The Road to Little Dribbling - Bill Bryson

The Road to Little Dribbling

By Bill Bryson

  • Release Date: 2016-01-19
  • Genre: Travel in Europe
Score: 4
4
From 268 Ratings
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Description

A loving and hilarious—if occasionally spiky—valentine to Bill Bryson’s adopted country, Great Britain. Prepare for total joy and multiple episodes of unseemly laughter.

Twenty years ago, Bill Bryson went on a trip around Britain to discover and celebrate that green and pleasant land. The result was Notes from a Small Island, a true classic and one of the bestselling travel books ever written. Now he has traveled about Britain again, by bus and train and rental car and on foot, to see what has changed—and what hasn’t.

Following (but not too closely) a route he dubs the Bryson Line, from Bognor Regis in the south to Cape Wrath in the north, by way of places few travelers ever get to at all, Bryson rediscovers the wondrously beautiful, magnificently eccentric, endearingly singular country that he both celebrates and, when called for, twits. With his matchless instinct for the funniest and quirkiest and his unerring eye for the idiotic, the bewildering, the appealing, and the ridiculous, he offers acute and perceptive insights into all that is best and worst about Britain today.

Nothing is more entertaining than Bill Bryson on the road—and on a tear. The Road to Little Dribbling reaffirms his stature as a master of the travel narrative—and a really, really funny guy.

Reviews

  • Stick to the Subject

    1
    By Allieyoop
    The Road to Little Dribbling doesn’t quite get there with this book. It reads as if Bryson is trying too hard to be amusing. And even though this is supposed to be a book about England, Bryson felt he had to bring his dislike of certain American conservatives into the picture. It’s almost as if Bryson is thinking, “I’ve made enough money so I’m going to alienate most of America.” It was such a turnoff that I stopped reading the book and have no intention of ever reading another Bryson book again. I’ll stick to authors like the late great Charles Krauthammer and Things That Matter.

  • The Road to Little Dribbling

    5
    By Peeler3
    Bill Bryson you are a fabulous writer. I am an American citizen & have lived in Florida for the last 25 years. I come from the North of England born in Newcastle where I stayed for 40 years & travelled extensively around Britain in that time. You have taken me back to my roots & taken me places I have not been for many years. Made me laugh & smile @ your observations of places & people. You know the British so well. Thank you so much for your many amazing books. Pat Hudson

  • Nice sequel....

    4
    By Ramón made me buy this
    Perhaps not as funny as NOTES FROM A SMALL ISLAND, but just as informative. Bryson is hard to beat.

  • Still worth it

    3
    By Bob 123457897654321
    I greatly enjoy this author's work but he phoned this one in. Still, Bryson with a B- effort is still a good read.

  • Too much of GREAT thing

    5
    By foie gras
    A marvelous meandering through more places, history, trivia, ideas, and personalities than can possibly be absorbed. Loved it.

  • Repetitive blather

    1
    By A Ladybug Named Dinah
    Bill Bryson can be very funny as he was in the first 20 pages of his first book chronicling his treks around Britton. In his second book, a 20- year hiatus from the first, he is more cynical and political. Unless the reader is somewhat familiar with all of the small towns he visits, the book dissolves into similar minutia-- where he had dinner, the condition of the mattress, and the occasional odd personalities he encounters. The book is a disappointment.

  • Good but not great

    3
    By NewsHound340
    One will always find Bill Bryson interesting, and of course his humor lends much to his writing. This book however just doesn't quite hit the mark, doesn't quite connect the reader with the Britain he describes. There is almost a feeling of writing it because he had to, rather than because he wanted to. Having said all that, it's enjoyable and relaxing to read, and really quite likable.

  • Just had to get the hardcover

    5
    By Nickknames alll taken
    You had me at Chips and gravy with Black Forest gateau for desert.

  • Annoying fun

    3
    By GVisgilio
    Bill can still inject humor into the simplest aspects of living and is at his best when commenting on the Brits. But when (and why) did he start with the snarky political references to American political conservatives he clearly dislikes. He's now become the Michael Moore of authors and that's no compliment Billy-boy.

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