Just before leaving his adopted home of Yorkshire and moving back to America for a few years Bill Bryson wrote Notes From A Small Island. It was his valedictory tour of our green and pleasant land. Twenty years later his publisher reminded him of this so he decided to another tour of Britain creating the ‘Bryson Line’ he would travel from Bognar Regis to Cape Wrath in Scotland.

Written during the Scottish and Brexit referendums which confirmed our madness to Bryson. Once again Bryson walks across the country having many wonderful walks and reminds us that we do actually have a lot to be happy about. This book like many of his others will make you chuckle, snigger and laugh out loud.

Starting out in Bognar Regis Bryson’s observations of the town could almost be the same words that King George V had for the place, ‘bugger Bognar’. On many of his walks across the country he reminds the reader that really is a green and pleasant land. He also reminds us what we have retained but also what we have lost in the twenty years since his previous book.

Bryson also notes that some of the greatest enemies of our country have been employed by this country. How city ‘architects’ across the country have caused more damage to Birmingham since 1945 than any of Hitler’s bombs ever did. We could all point to those guilty parties ruining many towns and cities across the country since then. They seem to know the price of everything and the value of nothing. In fact, Bryson argues that the town planner has caused more damage to Britain in the years since the war than anything else in our collective history of invasions and wars.

The great thing about the book is that it continues to Bryston’s ode to Britian. He reminds us that Great Britain is the world’s largest park and it s most perfect accidental garden. The book is a fantastic read and you cannot help but laugh out loud.

Bryson’s observations about the British are so general that they are accidently precise about many of us. Read the book and laugh at ourselves. ( )

from Becca:

For lessons in travel writing, linguistics and dry humor, I recommend Bill Bryson's latest book, which reflects on the Great Britain he first encountered 20 years ago and compares it to Great Britain today. If you're listening to it rather than reading a physical copy, as I did, you'll also be treated to a wonderful performance that brings Bryson's bright mischief and hefty knowledge to life. Like always, Bryson's readers know (or should know) what they're getting into when they pick up his work. Basically, he often takes a story or investigation or joke to its very limit. And part of his charm is that he's a unabashed curmudgeon--but a lovable one, in most cases, one that makes you guffaw while, say, you're listening while doing the dishes. This book is no different, and just when I was ready to stop listening because of one repeated salty complaint too many, he moves on and focuses on something beautiful, weird or historically unique that I never would have known about Great Britain otherwise. So, I kept the volume up and the chapters going.

Overall, I trust Bryson's voice and experiences because I know he cares deeply about the places he's exploring, even--especially-- as a tourist in his own adopted country (he's now officially a citizen of Great Britain). One reason I wanted to read this book, in fact, is that I have been wanting to show my husband of almost a decade around the old haunts of West Yorkshire, England where I studied as an undergrad in the early 2000s. Because of Bryson's latest book, I now have more of an idea about where I'd want to seek out, and where I'd want to avoid. And the cherry on top? All those lovely/strange/musical British vocabulary words (I miss saying "ta" instead of "thank you," for example), and all those gorgeous descriptions of moors and walking tours; pub menus; and, one of Bryson's specialties, historic snippets about authors, poets and politicians.

If you can get past the sometimes intense curmudgeon-ness of his writing, this is a "smashing" read or listen, especially for any fellow Anglophiles out there... ( )

Too similar to previous books; curmudgeon complaining. ( )

This book is about one-third a great travelogue, featuring great descriptions of landscapes, sites, landmarks, and history. Unfortunately, the other two-thirds are an old guy griping about everything and everyone he encounters, usually from a lack of preparation or effort on his own part. Andy Rooney could barely hold a candle to the blathering pseudo-insights of what Bryson thinks is wrong with the world. Truly "Old Man Yells at Cloud" levels of cantankerousness. It is a shame, because the travelogue aspect is informative and even charming at times, only to be marred by Bryson's purposeful attempts to malign himself to the reader as a grade A curmudgeon. About 1 in 10 anecdotes are amusing and worthwhile, while the rest just highlight the dolts Bryson could easily avoid, the food he is shoving in his face but does not like, or how drunk he got. It is a shame because I do enjoy Bryson's writing on a technical level, but this book is a warning to steer clear from his personal experiences and stick to the objective subject matter books that he has authored. ( )

Have previously read Bryson's travels in GB. Must have been a long time before getting onto Library Thing. Read this but found it a bit monotonous , I guess because a lot of the little places he visited were very much the same. ( )