Friday 6 April 2012

Devouring Books: Notes From A Small Island by Bill Bryson

Ah Bill. You are so awesome, you've kind of done what we all thought was the near impossible, and made me kind of appreciate my own country a little bit (as opposed to not at all). I mean, I'm not saying that I wouldn't rather have been reading Notes from a Small Island in some wondrous faraway land and feeling mildly nostalgic about little old England, but as it was, it was still pretty nice!

In Notes from a Small Island, Bryson basically undertakes the thrilling quest of travelling around Britain (well, not Northern Ireland, but the other bits) for 7 weeks, as a little nostalgia/learning trip before moving back to the history vacuum that is America (sorry. But, you know, comparatively, yeah..). All of which, to me, sounded like a fairly unexciting premise for a book, since I live here and all, and hey, it's not that exciting! This is perhaps why the book languished on my shelves for a very very long time, since my brain went 'ooh Bryson!' when I saw it and bought it, and then the second I got it home and read the back of it, I was like 'okaaay... maybe I'll just shelve that one for a while...'

Big mistake you guys! Because Bryson, as I've seen many times before, isn't afraid to take the piss out of things he is fond of, and he's very fond of England. That means that, when he grumbles about the fact that all high streets in England (in fact, in Britain) literally look exactly the same (and oh my gosh, it's so true! Even in like Stratford Upon Avon, there's all the same shops as there are in the nearest town to me, except they look slightly more Tudor-ish. Sad but true story.) I'm right there with him, but also when he says things like how English people think that taking one chocolate when it's offered is really naughty, and go "oooh, I shouldn't, but go on then!", I'm in complete agreement with him that it's kind of adorable!

As is the case whenever I read Bryson, I forgot to write down any quotes from it, which is such a shame because it's so funny, and sometimes crochety, and just all round good stuff, and yet I can't even remember a lot of my favourite bits. I do remember his meeting 'the most boring man in the world', and when telling his readers that the man was a widower, he says, 'his wife having presumably committed suicide', which is at once SO mean, and yet SO funny! Somehow I let Bryson get away with things that I would mostly find sort of offensive or mean, and that's down to both delivery, and to the underlying love he always always shows for his subject. In Notes from a Big Country, whenever he was being mean about Americans (calling them stupid and whatnot) there was an underlying appreciation for their politeness and smileyness, and that made everything ok, and the same thing applies for this book.

I didn't think Notes from a Small Island was perfect- there was slightly too much moaning about architecture (which are probably valid arguments, it's just that I haven't seen these monstrosities he goes on about and hence don't really care about them) because it just got a bit too moany, and it was also a tiny bit dated. This is obviously nothing to do with Bryson or his writing, but it's just that things are a bit different here now than they were in 1995- the high streets all look similar because of all the empty shops on them, and I'm sure there are even more ugly buildings. Having said that, there is still the great north and south divide that Bryson talks about, Stonehenge is still something you really only need to see for about two minutes, and there's even a brand new Tory government that's probably even worse than the one in charge when Bryson was writing. And above all, British people remain remarkably similar- the apologising when someone walks into you (I genuinely do that all the time), the innate willingness to queue, and the weird national obsession with cricket (or maybe that's just my dad...). It all just made me go 'awww, Britain!' really, and just want to gather the whole country in a big hug.

So, yeah. Bryson's really done the unthinkable in getting me to appreciate my own country more, and for that I applaud him. It's even inspired me to want to visit a lot more English places (and considering that I have no money, that's probably the best holiday I can hope for anyway!) and to possibly even venture up to Scotland one day (if you only knew how much I dislike Scotland, that would freak you the hell out). But everything about Britain is in here: the good, the bad, and the indifferent, and this statement which is wholly accurate: "What a wondrous place this was - crazy as fuck, of course, but adorable to the tiniest degree." Yep. And there you go- endorsed by an English person. What more could you need to read this?!

15 comments:

  1. Bill Bryson can be an honoury Brit as far as I'm concerned. He's lovely - so sharp and funny but somehow cuddly and sweet too.

    Have you read "A walk in the woods"? He decides to walk the entire length of the Appalacian trail (thinking, "hey, it's only walking") then realises he may have bitten off a tad more than he could chew. Brilliant book and probably my favourite along with this one.

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    1. He is so cuddly isn't he! I would allow him to be an honorary Brit in a heartbeat!

