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Neither Here Nor There:: Travels in Europe
by
Bill Bryson
Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early seventies -- in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Twenty years later he decided to retrace the journey he undertook in the halcyon days of his youth. The result is "Neither Here Nor There, "an affectionate and riotously funny pilgrimage from the frozen wastes of Scandinavia to
...morePaperback, 256 pages
Published
April 6th 1999
by Harper Perennial
(first published 1991)
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Bryson writes hysterical travel books. In this one he sets out to re-create a backpacking trip of Europe he made during the seventies when he was twenty. His descriptions of people and places will have you falling out of your chair. The beer he is offered in Belgium, for example, defies his palate. He just can’t associate the taste with any previous experience, but finally decides it puts him in mind of a very large urine sample, possibly from a circus animal. (He should have stuck with Coca-Col...more
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Neither Here Nor There,, my second Bryson book (the other one was similar but focused on traveling through the US), reads smoothly and seems like a pretty good place for potential Bryson fans to start. Bryson is kind of like your uncle if your uncle was Chuck Klosterman in 2040 and very concerned about beer and hotels and people cutting in front of him in line.
This book, the story of Bryson retracing the path of one of his college trips through Europe, has its high points. Bryson...more
This book, the story of Bryson retracing the path of one of his college trips through Europe, has its high points. Bryson...more
This book was highly entertaining at times, I can't say it wasn't. In fact, it was highly entertaining most of the time. However, I can't say I learned hardly anything about any of the places Bill Bryson visited. He reserves most of his commentary for how far he walked to get to a train station, how fast or slow the train rides were, and how cornflake-sized bugars feel in his nose while on those train rides...
I hate to bash authors...that's not what I'm trying to do here. I am si...more
I hate to bash authors...that's not what I'm trying to do here. I am si...more
Amusing enough, along the lines of The Innocents Abroad: or, The New Pilgrims' Progress, but of course Mark Twain's version is far more amusing. Some funny observations about various places and people throughout Europe, many of which, nay, most of which he did not like or enjoy. Tries too hard for the laugh. Stick with the original:
Bryson at his worst. He is the whining American tourist he claims to detest. Meandering through a dozen or so european countries, he manages to complain about virtually every hotel accomodation. And for christ sake Bill, put a freakin map in your book. I'm not totally ignorant when it comes to european geography but if youre gonna write about travelling hundreds of miles every other day, i'd like to glance at the route with out having to bust out my world atlas.
After Shorthistoryof nearly ...more
After Shorthistoryof nearly ...more
Maybe I'm just getting tired of Bill Bryson, but I just couldn't bring myself to finish this one. The language got worse and worse, and I learned nothing about any of the places he visited other than how many bars and prosititutes were in the vicinity of his hotel. And it drove me crazy that he would admit that he intentionally looked for the seedy areas of town, and then in the next paragraph would condemn the Europeans for letting the seediness replace the culture he had seen on his previous v...more
The reason I read this book is because there have been some excellent extracts from it in the course books I teach from. Unfortunately I think those extracts were actually the best bits... I certainly learnt nothing new from reading the entire book.
Bryson is funny, but after a while he comes across as whiny and just a touch xenophobic. I've never quite understood the point of travelling and then asking for 'something that would pass for food in America' to eat.
Furthermore, the chapte...more
Bryson is funny, but after a while he comes across as whiny and just a touch xenophobic. I've never quite understood the point of travelling and then asking for 'something that would pass for food in America' to eat.
Furthermore, the chapte...more
while bill bryson does possess a fair amount of the cranky traveler that has overwhelmed the genre these days (and is found particularly appealing by the united states audiences) it fails to appeal to the younger traveler-more hopeful traveler
the comments that i found to be most exciting/humorous/poignant were those involving mr bryson's earlier european travail with the unfortunately unlikeable katz, particulalrly their almost pathetic and as my bryson claims, "catholic" s...more
the comments that i found to be most exciting/humorous/poignant were those involving mr bryson's earlier european travail with the unfortunately unlikeable katz, particulalrly their almost pathetic and as my bryson claims, "catholic" s...more
So far (I'm about halfway through), this book is funny, but Mr. Bryson's approach to traveling is pretty limited and his approach to European culture is very jingoistic, which is unfortunate.
I understand that he's spending a lot of his energy being funny, and so you have to take his setups with a grain of salt, but still, his mentality is almost off-puttingly 'Amurrrican'.
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Upon finishing this book, my analysis remains the same. There were some funny parts, but i...more
I understand that he's spending a lot of his energy being funny, and so you have to take his setups with a grain of salt, but still, his mentality is almost off-puttingly 'Amurrrican'.
