Friday, November 20, 2020

Book Review: The Road to Little Dribbling

The hilarious and loving sequel to a hilarious and loving classic of travel writing: Notes from a Small Island, Bill Bryson’s valentine to his adopted country of England

In 1995 Bill Bryson got into his car and took a weeks-long farewell motoring trip about England before moving his family back to the United States. The book about that trip, Notes from a Small Island, is uproarious and endlessly endearing, one of the most acute and affectionate portrayals of England in all its glorious eccentricity ever written. Two decades later, he set out again to rediscover that country, and the result is The Road to Little Dribbling. Nothing is funnier than Bill Bryson on the road—prepare for the total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter.

The Good:

I've been a fan of Bill Bryson's writing ever since I picked up a copy of A Walk in the Woods. This book is a trip around England and I fell in love with his ability to describe places in such a way that they made me want to visit and see if they're just how he makes me picture them.

The Bad:

I didn't find as much humor in this book as I have his other books. This was a bit more grumpy old man wishing that times didn't change. Honestly, I can relate to that, but it's not necessarily what I was looking for after reading multiple of his other books.

The Summary:

While I did enjoy this book, I didn't enjoy it as much as I have his other books. Still, I expect that I'll read it again and any book that I would read more than once gets a pretty decent recommendation from me.