Bill Bryson – At Home - A Short History of Private Life (2010)
History – 490 pages – my copy (hardback, 2010) signed by the mighty Bill Bryson himself in May, 2010
-3 nods
There is a back-story to the reading of this book. If the Worm may indulge his readership, he is eager to tell it:
It begins one sunny May day. The Worm ventured from deepest Devon to the town of Bath. There in the Topping & Co bookshop, the same very Mr Bryson was sitting signing books. One such lucky book was this copy of At Home. A treat indeed, for the Bryson adoring Worm.
At Home is a run through each of the room’s of Bryson’s Norfolk house, asking the questions of why we do just what we do (for instance, why the key condiments of salt and pepper, and not salt or cinnamon?). The author takes his home as the book’s basic structure as we, the reader, fly through centuries of history.
At first lovingly devoured, the first new release for years since The Thunderbolt Kid (the Shakespeare biography to be quickly forgotten), the Worm was ready for this read. Unfortunately, the book itself failed to live up to the adventure of the signature.
Yes, there are the usual hallmarks of Bryson: vast and interesting digressions, humour and wit, an unending fondness for small facts and an ever willing need to learn more about the world. But throughout many points in At Home the digression lingers into sterility and the wit vanishes. Yes, the small facts remain – however, the book takes the appearance of a series of cut and pasted Wikipedia articles.
Want to learn about the Eiffel tower? About the nouvel riches of powerful American families? Of, indeed, much beside private life – the very driving point of this book! Then this offering is for you. However, for those still in search of our private lives, we must search on.
Thankfully, Bryson warms up after two hundred pages. Yet the final assessment must be made that it is much too long – 490 pages! – and much too pointless. Where is the Bryson of former times, of the man who brought us The Short History of Nearly Everything? It raises a few questions: has Bryson gone off the boil? Or has the Worm lost his love for the bearded bard?
History – 490 pages – my copy (hardback, 2010) signed by the mighty Bill Bryson himself in May, 2010
-3 nods
There is a back-story to the reading of this book. If the Worm may indulge his readership, he is eager to tell it:
It begins one sunny May day. The Worm ventured from deepest Devon to the town of Bath. There in the Topping & Co bookshop, the same very Mr Bryson was sitting signing books. One such lucky book was this copy of At Home. A treat indeed, for the Bryson adoring Worm.
At Home is a run through each of the room’s of Bryson’s Norfolk house, asking the questions of why we do just what we do (for instance, why the key condiments of salt and pepper, and not salt or cinnamon?). The author takes his home as the book’s basic structure as we, the reader, fly through centuries of history.
At first lovingly devoured, the first new release for years since The Thunderbolt Kid (the Shakespeare biography to be quickly forgotten), the Worm was ready for this read. Unfortunately, the book itself failed to live up to the adventure of the signature.
Yes, there are the usual hallmarks of Bryson: vast and interesting digressions, humour and wit, an unending fondness for small facts and an ever willing need to learn more about the world. But throughout many points in At Home the digression lingers into sterility and the wit vanishes. Yes, the small facts remain – however, the book takes the appearance of a series of cut and pasted Wikipedia articles.
Want to learn about the Eiffel tower? About the nouvel riches of powerful American families? Of, indeed, much beside private life – the very driving point of this book! Then this offering is for you. However, for those still in search of our private lives, we must search on.
Thankfully, Bryson warms up after two hundred pages. Yet the final assessment must be made that it is much too long – 490 pages! – and much too pointless. Where is the Bryson of former times, of the man who brought us The Short History of Nearly Everything? It raises a few questions: has Bryson gone off the boil? Or has the Worm lost his love for the bearded bard?
But a glimpse upon the row of Bryson's titles upon the "Bryson-Shelf" convinces the Worm that love is not lost. Too many jokes, too many adventures. Time can heal all wounds.
