In case you’ve somehow missed him, Bill Bryson is the American-born author the British have licensed to poke fun at them. Every book he writes, whether on the English language or popular science or travel, is a bestseller.
Notes from a Small Island, his 1995 voyage around Britain, was the most successful travel book ever, with 2.5 million copies sold to date. But, as his publisher reminded him, it’s 20 years since he wrote that: “ ‘Ever thought about a sequel?’ His tone was casual, but in his eyes I could see little glinting pound signs where his irises normally were.”
The pound signs will be in neon by now. A week before publication, The Road to Little Dribbling was ranked by a certain online retailer at number five in “Books” and number one in “Travel Books”, while still only available to “pre-order” – not a phrase of which the author, a stickler for correct usage, is likely to approve.
Is it the funniest travel book I’ve read all year? Of course it is, if only because there are so many gags per page. There are lame ones and good ones, but they generally get better as the book goes on. In a chapter on the Peak District there’s a cracker about the dumb faithfulness of the British dog.
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Notes from a Small Island, his 1995 voyage around Britain, was the most successful travel book ever, with 2.5 million copies sold to date. But, as his publisher reminded him, it’s 20 years since he wrote that: “ ‘Ever thought about a sequel?’ His tone was casual, but in his eyes I could see little glinting pound signs where his irises normally were.”
The pound signs will be in neon by now. A week before publication, The Road to Little Dribbling was ranked by a certain online retailer at number five in “Books” and number one in “Travel Books”, while still only available to “pre-order” – not a phrase of which the author, a stickler for correct usage, is likely to approve.
Is it the funniest travel book I’ve read all year? Of course it is, if only because there are so many gags per page. There are lame ones and good ones, but they generally get better as the book goes on. In a chapter on the Peak District there’s a cracker about the dumb faithfulness of the British dog.
More
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