Notes from a Small Island (Audiobook)

After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson took the decision to move Mrs Bryson, little Jimmy et al back to the States for a while. But before leaving his much-loved Yorkshire Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around old Blighty, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had for so long been his home. The resulting book was a eulogy to the country that produced Marmite, George Formby, by-elections, milky tea, places names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey and Shellow Bowells, Gardeners' Question Time and people who say 'Mustn't grumble'. Britain would never seem the same again.

Since it was first published in 1995, NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND has never been far from the top of the bestseller lists, and has sold over one and a half million copies. This special hardcover eidtion is published to mark the book's unique place in the hearts of readers around the world and to celebrate Bill Bryson's standing as the best-loved travel writer and humorist of our day.

Reacting to an itch common to Midwesterners since there's been a Midwest from which to escape, writer Bill Bryson moved from Iowa to Britain in 1973. Working for such places as Times of London, among others, he has lived quite happily there ever since. Now Bryson has decided his native country needs him--but first, he's going on a roundabout jaunt on the island he loves.

Britain fascinates Americans: it's familiar, yet alien; the same in some ways, yet so different. Bryson does an excellent job of showing his adopted home to a Yank audience, but you never get the feeling that Bryson is too much of an outsider to know the true nature of the country. Notes from a Small Island strikes a nice balance: the writing is American-silly with a British range of vocabulary. Bryson's marvelous ear is also in evidence: "... I noted the names of the little villages we passed through--Pinhead, West Stuttering, Bakelite, Ham Hocks, Sheepshanks ..." If you're an Anglophile, you'll devour Notes from a Small Island.