Welcome to Litsy!

★★★☆☆

'The hilly landscape was gorgeous and extravagantly green. You could be excused for thinking that the principle industry of Britain is the manufacture of chlorophyll. We chauntered along among wooded hills, scattered farms, churches with square towers that made them look like leftover pieces from a very large chess set.'

Not do great

Meh. Only one laugh-out-loud moment, quite a bit of finding him particularly unfunny (fat jokes don‘t get better with age and repetition), but mostly just meh. Bryson decided to revisit Britain before he and his family moved to the US, and predictably his meanderings go astray (having read A Walk in the Woods and In a Sunburned Country, this seems to be a theme). Again, meh. #DoubleSpin done.

Adding to the (recently reduced) list of ongoing reads. I just wasn‘t in the mood for Wildfell Hall or Don Quixote first thing this morning. Bryson is hit-or-miss, but I hope to get some chuckles out of this.

My first Bill Bryson...about one of my favorite places. 🇬🇧
#bookspinbingo

Another trek by Bryson, this time in the English countryside. Not surprisingly it rains a lot and he gets wet a lot. but his account is upbeat and humorous.

Kind of outdated and too many cliches about Britain that didn‘t ring true to me

Bryson on our American attitude toward good eats!! He's not wrong 😬

To an American the whole purpose of living, the one constant confirmation of continued existence, is to cram as much sensual pleasure as possible into one's mouth more or less continuously. Gratification, instant and lavish, is a birthright. You might as well say 'Oh, I shouldn't really' if someone tells you to take a deep breath.

#currentlyreading #travel #memoir

Good lord, he‘s a dick in this book...

Slow day at the library and I'm covering reference. Counting on Mr. Bryson to keep me entertained.

Laughing out loud at this pick for #NFNov!! As an American in Australia, the observations he makes about the English sound very familiar to me. #TIL that I‘m not the only one bemused by Britons genuine excitement over the prospect of a hot beverage.
@Clwojick @rsteve388

What should I listen to next?

I‘ll play along!
1) 16: 🇨🇦 🇲🇽 🇧🇸 🇨🇺 🇧🇿 🇳🇮 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 🇫🇷 🇪🇸 🇮🇹 🇻🇦 🇩🇪 🇨🇭 🇭🇺 🇨🇿 🇳🇱 and, so many more are on the list!
2) The Coast!
3) Poland
4) England
@Eggs #wonderouswednesday

I finished this one a couple of days ago. This travelogue of Britain is 25 years old. There were parts I really loved and laughed out loud. However, most of it is just recounting is what he likes or hates about certain towns. My big gripe is that this was a travelogue and the map of his travels was insufficient. The book as a whole could have been better. But I am sure I will read the sequel at some point.

Enjoying some camping and reading with the hubby. The quiet is excellent! #summerreading

Take 2, reading on the deck. My awesome parents just left with my kids for the next week. So, I have so quiet time to ready on my deck this morning! My kids get spoiled by their grandparents and I get a week with the hubby! My parents rock!

The reason I am getting no reading done! He is lucky he is so cute! Gus the pug too!

Trying to get a little reading done but my son wants to talk my ear off. So we are talking and I will read when he is done talking. #kidtime

Gives me the urge to travel there!
#LetsTravelJuly #Wanderlust

On to the next Bryson!

Finished Bryson‘s wry memoir for a bingo 😊 May try for a blackout now... #nonfiction2019 @Riveted_Reader_Melissa

By the end of the first story, I knew I wasn‘t going to be smitten with this book. While he does have a way with stories and I did laugh out loud on a few occasions, I found his opinions and “wit” to be mean and very Eurocentric most times. Part of that may be him trying to stay true to his reputation/voice, but I don‘t think Bryson and I are going to be best buds in the future. He‘s probably an author I would read in very small doses.

I suppose it's witty, and Bryson has a knack for description, but it felt dated and mean in places?

As a British person, I found this knowingly hilarious. Things I've never given much thought to are depicted here with great wit and humour.

Day 25 of #31bookpics - books in the wild! Travel memoirs are one of my favorite genres. I love being able to armchair travel via someone else‘s adventures!

“My first sight of England was on a foggy March night in 1973 when I arrived on the midnight ferry from Calais.”
#15of365 #openingline #bookcover #notpiratesockmonkey

His surprise at and appreciation for the countryside and how it is enjoyed is adorable.

