from a box of free books.

going to Miss-Efficiency.

enjoy! (^-^)

It's amazing how a book can appear in your life at just the right time. Last month I was on a humour kick and read pretty much every funny book I've got. Now, I just finished reading three terribly serious books in a row and could use a break, but as I scanned my bookshelves and other book stashes this morning to pick out a lighter book, there were none to be found. To avoid the utterly dreadful experience of not having any reading material with me at all throughout the day, I picked up the Stone Diaries, only to discover when I cracked it open on the train that I'm practically certain I've already ready it. (There are only so many books that mention malvern pudding on the first page). I arrived home after a long train ride during which I drove my husband around the bend with my inane attempts at chattiness (One can only drag out a conversation about the World's Largest Rubber Stamp for so long). Hark! Is that a potentially funny book in my mailbox? Indeed it is. Huzzah! Thanks so much for sending this all the way from Japan. I will read it right away and pass it on.

Excellent. Very funny. Having been to some of the places, I could relate.
Great book.

Taking it to book meetup

My first forray into the world of Bill Bryson. Should be interesting!

Although Bryson is an American who lived in England, this book is clearly meant more for a British audience. He makes little to no attempt to explain particularly British things, like Boots, that an American reader would have little reason to know and most of his commentary seems to be geared towards trying to induce the Brits to take more pride in their own country. He particularly obsesses over the state of heritage architecture and the concrete-ization of many English towns and cities, which I can attest to, having lived there myself.

Any reader who didn't know better might think that Bryson dislikes England. Much of his descriptions and commentary are negative and it's clear that not all of this is in the spirit of humour. The thing about England is that, like Mr Knightly in Jane Austen's Emma, you can't help but find yourself liking it as much for its faults as in spite of them. And that's much the same way I felt about this book.

RELEASE NOTES:

Bringing to the Bookcrossing meet-up. Everyone's welcome, please come join us!

Picked up at the Toronto BookCrossing Meeting today.