Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe
by Bill Bryson
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Read in January, 2004
I picked this book up on a whim. Borders was having a sale and I found myself near the Travel section and it just called my attention. I had been wanting to get a travel memoir for a while, so I decided to follow my instinct and buy it and read it immediately. I am very glad I did.
Bryson's memoirs of his trip through Europe are incredibly funny and poignant. Interspersed throughout the narrative are stories from a 1972 trip he took with a "friend" named Stephen Katz which help to b...more
Bryson's memoirs of his trip through Europe are incredibly funny and poignant. Interspersed throughout the narrative are stories from a 1972 trip he took with a "friend" named Stephen Katz which help to b...more
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Read in September, 2006
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 simply try...more
I hate to bash authors...that's not what I'm trying to do here. I am simply try...more
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Read in January, 2004
This is one of my favorite travel essay books; as always with Bryson, the appeal is his (grouchy, funny, informative) narrative voice and his (often ludicrous) misadventures.
In Neither Here Nor There, he attempts a narrative device that doesn't quite work; he's sort of reminiscing about his youthful tramps through Europe as he travels through Europe today. This would have worked as structure for the book - which, it must be said, it doesn't actually have - if he'd been more careful about fo...more
In Neither Here Nor There, he attempts a narrative device that doesn't quite work; he's sort of reminiscing about his youthful tramps through Europe as he travels through Europe today. This would have worked as structure for the book - which, it must be said, it doesn't actually have - if he'd been more careful about fo...more
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Read in June, 2003
Downloaded from Audible.com
In case you didn't notice, I love Bill Bryson's books!
Narrator: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, 1999
Length: 5 hours and 42 min.(abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early '70s - in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Over 20 years later, the acclaimed author of Notes from a Small Island, The Mother Tongue, and A Walk in the Woods decided to retrace the journey he undertook...more
In case you didn't notice, I love Bill Bryson's books!
Narrator: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio, 1999
Length: 5 hours and 42 min.(abridged)
Publisher's Summary
Like many of his generation, Bill Bryson backpacked across Europe in the early '70s - in search of enlightenment, beer, and women. Over 20 years later, the acclaimed author of Notes from a Small Island, The Mother Tongue, and A Walk in the Woods decided to retrace the journey he undertook...more
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Read in January, 2007
I really wish I loved this book, but I just don't. Everyone is always telling me how great Bill Bryson is, I love the cover design, but I find the man to be quite egotistical and whiney.
There are many good laughs and interesting locals throughout the book, most of which are related to his memories of travels as a younger man. In the present story though, Bryson spends his time the same way in every single city: walks, eats, gets drunk, sleeps, complains about how it isn't as good as America....more
There are many good laughs and interesting locals throughout the book, most of which are related to his memories of travels as a younger man. In the present story though, Bryson spends his time the same way in every single city: walks, eats, gets drunk, sleeps, complains about how it isn't as good as America....more
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Read in June, 2007
recommends it for:
Travellers, General Reading
With reading several Bryson books in a row I am able to clearly see his good and bad. This one is actually my second favorite of his and yet it is an older one at that. It is one of the funnier sides to Bill we experience as he unveils his opinions of Europe along with some interesting side notes. I was less interested in this book, in relation to his Australia narrative, as this earlier tome is raw and does little in building a place with the expected quirky notes and background as his more rec...more
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Read in September, 2007
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 chapter struct...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 chapter struct...more
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Read in December, 2007
Some of the funniest parts of this book are when he just sits down for dinner with a book and gets up hours later drunker than he thought he was. I really just like that he validates the idea that sometimes the best dinner company is a good book and beer.
I also like the quote at the end, it's the reason people always say they need a vacation from their vacation, and you just want to slap them in face, because they just got back from an exciting vacation...but there is a certain weariness from...more
I also like the quote at the end, it's the reason people always say they need a vacation from their vacation, and you just want to slap them in face, because they just got back from an exciting vacation...but there is a certain weariness from...more
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Read in May, 2008
This is a re-read. I had just finished re-reading "Notes from a Small Island" and had a pathological *need* to read more Bryson. I can't recommend Bill Bryson highly enough. He has to be one of the funniest and smartest people on the planet.
What he did with England in "Notes From a Small Island," he does with Europe in this book. He partly re-traces his post-collegiate backpack through Europe with his friend Stephen Katz (the anti-hero of "A Walk in the Woods,&qu...more
What he did with England in "Notes From a Small Island," he does with Europe in this book. He partly re-traces his post-collegiate backpack through Europe with his friend Stephen Katz (the anti-hero of "A Walk in the Woods,&qu...more
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3 comments
Read in June, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone who has ever travelled to Europe or dreamed about it.
