
Author: Bill Bryson
Genre: Memoir
Rating: 4/5
# pages: Audiobook ~9hrs
Date read: March, 2012
Anyone who has been to Europe or dreamed of going will recognize the engaging blend of admiration and fascinated bewilderment that Bryson brings to this sharp and very funny account of a trip around the continent. Blending hilarious anecdotes with droll and worldly insights, he travels from Norway to Istanbul to Rome to Vienna.
What I really appreciated about "Neither Here Nor There" is that unlike many of his other travelogues, I've actually been to many of the places Bill Bryson visits here. Of course I especially loved reading about his stay in Copenhagen (not the least because he liked it here :) ), but it was fun walking together with him in my mind's eye and seeing how my experiences of Amsterdam, Rome etc. meshed with his.
I'm glad the book ended when it did though - he became increasingly frustrated with being abroad, and that clearly influenced his opinions of the later places he visited.
I'm amazed his wife and kids are okay with him travelling so much though! I'm not sure I would have been, if I'd been in her shoes.