Notes from a Small Island

Title: Notes from a Small Island
Author: Bill Bryson
Black Swan, 1995

Parts of Bryson's non-fiction trip through Britain are fantastic, for instance when Bryson makes a case for Britain's eminent suitability as a Communist state: "It has long seemed to me unfortunate ... that such an important experiment in social organisation was left to the Russians when the British would have managed it so much better". (p.68) And after hearing him out, and almost wetting myself, I agree. The British stiff-upper-lip approach to life would have served them well in a totalitarian state.

However, the book is uneven, and the hilarious parts are not seldom followed by mediocre ones. But, hey, you can skip a few pages here and there. Bryson does not seem to be the sort of fella who would mind!