Book Review: Neither Here Nor There and The Lost Continent

I am doing these books together since they were in the same book I took out from the library. They were both very good and ran the same sort of theme. Here is a man who wanders alone through foreign countries and makes commentary about the places he is and the places he has come from.

Bill Bryson was born in Iowa, but moved to Britain when he was in his early 20s and still lives there. His books are fantastic to read and the pages seem to just peel away. I enjoyed Neither Here Nor There; which takes place in Europe, much more than The Lost Continent; his American adventures, simply because it didn't seem like Mr. Bryson had much to work with in the States. I mean that the US is so omnipresent in our mental environment that nothing surprised me much. Europe, on the other hand, supplied him with much more material. From the snotty and arrogant French to the notoriously negligent Italians, I was gripped.

His commentary is nothing short of hilarious. He longs for a bygone era that wasn't quite so polished, but had character and a time when every commercial opportunity hadn't been shamelessly exploited. In these respects I could relate to the writer and sympothized with him. Both are worthy reads and I recommend either.