Neither Here Nor There

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Europe: it's funnier than you might suppose - Rated
Every so often, flicking through the BBC radio stations, I've hit Kerry Shale or Bill Bryson reading from one of Bill's books. At that point I stop flicking and sit and listen. The furrow disappears from my brow and a smile appears on my face. The smile ratchets up into a grin and from time to time a laugh erupts. It happens every time Bill Bryson's thoughts and adventures come out of my radio. But I'm no longer prepared to toggle back and forth between BBC radio 4 and BBC radio 7 just hoping for a bit of Bill Bryson. I commenced a search for an audiobook and found this. Instead of the usual 10 to 20 minute snatch of radio broadcast, I've listened to a full 6 hours, on 5 discs and achieved a serene sense of having been entertained for long, blissful, uninterrupted acres of time. I've travelled from Hammerfest in Norway via France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Yugoslavia and lots of places in between, to end up in Turkey - and seen, heard, smelled and tasted the places and met the people through his descriptions. He's a terrible mickey-taker but still conveys a reasonably positive impression of most of the people he encounters. Even where the people seem a bit sullen and unhelpful there are reasons supplied (usually). For example, the folks in Yugoslavia had been struggling to make even a modest living and had little enough to smile about at the time of his visit. In any case, the main victim of his barbed humour through the whole journey is himself. He soaks up the splendour and atmosphere of the fabulous places he stays, points out their faults, extols the virtues of the peoples and enthusiastically recounts their absurdities. He was only truly scathing about the people of one country and, although I haven't travelled very much, it was one of the few countries I'd actually visited (school skiing holiday many years ago) and I found those people very nice. That just goes to show that you have to take people as you find them, enjoy this audiobook for its entertainment value and not base your beliefs about whole nations on the behaviour of a few (probably) unrepresentative individuals.

I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook and highly recommend it. And now I'm off to choose my next Bill Bryson - The Lost Continent or Notes from a Small Island ... can't quite decide yet ...

Often hysterically funny and quite acerbic - Rated
Bryson isn't your typical travel author. He makes an effort to describe the places he visits, but does so in broad strokes. It's like an impressionist painting more than any attempt at detailed realism. He spends 1/3 of his time on the history of the places he visits and it's contemporary reality, 1/3 of his time on what sees and experiences, and 1/3 of his time on how he interprets what he sees as a confused foreigner.

For example, Bryson often goes on at length about the architecture of a building he loves or hates. He'll then describe when such building was erected and how it has been treated over the years since. Then ruminate briefly on how he can't understand the host nation's predeliction for building carparks so as to most efficently despoil an area's natural beauty. He'll finish up by wondering how such perverse actions are the nature of humanity.

Bryson writes with incredible ease, an incredible self-deprecating humor, a lust for travel and new adventures, and an overall wonder of the world around him. You get the impression he's just happy to be alive and could write with joy regarding his most recent attempt to buy chewing gum.

Some people Bill Bryson obnoxious and offensive. But if you like sarcastic and droll humor you'll love Neither Here Nor There.