My favourite #setting . Great Britain. #litsyclassics @Bambolina_81

On Sale today and on Amazon the audio was an additional $7.49 I believe #spreadthebooklove

Used to read this in Y7, durin silent reading. I wasn't silent.

The first time I learned about the British difference between #walking (e.g. to the pub) and *walking* (I would call this serious hiking) was from Bryson.

"Are you sure it's not too hard?"
"Nah, it's just an amble."

He puts things so well. ?

#150pnpcoverparty

I thought some of you might be interested in the covers aswell. 😄 #foliofreaks

From left to right standing:
The best After-Dinner stories, Big Chief Elizabeth, The New York trilogy, Good behaviour, The Darling Buds of May, Inventions of the Middle Ages

Lying:
The Victorians, tagged book, A Traveller in Time, The Folio Book of Humorous Anecdotes, The Camberwell Beauty

Not a bad way to finish the year at all!

This was my travel memoir for #ReadHarder2017 and I probably wouldn‘t have read it otherwise. I‘m not a huge fan of memoirs or nonfiction in general. That said, I was very entertained by this book. Bryson is very funny and I enjoyed traveling around Great Britain through him.

⭐️⭐️⭐️1/2

I‘m never going to get through my last read of 2017 if I can‘t stop laughing hysterically. I don‘t know why, but this whole page has me 😂

I found this book to be too negative for me. Lots of complaining about bad architecture, which I understand how bothersome an eyesore can be,but much of the book consisted of this.Unnecessary rude commentary about people he encountered or argued with during his travels. I get that it‘s supposed to be funny, I just didn‘t enjoy that. Parts of it were great and those parts I liked very much. It also could use a map. This completes #readharder2017

⭐️⭐️⭐️

Bill and I had a break-up around the middle part of this book. He was getting on my very last nerve with his sudden unfriendly outbursts to dogwalkers and jolly families enjoying cream buns. It was also tiresome, this carping about architectural eyesores.

On the plus side this made me nostalgic for the 90s. Even if, going by this all that can be found outside London for dinner is curry, bad Chinese and the occasional Haddock and peas ?

There‘s a pretty content little group in our house this morning. Happy Sunday, Littens!!! #catsoflitsy #bowie #lennox #readharder2017

I picked this up out of curiosity and was surprised how protective I felt towards the places I know (and have not always loved). Bill Bryson is funny, but I was riled by his apparent wish for Britain to be some kind of theme park. Although, given the "silly season" we've embarked on lately, his nostalgia has poignancy. He is perplexed, frustrated and (wilfully?) misunderstanding of Britishness without losing his affection for it. ⭐⭐⭐

#192019 1995

On my tbr to read for one of my challenges this year... and since I still haven‘t visited this country, it fits today‘s prompt. 😃

#uncannyoctober #nfaboutacountryyoudliketovisit

This will probably be a popular author for today‘s photo challenge, and though this book is not limited to one country, I‘ll still like to visit!
Day 2 #NFaboutacountryyoudliketovisit #uncannyoctober

#thisisnotamerica #septembowie I bought this book at the Raise-A-Reader booksale. According to the inscription on the title page " This book may cause you to chuckle, snicker and even snort while reading " so I had to buy it. Now to find the time to read it ?

Funny. Love Bill Bryson.

This travel memoir, published in the 90s, shows its age in places. Bryson embarks on a nostalgic farewell tour of Great Britain with his trademark wit, irreverence, and curmudgeonly grumblings. Recommended for Anglophiles.

I love blue! 💙🐳🦋🌊 #coversinyrfavecolor #anditsaugust and for the twofer please note the ☕️ on the cover of the tagged book so raise your cup instead of #raiseyourglass #augustgirrrls 🐉💙

Today's author spotlight: Bill Bryson! The 65-year-old was born in Des Moines, Iowa. He became a dual citizen of America and Great Britain within the past year. In 2003, at World Book Day, British voters chose Notes as the book which best sums up British identity, and he was appointed a Commissioner for English Heritage. He has bounced residencies between the UK and US, living in Hanover, NH, from 1995 to 2003. #AuthorPotpourri #TheMoreYouKnow

I first read this story of Bill Bryson's #journey through the UK when I was there in college. Re-reading it always brings back the best memories. #JubilantJuly #billbryson

Watched A Walk in the Woods again the other day, put me in a Bill Bryson mood 😏 #nightread