Neither Here Nor There

I have been unable to find a Bill Bryson book that I don’t love. From page one to the end of each of his books I find myself absolutely rivited, and thoroughly entertained. It’s as though I have an old friend telling me about his travels abroad. And so, when I picked up Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe for a bit of light reading, I knew I would not be let down.

Neither Here Nor There is nearly twenty years old now, but that didn’t matter. The stories of Bryson’s travels through Europe, retracing the steps he took on a backpacking trip with his friend Stephen Katz, are timeless. The book could easily be opened in another twenty years, and it’d be just as good. And that’s simply a testament to how good of a writer Bryson is.

Bill Bryson covered some big ground on his travels, going from Norway (Chapter one) to Turkey (Chapter twenty-two) via places like Brussels (Chapter five), Naples (Chapter fourteen) and Yugoslavia (Chapter twenty). And each destination he visits is just as good as the previous one, if not better, as it builds toward an ending that left me quite satisfied and happy. It was as though my old friend told me a great length of stories while out at the bar together, and I left happy of our time together and looking forward to when we’d meet again.

I can’t recommend Bill Bryson’s Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe enough. I wouldn’t say it is my favorite of his books, that is reserved for A Walk in the Woods or In a Sunburned Country, but it definitely gives them some competition. It’s an entertaining and humorous story that is sure not to disappoint any reader.