The road to Little Dribbling

Lily reviewed The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'The road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Some laughs, but overall a bit disappointing. Bryson is really at his most crotchety - usually his complaints are part of the fun but in this one he comes across as a bit mean, grumpy and unable to be pleased by anything other than a country hillside and a pint. There were quite a few cringeworthy comments that just made him seem wilfully out of touch. Also, the whole of Scotland gets barely more than three pages. I look forward to reading more of his other more cheerful books.

Hiro.protagonist reviewed The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'The road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

1 star

TL;DR: Old man yells at cloud.

I really enjoyed all of Bryson's past travelogues, but the tone of this book is just super grumpy and unfunny. He spends most of his time complaining about how things were better in the good ol' days, and making pointless, negative hyperbolic statements about everything. Every time I tried to make progress in this book it felt like a chore, and was the first Bryson book that I've put down without finishing.

rainbowreckoner reviewed Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'Road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

2 stars

Sadly, I don't think I can read Bill Bryson anymore. I have loved his past work fiercely, gone to hear him speak when he was in town, championed his books to everyone... but as I've grown I find I can't tolerate his sneering sexism any more. I put this book down four separate times after being shocked and dismayed by the shitty way he talked about someone he'd encountered (almost always women); each time, I decided to pick it back up and try again. The final straw was his recollection of a time when he "saved" a bookshop worker from a mentally ill person he happened to know, and preened over how breathing she'd thanked him, and said "who knows what might have happened if she hadn't been nearly spherical."
Gross, gross, gross. I've reached the end of my patience, and, to my great sorrow, the end of my Bryson …

Sadly, I don't think I can read Bill Bryson anymore. I have loved his past work fiercely, gone to hear him speak when he was in town, championed his books to everyone... but as I've grown I find I can't tolerate his sneering sexism any more. I put this book down four separate times after being shocked and dismayed by the shitty way he talked about someone he'd encountered (almost always women); each time, I decided to pick it back up and try again. The final straw was his recollection of a time when he "saved" a bookshop worker from a mentally ill person he happened to know, and preened over how breathing she'd thanked him, and said "who knows what might have happened if she hadn't been nearly spherical."
Gross, gross, gross. I've reached the end of my patience, and, to my great sorrow, the end of my Bryson fandom as well.

Gossamerchild reviewed The Road to Little Dribbling : Adventures of an American in Britain by Bill Bryson

Review of 'The Road to Little Dribbling : Adventures of an American in Britain' on 'Storygraph'

3 stars

I'm rounding up to 3 stars simply because it's Bill Bryson. Otherwise, this is just a bunch of ramblings of an extremely pissed off old man who isn't even funny in his nastiness. Some of the things he rants about border on downright offensive, and I got tired of it. It was extremely disappointing.

BojanB reviewed Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'Road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

5 stars

Oh how I love Bill Bryson. No one else can describe a country so eloquently, flowery, and simply funny like him. If you badly need a good laugh or feel low and need someone who can bring you up through humorously describing his own miseries with a pinch of sarcasm, then this is the book for you.

Heather reviewed Road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'Road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

Bill Bryson is really grumpy in this book. I'm a big Bryson fan. I think I've read everything he's written. He's never veered far from curmudgeonly but he's downright peevish in this book. He's telling people to fuck off repeatedly. Far warning if that kind of thing bothers you.To start this journey he drew a line on a map connecting the farthest points he could find on a map of the United Kingdom.

He started his trip from Bognor Regis in the south and meandered his way north in the general direction of this line. This made me spend some quality time with Google maps. I thought I had in my head a general idea of where he was going. Then suddenly he was in Wales. I didn't know which one of us was not understanding geography. I did find that I didn't have a very good grasp on …

Bill Bryson is really grumpy in this book. I'm a big Bryson fan. I think I've read everything he's written. He's never veered far from curmudgeonly but he's downright peevish in this book. He's telling people to fuck off repeatedly. Far warning if that kind of thing bothers you.To start this journey he drew a line on a map connecting the farthest points he could find on a map of the United Kingdom.

He started his trip from Bognor Regis in the south and meandered his way north in the general direction of this line. This made me spend some quality time with Google maps. I thought I had in my head a general idea of where he was going. Then suddenly he was in Wales. I didn't know which one of us was not understanding geography. I did find that I didn't have a very good grasp on English geography - although I was spot on about Wales. I would have sworn the Lake District was northeast of London along with Stratford-upon- Avon and the Cotswolds. Turns out none of these things are true.He alternates taking lovely walks with complaining about British customer service and the tendency of British people to litter. He does have a strange nostalgia for museums full of taxidermy which I personally hate. He can't stand shops selling pieces of wood with pithy sayings on them. He seems to get a bit tipsy more than is probably healthy or wise.There was more in this book about his life outside of writing than there has been in other books. He talks about doing speeches to politicians and filming TV shows.I was disappointed that he didn't narrate the audiobook. That's one of the joys of listening to his books on audio. The narrator did a good job but it took me several hours to get over the fact that he wasn't Bill Bryson and to stop hearing a phantom version of Bill Bryson's voice in my head reading along with the narrator.Bottom line - Listen to this one if you are a fan but don't let this be a first or third Bryson book.This review was originally posted on Based On A True Story

Pentapod reviewed The road to Little Dribbling by Bill Bryson

Review of 'The road to Little Dribbling' on 'Goodreads'

3 stars

In this follow up to Notes From A Small Island, Bryson sets out on another tour of England 20 years after the first book. He deliberately doesn't try to retrace the locations of the earlier book, but instead traces an approximate and fairly arbitrary line across the UK, from one coast to the opposite. His narrative is a mix of humour, historical information, and reminiscence.

It's been a while since I read the first book, and now with a mobile phone and internet access in my pocket I can google for pictures of all the places he mentions and see exactly what he's describing in each of the charming towns he describes, which is great. I remember the first book being funnier than this one though; this seems to lean a bit more towards "in my day" grumbling and political comments, which are valid but not so entertaining to read. …

In this follow up to Notes From A Small Island, Bryson sets out on another tour of England 20 years after the first book. He deliberately doesn't try to retrace the locations of the earlier book, but instead traces an approximate and fairly arbitrary line across the UK, from one coast to the opposite. His narrative is a mix of humour, historical information, and reminiscence.

It's been a while since I read the first book, and now with a mobile phone and internet access in my pocket I can google for pictures of all the places he mentions and see exactly what he's describing in each of the charming towns he describes, which is great. I remember the first book being funnier than this one though; this seems to lean a bit more towards "in my day" grumbling and political comments, which are valid but not so entertaining to read. Still an enjoyable book and will make you want to go and visit England and tour around in the same way. As a US citizen who has chosen to move to England and acquire citizenship, he ends the book with a list of his top 5 reasons why he moved to the UK, and (having lived in England for several years myself) I agree with them heartily.