![]() Like its predecessor, The Road to Little Dribbling is a travel memoir, combining adventures and observations from his travels around the island nation with recounting of his life there, off and mostly on, over the last four decades. Despite his claims that modern Britain is increasingly unfamiliar to him, he obviously knows the country well and loves it even more - because it is the home he chose. Bryson’s new book is in most ways a worthy successor and sequel to his classic Notes From A Small Island. When you’re fed up with American traffic or culture or political rants on Facebook, just pop over for a walk around the British countryside or a journey on a British train with Bryson. Every bit of it has a purpose and yet it is endlessly agreeable to look at, too.”īryson makes his journey in several discrete pieces, and that might well be the best way to take in this book. Like the National Trust-managed estate that is perfectly preserved in the deteriorated condition or a bridge made out of cast-iron: “It is at once elegant and decorous, yet wholly utilitarian. Despite his dismay at the prevalence of litter and the increase in car traffic, he still delights in the idiosyncratic British treasures that have survived thousands of years of settlement on the island. Mostly, though, Bryson is that curmudgeonly but entertaining uncle you love to talk to at parties, and he’s an exceptionally well informed one. And spending so much time complaining about misspellings in Trip Advisor reviews or the prominence of reality TV stars in celebrity magazines is a little beneath a writer of Bryson’s talents. A little griping about parking (or the lack of it) goes a long way. The memoir side of the travel-memoir hybrid is less enlightening or amusing. ![]()
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