      I haven't read A Walk in the Woods but I do own it- for some reason I thought it had something to do with Walden, and I really thought I should read that first, but now I'm fairly sure it doesn't, and since Walden is really hard to read, I may read it sometime soon- thanks for the recommendation!

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  2. HOW CAN YOU NOT LOVE ENGLAND?! *shock* *gasp* *lifelong trauma*
    Okay, I have to admit that I have only spent four weeks in Britain in all my life, but it is just so...British!
    Isn't it the promised land?! You have literature like no other country, you have the most beautiful language in the world and you have endless rain! What's not to love?
    Well, I should probably shut up until I find a tiny little bit more reasonable arguments for my romanticised point of view but I have to add a "Yay Bryson!" to my long and imbecile sermon :)

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    1. Weeell... we have the literary history, but everyone can read the literature! And I would argue that French is a more beautiful language. But living here is fairly boring because it's teeny and everything's all the same, and we may have a lot of history, but that all happened in the past, you know? But anyway, I still like it a bit better now :)

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  3. Admittedly this was my least favorite Bryson book. HOWEVER, that not because this is bad, it's more because the others are just so awesome that one has to be the least awesome one. Maybe I should give this a re-read...

    Also, why do you dislike Scotland?? I am fake offended. Or maybe I'm like 1/16th offended since that's how much Scottish I am? I'm also that much English, so maybe that side is applauding?

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    1. The main thing I dislike about Scotland is the accent (since I've never been there, it's about the only thing I can rationally dislike!) Oh, and bagpipes! I fucking hate bagpipes. I feel like your English 16th should be applauding me though hehe.

      Also, I meant to add in the review that I wasn't sure how this book would go down in other places! Because it felt very very much like it was written for an English audience, which obviously I didn't mind, but I didn't necessarily think it would translate that well to other places. Is that why you didn't like it as much, because you had no idea what he was talking about? Or was it just a general thing and I should shut up?

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    2. I think your right that it may have been that's written for an English audience, which I am not. I was thinking maybe it was because I've never been to England so I didn't understand a lot, but I haven't hiked the Appalachian trail or been to most of the countries in Neither Here Nor There and I liked those. Of course that could be cos those were for a more general audience.

      So yes, I didn't like it as much cos I felt left out cos there were definitely points where I was like "what now?"

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    3. Yeah, I was definitely reading it, and I was thinking 'there's no way that anyone who isn't from England is going to get this...' and I actually thought that he might have written an American version too, as in a less obvious kind of like 'hey English people, I'm your buddy!' one, but obviously not! So I guess he was essentially just thinking 'I'm going to write this for the English people', and everyone else just kind of slightly misses out. Although it's still fairly good, non?

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  4. Yes, I agree. I read this book years ago and loved (I mean, come on, it's Bryson!) and then I re-listened to it last year on audio and was slightly less enthusiastic about it. But in the main a comparatively less great Bryson book is still often leaps & bounds ahead of other books.

    Anyway, I loved how he recognized small British things about himself that he originally made fun of when he moved to Britain. LIke the apologizing, or getting excited about a digestive biscuit.

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    1. Oh my gosh, a slightly less awesome Bryson book is definitely miles ahead of most other books! I loved his little learned English quirks, and I especially appreciated it because he talks about Windsor and Bournemouth, both of which I've been to many many many times and I love them! It was like they were famous, which was very exciting to me hehe

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  5. DAMN YOU I DON'T HAVE TIME TO BE READING THESE BOOKS

    Basically I assume at some point I'll read everything he's ever written. So good job pimping him out here, man.

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    1. I am Bill Bryson's official pimp. I'm fairly sure I'll start earning money from it aaaany day now!

      READ THESE BOOKS INSTEAD OF ANYTHING ELSE DAMMIT!

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  6. Have been meaning to read this book for literally years but somehow have never gotten around to it. Thanks for the encouragement :)

    As for Stratford, it at least has more 'individual' or rare shops than Birmingham

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    1. This is definitely true about Stratford- it just kind of depressed me because I was like 'oh, look at the beautiful buildings!' and then I looked down and it was like WHSmith or something... Not cool!

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  7. This is one of the Brysons I haven't read yet. I have At Home out of the library and am so excited about it!

    I imagine reading Notes from a Small Island in Britain is similar to reading The Lost Continent as an American -- lots of laughing at yourself but also going "Aw, we're okay."

    Also, the apologizing when someone else bumps into you is not just a British thing. I do this all the time. Someone could probably trip me on purpose and I would apologize on reflex.

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