I admired how he mainly used public transport. It is we human beings – eccentric, wacky, quirky – that make a location what it isĪnd what a pleasure it was to be in Bryson’s company as he travelled the breadth of the country. When writing, he had both the knowledge of British traits and characteristics alongside that sense of being someone entering into something new.

Born in America, in the 1990s, he was moving back to the States after decades living in Britain and wanted to take a final trip around the country.

Bryson travels across all corners of Britain, starting in Dover, the place where he first saw the British Isles, and ventures all the way up to John O’Groats.īryson is a fascinating person to write about the UK, for he conveys the impression of being both an insider and outsider to what the UK has to offer. Detailing Bryson’s travels around the UK in the early 1990s, it was voted in 2003 by Radio 4 listeners as the book which best represented England. This is a spirit perfectly captured by Bill Bryson’s Notes from a Small Island. Travel writing is not simply a brochure or itinerary about the best parts of a location, but should capture a true sense of place that reaches an audience who might not otherwise have a chance to visit somewhere. The ability to take readers to another world without needing to leave a room prompts pure delight, and is a skill that has never been more needed. Originally published in 1995.Travel writing is a genre of crafting words that deserves a far greater appreciation.

Published in 1998 by McClelland & Stewart.

His aim was to take stock of the nation's public face and private parts (as it were), and to analyze what precisely it was he loved about a country that had produced Marmite, a military hero whose dying wish was to be kissed by a fellow named Hardy, place names like Farleigh Wallop, Titsey, and Shellow Bowells, people who said 'Mustn't grumble,' and shows like 'Gardener's Question Time.' seven nights a week, and, most of all, because he had read that 3.7 million Americans believed that they had been abducted by aliens at one time or another, and it was thus clear to him that his people needed him.īut before leaving his much-loved home in North Yorkshire, Bryson insisted on taking one last trip around Britain, a sort of valedictory tour of the green and kindly island that had for so long been his home. After nearly two decades in Britain, Bill Bryson made the decision to move back to the States for a while, to let his kids experience life in another country, to give his wife the chance to shop until 10 p.m.

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