Picked it up on a lark at Kramerbooks in Washington, D.C., which, by the way, you should absolutely visit if you find your self in D.C. Bryson has a writing style similar to Peter Mayle, one of my favorite authors. I will ultimately wind up reading everything both of these guys has written. Don't you love it when you find an author like that? I find myself reading snippets out of this book to whomever is in the room with me at the time. Good, funny stuff. Makes me want to travel more. I r...more
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Read in July, 2007
Doug and I often talk about going back and "doing Europe" with money, unlike the first time! this author goes back to Europe, alone, after 2o yrs. Awesome writing style and witty observations on the different places and cultures. however, after a while even i was tiring of his sarcasm. he was so busy finding fault, i don't think he enjoyed too much of his trip. interesting how much he despised places with TOURISTS...He also should have carried around a jar of peanut butter like my gran...more
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Read in January, 2008
recommends it for:
Anyone
This is Bryson at his best. I read the book about 5 years ago and picked it up again when I found it whilst rooting amongst my bookshelves. His sense of humour is on the nail but he does tend to use f*** a few too many times for my liking.
He travels through many of the places I have been or lived and some of his perceptions of the locals help you understand why you loved or hated a place but couldn't quite put it in to words.
However, the highlight for me was Stephen Katz; Bryson's trav...more
He travels through many of the places I have been or lived and some of his perceptions of the locals help you understand why you loved or hated a place but couldn't quite put it in to words.
However, the highlight for me was Stephen Katz; Bryson's trav...more
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Read in January, 2008
Still reading it but so far it has been pretty much what the cover blurbs promised...very funny. It's usually his familiar self-depreciating style that gets the most laughs from me. It's interesting also in the sense that Bryson uses many a stereotype to describe Europeans - the whole book is not really what you would call politically correct. Reads quickly and it's easy to get back into it after you've put it down for a few days.
I appreciated Bryson's honesty about the ups and downs of tra...more
I appreciated Bryson's honesty about the ups and downs of tra...more
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1 comments
Read in July, 2007
recommends it for:
older travelers and wanna-be's
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" starved 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" starved s...more
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Read in January, 2008
A really enjoyable read. Bill Bryson has a fantastically dry sense of humor that had me laughing so loudly at times I was looking like a freak to those around me. A great book for anyone who shares his love of european travel. It does become a little repetitive at times as we follow him ambling along from one place to another. Reading about someone else eating in a nice restaurant or seeing an amazing sight is obviously never as good as doing so yourself, but his cunning observations and remembr...more
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Read in February, 2007
recommends it for:
travellers
My friend bought me this book saying it was what inspired her to travel Europe. I loved it. I remember I started reading it and then put it down for a few months. When I came back to it I had no idea what made me set it aside in the first place. Bryson is so funny!! The adventures he has are insane and you think 'how could this happen to a normal person?'
You route for him from day one. Any one who travels a lot, especially out of the country, can relate to this. Plus it just opened my eyes a...more
You route for him from day one. Any one who travels a lot, especially out of the country, can relate to this. Plus it just opened my eyes a...more
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Read in January, 2004
My first introduction to Bryson's work - and now he is one of my favorites!
Very funny travelogue! Bryson retraces the steps of his summer trip in Europe in the late 1960s. Now he is older, and wiser, and offers a great deal of information about how Europe has changed, and how it has remained the same. Starting in Scandinavia, he travels around a good portion of the European continent. There were some countries he missed (I would have loved to hear what he said about Iberia, and Greece, and...more
Very funny travelogue! Bryson retraces the steps of his summer trip in Europe in the late 1960s. Now he is older, and wiser, and offers a great deal of information about how Europe has changed, and how it has remained the same. Starting in Scandinavia, he travels around a good portion of the European continent. There were some countries he missed (I would have loved to hear what he said about Iberia, and Greece, and...more
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Read in January, 2008
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 it was quite disappoi...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'.
####
Upon finishing this book, my analysis remains the same. There were some funny parts, but it was quite disappoi...more
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Read in December, 2007
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
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Read in January, 2008
I thoroughly enjoyed this book. Bryson has a great sense of humor (although a bit scatological at times) and his powers of description are fantastic. I very much appreciated the way he included bits of history or random facts about each place that are definitely out of the ordinary. I envy his financial abilities to venture on this long trip! This wasn't my favorite travel book of all time, but I would recommend it, and would gladly pick up another of his works.
I would have appreciated a map...more
I would have appreciated a map...more
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book data (includes all editions)
avg rating (all editions): 3.82 (1981 ratings) avg rating (this edition): 3.83 (1847 ratings) number of reviews: 184popular shelves
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quote
"Much as I hate to stand out in a crowd, I have this terrible occasional compulsion to make myself a source of merriment for the world, and I had come close to sealing new heights with a Russian hat. Now, clearly, that would be unnecessary."
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