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Title details for Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson - Available

Notes from a Small Island

by Bill Bryson
Ron McLarty
Audiobook
1 of 2 copies available
Borrow Listen to a sample Listen to a sample
1 of 2 copies available
Grab your umbrella and join best-selling author Bill Bryson for a grand tour through the heartland of the United Kingdom. As he wanders through tiny villages and bustling cities, his irreverent travelogue will keep you laughing out loud and eager to explore what lies just around the next corner. Before he returns to the United States after nearly two decades on British soil, Bryson decides to take a farewell jaunt through his adopted homeland. But his plans to neatly traverse the island by foot, bus, and train are soon thwarted. On weekends, odd train and bus schedules leave him stranded in isolated communities with damp, moldering inns. And as a destination beckons above the rooftops, a maze of city streets leads him further away. Amidst the difficulties, Bryson encounters quirky age-old customs, charming architecture, and salt-of-the-earth inhabitants. His uproarious social commentary and Ron McLarty's warm and witty performance will leave you feeling as if you have actually been travelling across the enchanting island.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    February 2, 2012

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781464041631
      • File size: 347042 KB
      • Duration: 12:03:00

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 28, 1997
      Wrote PW: "Bryson shares what he loves best about the idiosyncrasies of everyday English life in this immensely entertaining travel memoir."

    • AudioFile Magazine
      What a jolly good read! In this account of the author's farewell tour of England after almost two decades as a "visitor," his wit and wisdom are on copious display, as is some insightful commentary on British attitudes and mores. William Roberts punctuates his reading with excellent accents and characterizations and beautifully captures Bryson's text. Do listen carefully, though; part of Bryson's charm is his wordplay, and that sometimes gets lost in the audio format. Also, there are some, well, spicy words and phrases in the book. These are minor quibbles, and they in no way lessen a wonderful book. R.I.G. (c)AudioFile, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      November 24, 2008
      Dwight and Tracey Wilson have two children and a committed marriage, until Dwight is offered a major promotion that will take him from Florida to Maryland and Tracey is unwilling to move. Dwight takes up with co-worker. Alicia Dixon at his new job, and when she gets pregnant, he marries her, not knowing that his divorce was never finalized. Alicia's excitement (“I had snagged an endangered species: a successful black man who loved me”) is short-lived when Tracey arrives to reclaim Dwight. Wanting to do the right thing for both women and all his children, Dwight, Tracey and Alicia embark on an unconventional solution that forces them all together. Veteran authors Dow and Poole team up to tell this complicated story, but this tale of a weak man who can't or won't make a choice is less than compelling. Women will leave this book wondering how Dwight was able to land one of these women, let alone two, and will be mystified at what exactly the women are fighting so hard to keep.

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 29, 1996
      Before his return to the U.S. after a 20-year residence in England, journalist Bryson (Made in America) embarked on a farewell tour of his adopted homeland. His trenchant, witty and detailed observations of life in a variety of towns and villages will delight Anglophiles. Traveling only on public transportation and hiking whenever possible, Bryson wandered along the coast through Bournemouth and neighboring villages that reinforced his image of Britons as a people who rarely complain and are delighted by such small pleasures as a good tea. In Liverpool, the author's favorite English city, he visited the Merseyside Maritime Museum to experience its past as a great port. Interweaving descriptions of landscapes and everyday encounters with shopkeepers, pub customers and fellow travelers, Bryson shares what he loves best about the idiosyncrasies of everyday English life in this immensely entertaining travel memoir. Author tour.

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

subjects

Languages

  • English

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