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The Road to Little Dribbling: Adventures of an American in Britain

by Bill Bryson

Other authors: See the other authors section.

Series: Bill Bryson's Complete Notes (3)

MembersReviewsPopularityAverage ratingMentions
2,4521206,097 (3.62)134
"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 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."--From book jacket.… (more)
  1. 40
    Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson (dajashby)
    dajashby: Twenty years earlier, Bryson hits on the winning formula. Every bit as amusing.
  2. 10
    Real Cardiff by Peter Finch (darllenwr_brwd)
    darllenwr_brwd: If you want to focus on the contemporary and the historical of a city bypassed by Bryson this may be for you.
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» See also 134 mentions

English (118)  Dutch (1)  Italian (1)  All languages (120)
Showing 1-5 of 118 (next | show all)
I borrowed this from the local library on the basis that it’s the sequel (some twenty years later) to his very funny Notes on a Small Island about his experiences as an American living in Britain. This volume wasn’t anywhere near as entertaining – Bryson seems to have soured a great deal with age – but there are moments of laugh-out-loud humour, though they were few and far between. Still, some very interesting stuff about modern Britain (the ‘modernisation’ is what makes Bryson particularly sour). ( )
  davidrgrigg | Mar 23, 2024 |
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bryson has a wit that I enjoy and reading about his journey across the island of Great Britain makes me want to take a similar trip. Part travel journal, part memoir, this is just a fun little read about a man traveling around his adopted country. ( )
  teejayhanton | Mar 22, 2024 |
I enjoyed some of Bryson's other works but here he just spends 350 pages complaining like an old man about everything and everyone. ( )
  littoface | Feb 2, 2024 |
I love Bill Bryson's writing and this is no exception. I found this less fun than his other books. probably because I'm not particuarly interested in England, but it was still a good way to pass the time on my recent vacation. ( )
  hmonkeyreads | Jan 25, 2024 |
25 years on and Bill Bryson has taken a second nostalgic walk around the Small Island! I’ve heard some complain that in this sequel he sounds a tad jaded but I disagree. I found this to be classic Bryson style. He’s relaxed, has pleased himself where he went and had fun writing this I think. He journeyed by foot, car, bus or train from the south to as far north as he could get in Scotland and I loved it all. The thing that really gets me with Bryson’s books, and he manages to do it every time, is the casualness with which he educates me! In chapter 21 he’s talking about going to see Birkenhead Park which he says is a ‘typical large Victorian city park.’ But here’s the thing and I’ll cut his telling of the story down to just the basics. It was designed and opened in 1847 by the former head gardener of Chatsworth House Joseph Paxton and built especially, to be enjoyed by all people. Well four years after it opened, an American on holiday in England visited Birkenhead. Frederick Law Olmsted was so taken with it that on returning to America he studied to be a landscape designer and went on to design Central Park in New York City! How good is that. I also discovered that Bill Bryson has a daughter named Felicity and that’s my name! ( )
  Fliss88 | Jan 20, 2024 |
Showing 1-5 of 118 (next | show all)
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» Add other authors (2 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
Bryson, Billprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Bauer, ThomasÜbersetzersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Diderich, PeterTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Gower, NeilCover artistsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Osgood, NathanReadersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Ward, ClaireDesignersecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed

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To James, Rosie, and Daphne. Welcome.
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Before I went there for the first time, about all I knew about Bognor Regis, beyond how to spell it, was that some British monarch, at some uncertain point in the past, in a moment of deathbed acerbity, called out the words 'Bugger Bognor' just before expiring, though which monarch it was and why his parting wish on earth was to see a medium-sized English coastal resort sodomized are questions I could not answer.
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"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 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."--From book jacket.

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