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Bill Bryson – Neither Here Nor There | Review

Title: Neither Here Nor There
Author: Bill Bryson

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 304

Rating: 3/5

I’d been looking forward to reading this one because I picked up Notes from a Small Island a few years back and enjoyed it so much that it made me want to read everything else that Bryson has ever written. Somehow, I’ve ended up picking up nearly a dozen of his books without reading any of them and this is what I picked up when I finally got back to him.

Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy it anywhere near as much as I was hoping to, and I think that was mostly because of how negative Bryson was about everywhere he visited. It just felt as though he was complaining his way across Europe, and rather than giving me the travel buzz as I was expecting, it made me feel pretty glad that I was at home.

Still, it’s not all bad, and there are little jokes here and there that made me chuckle. I also liked seeing what Europe was like in the late eighties and early nineties, and there were a few places he went to that I’ve been to as well, including Amsterdam and Milan. It’s kind of funny because Amsterdam is probably my favourite of the places that I’ve visited and Milan is probably my least favourite.

All in all, then, this was kind of a disappointment for me, but perhaps that’s just because I had such high hopes after my last brush with Bryson. It was fine though, and I’m glad that I finished reading it. I guess I’m just a little worried about the rest of Bryson’s oeuvre seeing as this sounded like one of his best. Oh well, it is what it is.

Bill Bryson

Click here to buy Neither Here Nor There.

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Bill Bryson – A Brief History of Nearly Everything [REVIEW]

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Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie – A Bit of Fry and Laurie | Review

Title: A Bit of Fry and Laurie

Author: Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie

Type: Non-Fiction

Page Count/Review Word Count: 230

Rating 3.5/5

This book is basically just a collection of scripts from the A Bit of Fry and Laurie TV show, but I’ve seen every episode of it a whole bunch of times and so because of that, it felt weirdly like I was re-reading something.

The good news is that all in all, I thought it was a lot of fun, and it reminded me why I was such a fan of the show in the first place. It also got me wanting to re-watch it, especially because of certain sections like the Tony and Control sketches. It even clarified a few bits here and there where I guess I misheard what had been said in the show and so the jokes were lost on me.

Still, I was somehow expecting more from this, perhaps in the form of a few little bonuses from Fry and Laurie. There was a little introduction that added a certain amount of context, but it wasn’t really enough to make this feel original in its own right. Instead, the book was kind of derivative of the show, but what the hey? If you’re a fan of Fry and Laurie, you’ll still enjoy it.