Icons of England

The idea behind this collection is brilliant: ask famous and not-so-famous writers. scientists, community leaders, politicians and musicians to pick an icon of the English countryside that is especially dear to their heart and write a tiny piece about it. Some surprising and extraordinary pieces come out if the exercise - but also some rather uninteresting ones. It it nevertheless an entertaining and emotive collection, one that makes us who loves England and its countryside love England even more. A bit more variation wouldn't have hurt, though, although I now know much more about Rutland, viaducts, trees, canals, cider and moorland than I did before reading this book.

I enjoyed this collection of essays and it was a very varied selection. I was expecting to read about the usual land marks and attractions that everyone always associates with England, but here were stories about the weather, cattle grids, the mist, cherries, summer fetes and a lovely one about an old viaduct. The book was edited by Bill Bryson and all the pieces are amazingly short and quick to read while still being full of wonderful descriptive text.

This book was compiled to show off England’s hidden treasures — things that most people wouldn’t glance twice at, but that make England, well, England. The royalties for the book support the Campaign to Protect Rural England, of which Bryson is the president. As with most books of essays, this one had some that I liked a lot and quite a few that were completely unmemorable. Most fell somewhere in between — a nice little diversion but nothing special. Each essay was short — between 1 and 3 pages, which meant that Bryson was able to cram A LOT of different essays into this book. My favorite essays included Let’s Talk About the Weather, Those Special Places, Reading the Signs, The Bard’s Own River, and The Light of Day.

Read show more my full review here: http://letseatgrandpa.com/2010/05/05/34-icons-of-england-edited-by-bill-bryson/ show less

As others have noted , this collection is very variable - some essays are entertaining and evocative, others are of minor interest only.

Easy to read. Short essays of personal recollections and insights.

Discovered from this tweet: RT @MargaretAtwood If you like rambling & exploring, you'll love Icons of England (ed. Bill Bryson), Black Swan Press. Treasure trove of wonderful places.