"Notes on A Small Island" by Bill Bryson

I really enjoyed this book. To be honest, this surprised me. I really only started reading it because I had left my current book at home and was bored on a lunch break at work. I recognized the author and everything else on the staff book shelf looked bland.

This is technically a travel book about England, which is the main reason I didn't think I would like it. It's travel literature - story about someone's experiences on a trip - as opposed to travel guide, but I was still apprehensive. In the end my boredom won me over.

Bryson is an American who immigrated in the UK in his twenties, who - the book explains - is preparing to permanently return to the US to raise his young family. The story is a first-hand account of the author's months long trip around Great Britain in the early 1990s, just months before that departure. The trip was meant to be somewhat of a "farewell tour". I must admit, that even as I write this, the book's premise does not sound very appealing. No wonder I was hesitant to read it in the first place.

The amazing and enjoyable part of this book, though, is Bryson himself. He's sarcastic, at times both self-rightous and self-deprecating, and just thouroughly amusing. Bryson insists on walking everywhere he goes (somewhat understandable, yet still amusing in many places), has the strangest relationship with food and drink, frequently makes whim decisions he immediately regrets, and constantly complains about urbanization and architecture. Many times I drew attention to himself in the luch room because I was laughing loudly to myself.

Also because at the time of writing he had lived in the UK for over a decade, Bryson is able to interpret many aspects of Britain that might go over the heads of people new to the country.

I think that this would be a great read for a North American who is familiar with England. A lot of the humour in the book pretty much requires a passing knowledge of both cultures. I don't know if a born-and-bred Brit would fully appreciate parts of the book though, becuase Bryson tends to comment on the absurdity of many British customs, when looked out from an outsider's perspective.