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Notes from a Small Island | 
 enlarge | Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Harper Perennial
Category: Book
List Price: $14.00
Buy Used: $0.05
You Save: $13.95 (100%)
Rating:  272 reviews
Sales Rank: 5566
Media: Paperback
Pages: 282
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.5
Dimensions (in): 7.9 x 5.3 x 0.9
ISBN: 0380727501
Dewey Decimal Number: 942.082
EAN: 9780380727506
ASIN: 0380727501
Publication Date: May 1, 1997
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: Expedited shipping available
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: * Item in good condition- Typical Used Book and at a great price! * We carefully inspected this * Great customer service * Satisfaction Guaranteed!
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
Reacting to an itch common to Midwesterners since there's been a Midwest from which to escape, writer Bill Bryson moved from Iowa to Britain in 1973. Working for such places as Times of London, among others, he has lived quite happily there ever since. Now Bryson has decided his native country needs him--but first, he's going on a roundabout jaunt on the island he loves. Britain fascinates Americans: it's familiar, yet alien; the same in some ways, yet so different. Bryson does an excellent job of showing his adopted home to a Yank audience, but you never get the feeling that Bryson is too much of an outsider to know the true nature of the country. Notes from a Small Island strikes a nice balance: the writing is American-silly with a British range of vocabulary. Bryson's marvelous ear is also in evidence: "... I noted the names of the little villages we passed through--Pinhead, West Stuttering, Bakelite, Ham Hocks, Sheepshanks ..." If you're an Anglophile, you'll devour Notes from a Small Island.
Product Description
"Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestsellingauthor of The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to returnto the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another,so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out ona grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile. "Suddenly, in the space of a moment, I realized what it was that I loved about Britain-which is to say, all of it."After nearly two decades spent on British soil, Bill Bryson-bestselling author of ,i>The Mother Tongue and Made in America-decided to return to the United States. ("I had recently read," Bryson writes, "that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, so it was clear that my people needed me.") But before departing, he set out on a grand farewell tour of the green and kindly island that had so long been his home. Veering from the ludicrous to the endearing and back again, Notes from a Small Island is a delightfully irreverent jaunt around the unparalleled floating nation that has produced zebra crossings, Shakespeare, Twiggie Winkie's Farm, and places with names like Farleigh Wallop and Titsey. The result is an uproarious social commentary that conveys the true glory of Britain, from the satiric pen of an unapologetic Anglophile.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 267 more reviews...
 I wet myself reading this one March 28, 2008
Sam Hendricks (Virginia USA)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Ok, may that was a little lie, but "Notes from a Small Island" was that good. I laughed out loud so many times I cried. He hits the countries mannerisms spot on. Having lived in the UK for many years I enjoyed all of his rants and raves. Sure, some of them may have been a little preachy or exagerated, but the point was to show the differences and he came through with flying colors (or should I say colours). His witty observations remind me of things we all think but never remember to put to pen. Instead, he sees it and writes about it and then delivers it in a poignant, yet loving way.
Most Brits that I know love his works and this book is no exception. In fact, a Brit recommended him to me as an example of a great writer writing about the UK.
Good for you Bill.
Sam Hendricks, author of "Fantasy Football Guidebook: Your Comprehensive Guide to Playing Fantasy Football" and "Fantasy Football Almanac". Coming in May 2008-"Fantasy Football Almanac 2008"
 A long way from his best work February 9, 2008
Paul Weiss (Dundas, Ontario Canada)
8 out of 10 found this review helpful
After a lengthy residence in England, journalist Bill Bryson and his family had reached the decision to move back to their native USA. Before leaving, Bryson pulled out all the stops and embarked on a freewheeling 7 week whirlwind tour of England, Wales and Scotland. Shank's pony, bus, train, and the occasional rented car were his only modes of transportation. Of course, as one would expect, the journal from that trip formed the core of a book about the English people, their habits and customs, their towns, their buildings, their history, and the countryside and its landscapes.
Fresh from a reading of Bryson's brilliant Appalachian travelogue, "A Walk in the Woods", I was psyched and I had enormously high expectations for "Notes From a Small Island". But, in the words of the Britons whom he had lived amongst for almost 20 years, "it were a bloomin' disappointment wot didn't come up to snuff!"