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Upon finishing this book, my analysis remains the same. There were some funny parts, but i...more
I like Bryson's humor, although it seemed to wane with each passing chapter. I appreciate a travelogue that isn't about why all cultures/countries/peoples are GREAT; his generalizations are suitable for the humor and tone of the book. (Of course, it's only small-minded people that would assume that ALL X people are X, even if it IS a common trait of the given nationality.) I think it's OK to proclaim "the X are crazy!", as long as you're willing to turn the microscope back on your ow...more
Marc Maitland
added it
Bill Bryson has a most readable style, often tongue-in-cheek, and always entertaining. This, the latest of his books which I have started reading this year, takes us on a geographical tour of Europe, beginning in (of all places, Luxembourg!), and ending up in Istanbul, by way of most Western and a few Eastern Eurooean countries. My only complaint is that some chapters - each chapter being devoted to one country or city - are too short, and leave me wondering just what Mr. Bryson did on those day...more
This book was written 20 years ago (oh, how peculiar that feels to say - my first thought was, "1991 - Oh, that's not long ago!" lol (at least I'm with the times in my expression of laughter - NO ONE says Ha Ha Ha anymore)) and it would be interesting to have a flying visit to the places Bryson visits here, just to see if they have further deteriorated or whether some places have pulled their socks up and treasured their archaeology, etc. And of course, in 20 years there have been ma...more
This was my third book by Bill Bryson in just over two weeks, and I think that, for the time being, it will be my last. Not that I didn't enjoy this book, I did, but I think it is possible to overdo it with any author and I fear that if I read another Bryson book anytime soon I won't find it funny anymore because I'd be too used to his sense of humour. I didn't have that problem while reading Neither Here Nor There though. I had quite a few laugh out loud moments.
In this book Bryson de...more
In this book Bryson de...more
I listened to the audiobook, which was my undoing in the end. I was blown away by Bryson - a very workaday sort of author - going all Proustian with the flashbacks and flashforwards. He would visit Prague as an adult, which would kick off a passage about visiting Italy as a callous young man, back and forth like this through time.
It was a commentary on the nature of travel and getting older, and on the ability of "where you are" to remind you of "who you used to be."...more
It was a commentary on the nature of travel and getting older, and on the ability of "where you are" to remind you of "who you used to be."...more
Overall I enjoyed reading this travel memoir. Mr Bryson is witty and at times I was laughing so hard I had a hard time breathing. BUT, I found his repeated racial slurs annoying, then tiresome, then as they continued I was offended and somewhat disgusted. He goes a bit too far about Germans joking that he could recognize them by their jackboots. He loves to paint an entire country's population with the same brush. He says a couple of times that he thinks the Italians shouldn't have been tol...more
I’ve read a bunch of books by Bill Bryson (see below) and it had to come to a point where I finally didn’t absolutely love one of his books. It was one of the first books he wrote, and I found it…rough. He really did hone his skills as time went on, so reading one of his earlier books felt like he hadn’t quite refined his writing like he did in later books. It was a little cruder, a little more repetitive, a little gloomier, and a little less delightful. I think I also had a hard time with it be...more
I have recently (re)discovered Bill Bryson (I knew he was there I just didnt appreciate how truely convulsion inducing hilarious he is).
I listened to A Walk in the Woods last week on a long car journey so I thought I'd pick up another Bill for a long train journey. I wasnt disappointed - twas amazingily funny.
Sadly potentially a little out of date now (around 1991 I think it was first published). Bill's observations are still acutely funny and wonderfully descriptive - wh...more
I listened to A Walk in the Woods last week on a long car journey so I thought I'd pick up another Bill for a long train journey. I wasnt disappointed - twas amazingily funny.
Sadly potentially a little out of date now (around 1991 I think it was first published). Bill's observations are still acutely funny and wonderfully descriptive - wh...more
Nai
marked it as to-read
"And yet there are some things that most countries do without difficulty that other cannot get a grasp of at all. The French, for instance, cannot get the hang of standing in line. They try and try but it is beyond them. Wherever you go in Paris, you see orderly lines waiting at bus stops, but as soon as the bus pulls up the line instantly disintegrates into something like a fire drill at a lunatic asylum as everyone scrambles to be the first aboard, quite unaware that this defeats the whol...more
Handy tip 1: do not read Bill Bryson while trying to write your doctoral dissertation. Handy tip 2: if possible, get Bill Bryson to write your doctoral dissertation. Sure, it won't convey the same technical grasp of the material, but it will be so funny no one will notice.
This book ties In a Sunburned Country as my favorite Bryson book. It's interesting seeing his approach to travel, which is so different from my own. He likes going quickly from place to place, never planning much ah...more
This book ties In a Sunburned Country as my favorite Bryson book. It's interesting seeing his approach to travel, which is so different from my own. He likes going quickly from place to place, never planning much ah...more
Bill Bryson is the funniest modern travel writer around. If you like sarcasm, exquisite hyperbole, and engaging narrative, get your hands on one of his books immediately.
