Book Review: Notes from a Small Island

Once again, it was delightful to return to another hilarious Bill Bryson book. The audio version I listened to was abridged and part of the set I snagged for a dollar at the thrift store. I recommend the full version in print or audio form. Each essay offers equal parts explanation and entertainment. Part travelogue, part commentary, Bryson leaves the reader rolling on the floor without detracting from his love for England in the slightest.

Notes from a Small Island is Bryson's tender goodbye to England just prior to his move back to the United States (he chronicles that move in I'm a Stranger Here Myself). Despite living there for twenty years, Bryson felt compelled to take one last jaunt throughout England, Wales, and Scotland before his departure. Plus, rather than touring the country by car, he chose to travel using public transport. The book begins as he steps off the ferry in the shadow of the white cliffs of Dover and ends when he returns home by train after viewing the Lake District. In between, you meet cantankerous caretakers, inexplicable travel inconveniences, and a host of notoriously British quirks. His descriptions leave you laughing out loud. At one point, in describing his descent down a treacherous hill, he writes, "I rode an ooze of flowing mud down the hill to the bay, pausing only long enough to belly into boulders and carry out a few tree-resiliency tests." Ha!

I love Bill Bryson's travel writing (any of his writing, to be honest). Of course, it is extra special when you've visited the same sites he explores. I recognized quite a few places I have had the pleasure of experiencing and quite a few British words I understood (although there is a fine glossary at the back of my paperback copy of the book). But, even if you've never stepped foot on this interesting island, Bryson's humor makes his journey one you will not regret taking vicariously. As the New York Times Book Review declares it, "Astute and funny... an amusing guide to the U.K.'s foibles, as well as a tribute to its enchantment."