If you’re an Anglophile I’d highly recommend it, though it’s a bit slower than some of his other books and not quite as entertaining.

It details his weekend trips to quiet hamlets throughout the island. I also read Notes from a Small Island while I was living in London, so it has a special place in my heart. Again, it’s his sense of humor that makes his books so unforgettable. He is consistently shocked by the tough nature of the trail and the lack of amenities along the way. He also writes about his surroundings with a mixture of admiration and fear, which is appropriate in that untamed corner of the world.Ī Walk in the Woods wouldn’t be nearly as funny if the act of long-distance hiking wasn’t so unfamiliar to him. He writes in a way that leaves me laughing so hard my stomach aches. The former tells of his time in Australia, a wild country so different from the quite land of England that he’s grown accustomed to. In my opinion, two of his best books are In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods. His strange juxtaposition of backgrounds gives the reader and odd combination of dry British humor and Midwestern gumption. He’s a middle-aged man born and raised in the Midwest and transplanted to England in his twenties. He mainly writes travel memoirs, but has also written a few books on other topics, like the English language (The Mother Tongue) and Shakespeare (Shakespeare: The World as Stage). Please welcome today’s guest blogger: Melissa from Avid Reader’s Musings, who will be discussing the best and worst of Bill Bryson.īill Bryson is known for his acerbic wit and sarcastic sense of humor. Visit the series page for more information about the guest bloggers, the featured authors, and the sign-up form. Each Wednesday I feature a guest post by a book blogger detailing which books they think are the “best” and “worst” by the author of their choice.

Bill bryson shakespeare review