Neither Here, Nor There by Bill Bryson offers a hilarious take on European cities
Laughter guaranteed in this collection of essays
I had been delaying reading Bill Bryson for quite a while.
My first foray into Bryson’s writing was via ‘A Walk in the Woods’, which introduced me to his style of travel writing.
When I saw the inviting cover of ‘Neither Here, Nor There: Travels in Europe’ and the index page which had names of cities along with page numbers, I thought to myself — OK this could be a good way to get a gist of these European cities without committing to a single-destination long read.
Also, after having just finished Pico Iyer’s ‘Video Night in Kathmandu’ not long ago, I was in the mood to read some more longform travel essays rather than travelogues in a book form.
Neither Here, Nor There is about Bryson revisiting 22 cities around Europe, some of which he had backpacked through as a 20-something along with his friend Stephen Katz. This book is more personal in nature, rather than completely about the places he has been to.
If you are going to read this as a travel guide to those cities, don’t. You will be disappointed. Of course, Bryson does give insights into each of the places he has been to with a lot of historical…
