At Home by Bill Bryson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I rather stupidly chose a "chunker" of over 600 pages for the first of my 52 Books in 52 Weeks. I have only managed to get through two-thirds of the book so far, though I'm quite pleased to have got that far given that I also had to submit final assignments for last term's archive course module by Friday (including an essay I didn't start writing until Monday!) . I am going to post a review not despite not having finished the book as I don't want to get behind and I am determined to get to the end this weekend.
At Home is more of Bill Bryson doing what Bill Bryson does. Mostly I enjoy his easy-reading style, but this is not my favourite of his books. It is a history of domestic life which he hangs on a room by room tour of his home. In fact, the connections with the rooms are often pretty tenuous and he flits from topic to topic with an almost frantic speed, skimming over the surface of each. Often I found that just as he had aroused my interest in something he skipped on to something else. Still, I learned a little about a whole raft of subjects I knew nothing about before - why it does not work to build a house with iron or concrete, Capability Brown's landscape design, bedbugs, candlelight and the spice trade are a few that come to mind. Overall, though I quite enjoyed the book I also found it a bit too diverse and overlong.
Saturday, January 07, 2012
Book 1: A is for At Home
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
6 comments:
sounds like a library borrow then rather than a purchase. Glad you got your essays written!
Yes, i would say library. Worth reading once but not a re-read, and less guilt if you don't make it to the end!
I enjoy Bill Bryson, and got to see him speak a year or so ago. I'd love to hear what you recommend. I've read In a Sunburned Country, and bits & pieces of a couple of his other books. Good luck with finishing At Home!
I liked In a Sunburned Country, though in the UK it has a different title, Down Under. Others I particularly enjoyed were Notes from a Small Island (a tour of the UK by public transport) and A Short History of Almost Everything (history of science.
My favorite Bryson book is The Mother Tongue on the history of English. I also enjoyed In a Sunburned Country and I'm a Stranger Here Myself. I had trouble getting through his other books. But this one does sound intriguing because it is about a topic I'm currently fascinated by. I hope you finished the book and got every done you needed to, Kathryn. I"m so thrilled that folks I 'know' are doing this challenge. It's fun!
I just checked, and I found Notes from a Small Island and The Mother Tongue on my bookshelves. Moving them to my (tall) TBR pile, and hoping to find time for them soon! Thanks for the suggestions!
Post a Comment