This was written in 1990, so it has aged some, but I loved it because that was the year that I last spent extended time in Europe. I have not been to all the cities or countries which Bryson visited, but of those which I have visited, he got the feel of the places absolutely spot on. His descriptions of Rome and Flor...more
This was written in 1990, so it has aged some, but I loved it because that was the year that I last spent extended time in Europe. I have not been to all the cities or countries which Bryson visited, but of those which I have visited, he got the feel of the places absolutely spot on. His descriptions of Rome and Flor...more
This book is terrible. I listened to it on CD, and the writing was so predictable that I found myself completing each sentence before it was spoken. That was, in fact, the only way I managed to keep my attention on the book rather than contemplating the fascinating landscape of Indiana visible out my window. But the book wasn't just boring, it was also embarrassingly bad. I was a huge Bill Bryson fan in high school. I decided to hike the Appalachian Trial after reading A Walk in the Woods. But I...more
Bill Bryson is amazing. He captures the essence of the peculiarities of travel.. of people in general. I read this before going to London (also read Noted from a Small Island- about England which was also excellent).. If you've traveled or want to travel, it's a great little book full of entertaining short stories. I read part of the 'Belgium' chapter to my grandmother (she's from Antwerp) and she nearly went off her rocker. No really, she almost fell off her chair laughing. :o) I recommend.
I read this book on a sailing holiday to Belgium and Holland and could barely contain many a snort of laughter.
Two of my favourite sections are the Flemish language part (I still say "Hello sailor, care to grease my flanks?" to select people when asking for a light) and the French bakery. My dad and I were sprawled on the floor, so convulsed with laughter that we could hardly breathe. The dead beaver. Oh deary me, that was very funny.
However, just one minor nig...more
Two of my favourite sections are the Flemish language part (I still say "Hello sailor, care to grease my flanks?" to select people when asking for a light) and the French bakery. My dad and I were sprawled on the floor, so convulsed with laughter that we could hardly breathe. The dead beaver. Oh deary me, that was very funny.
However, just one minor nig...more
Sometimes I really wish you could give 1/2 stars on this website because I would probably give this book three and a half stars. On a positive note, the book was very humorous in parts and made me laugh out loud several times (luckily no one was around). On the negative side though, the book especially towards the end seems to get very repetitive. He talks about going to each town, finding a hotel, going immediately out to explore the town, which to him seems to consist of walking around and dri...more
Bill Bryson describes his three month journey through Europe with self-deprecating humor and obvious affection for his source material.
I didn't enjoy this one as much as other Bryson works, though I think that's probably because I just wanted to read about his travels through Italy, as I've just been there myself. Those were, in fact, my favorite chapters of the book. Perhaps if I'd been to the other cities he visited, I'd have been more entertained.
As it was, I felt my...more
I didn't enjoy this one as much as other Bryson works, though I think that's probably because I just wanted to read about his travels through Italy, as I've just been there myself. Those were, in fact, my favorite chapters of the book. Perhaps if I'd been to the other cities he visited, I'd have been more entertained.
As it was, I felt my...more
This book was absolutely hilarous and interesting to read. However, if you decide to read it beware...there is some bad language and some crude remarks in it, which I was not aware of proir to reading it. If it wasn't for that I would have given it 5 stars. I loved reading about the experiances he had traveling all over Europe. I just loved it! I don't know what else to say. There are a few places I never thought about traveling to but have changed my mind about.
I'm a little addicted to Bill Bryson's form of writing. My email verbiage has slowly morphed into a stepchild of his prose, and I'll read anything he's written. Neither Here Nor There jumped out at me when I was looking through the Europe section of the library, and after scanning Fodors, Frommers, and Let's Go editions, I was surprised to see a Bill Bryson book in the nonfiction section. Not that I have much reason to doubt anything he says in his books - it's more than I enjoy reading him so m...more
I like Bill Bryson and was really looking forward to this one, but found it a bit disappointing. He spends most of the book complaining about all the places he's been and saying how they just aren't the same the second time around. Granted, the author's signature talent is his gift for hyperbole, making everyday minor annoyances seem like the most wretched travesties, and thus making himself a genius in the world of wry, absurdist humor. Still, if his diatribes on the squalor of Naples aren't de...more
I did like this book, although I couldn't help feeling that following Mr. Bryson through Europe was a little like watching the movie Dumb and Dumber. I have traveled in Europe and my philosophy was completely different from his. I knew that typical American tourists spend a day or two in a place and then go on to the next place. I disagree with this idea so much because I don't see the point of spending a lot of money on a plane ticket to go to another continent if I am not going to experien...more
I simply cannot read this book anywhere in public, because I just collapse with laughing, and people stare. You really have to enjoy Bryson's snarky sense of humor to get him; otherwise I could see how he would strike some people as whiny. When he loves a place, he really loves it, but if there is something to be exasperated about, he will let you know. I enjoy this as much as Mark Twain's The Innocents Abroad, for the same kind of snarky humor.
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Bill Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He settled in England in 1977, and worked in journalism until he became a full time writer. He lived for many years with his English wife and four children in North Yorkshire. He and his family then moved to New Hampshire in America for a few years, but they have now returned to live in the UK.
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“But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses.”
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“Is there anything, apart from a really good chocolate cream pie and receiving a large unexpected cheque in the post, to beat finding yourself at large in a foreign city on a fair spring evening, loafing along unfamiliar streets in the long shadows of a lazy sunset, pausing to gaze in shop windows or at some church or lovely square or tranquil stretch of quayside, hesitating at street corners to decide whether that cheerful and homy restaurant you will remember fondly for years is likely to lie down this street or that one? I just love it. I could spend my life arriving each evening in a new city.”
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