Oh, to be sure, there were moments of unutterably funny comic brilliance! But I found that on far too many occasions, Bryson used the book as a platform to preach and whine, over and over again, about the loss of British architectural heritage to the ravages of much more boring 20th century buildings and lack luster store fronts. And, please don't misunderstand me ... I couldn't agree more! To tear down some of these beautiful structures that are hundreds of years old or to raze a hedgerow for no other purpose than to erect a mall filled with a Boots, a Marks & Spencer and a MacDonalds is an unforgivable travesty. But, bless me, Bryson seemed to go on and on ... and on again! And, truth be told, if I had to listen to one more nearly endless string of cutesy British village and town names, I swore I was going to throw up and give him a real life version of the plastic vomit he was so oddly intent on purchasing as he traveled through Inverness.
In my review of "A Walk in the Woods", I commented that Bryson's unmatched humour took every possible form imaginable but, in "Notes From a Small Island", a far larger percentage of the time was spent trying to generate laughs with Don Rickles' style of humour that always seemed to come at someone else's expense. Somehow, it all got tiresome and simply stopped being funny.
That Bryson has an eye for history, geography, and the quirky bits of local social life that can make a book like this so interesting is beyond doubt. Likewise, there is no question that he has a flair for comic delivery of his material. But "Notes From a Small Island" was a long way below the standard that I enjoyed in "A Walk in the Woods".
Paul Weiss
Hysterical January 22, 2008
Bertram Wooster (Centerville, KY)
A witty insight into the nation that gave us Harry Potter, P.G. Wodehouse and Shakespeare - and you can see traces of all three genres in Bryson's writing. Two thumbs up for both the entertainment and the poignant insights it gives into contemporary British life.
good observations and a great deal of fun, but not the best Bryson January 22, 2008
Aleksandra Nita-Lazar (MA, USA)
12 out of 13 found this review helpful
When Bill Bryson decided to leave England after 20 years and go back to America, he embarked on the good-bye lone trip, which resulted in "Notes from a small island".
Starting from France and taking the ferry from Calais to Dover (and, of course, taking this opportunity to make some funny comments about France as well), Bryson went to places where he used to live and compared his memories with what he saw during the trip; he traveled to famous tourist resorts, but he also visited remote, obscure villages and hamlets he read or heard about (mansions of eccentric aristocrats, mining towns, forgotten jewels of the British countryside). He has tender feelings for the country where he spent the big part of his life, and knows how to shows them in a really British style!
I like Bryson's sense of humor, his eye for detail, his brisk, intelligent prose which makes his books so much more than dry reports and guides (which they could easily become, given the subject). In this book, I especially liked his linguistic adjustments to the British colloquialisms (and the glossary at the end). They sound very natural!
I loved the story of the mosaic, of the painting miners, of the lord hiding from people's sight. I followed him with interest through the parts of Great Britain which I know well (especially Wales), I returned with pleasure to one of my favorite cities, Edinburgh, I was glad he has similar opinion as I about Blackpool and Manchester, and I resolved, sometime, to visit Durham, more of the South of England and more of Scotland.
Of course, I was slightly disappointed when I did not find some places I wanted to read about, like my ever-favorite York, the Welsh towns I know best - Bangor, Holyhead (and Llandudno is so close...), but I understand that this is licentia poetica and Bryson's choice for his book. I loved his observations about the British society, the trains, the architecture...
The only thing I found annoying and a bit boring, is the repetitive, schematic comments about pubs, tourist housing and restaurants. To be honest, there was too much of the same thing (was it deliberate, to show the reader, that really they are the same in Britain? I am not sure). I will remember "Notes..." but I do not plan to return to it, like I would to "A walk in the woods", and, although it is a good book, I do not feel that this is one of Bryson's best.
 a bit of a disappointment January 2, 2008
Rachel Summers (arlington, ma)
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
After reading a few other of his travel books, I found this one to be a bit disappointing. The beginning was the most entertaining, then I found it to get a bit repetitive and unhumorous - as if there were some boredom with the trip itself.
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