going out, half-finished, with our summer tag sale items.
notes about small complaints... June 27, 2008
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
Bill Bryson travels his adopted homeland of Great Britain and his observations about the people and places take the spotlight in this travel diary.
This is classic Bryson. Lots of acute observations, some dry humor along the way, and many adventures. While I enjoy Bryson, his writing is not for people who have not been to the place he is talking about. I enjoyed his other book "Neither Here, nor There" much more as I had been to Europe and the places he had been to in that book and therefore found his observations much more amusing than in this book.
I actually put this book down. It was entertaining for sure, but I just got sick of hearing about England after awhile. I will of course read Bryson again, but this one was just not a fave.
three Stars.
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