I hate not finishing a book.
Whenever I start a new book, it has 50 pages to get me hooked, or I put it down. This is my “50 page rule.” While some books have come perilously close to the cutoff point, it’s rare that a book actually gets the dubious honor of being put on my Did Not Finish (DNF) list.
With great regret, I inform you that I must place The Road to Little Dribbling in this category.
Mind you, it’s not because the book is awful. Far from it. This story is just definitely going to appeal to a particular audience, but that audience is not me.
The premise of this book is that the author, an American by birth, is traveling around England and writing about his discoveries as he goes. I love travel narratives, and I’ve read some really good ones – Round Ireland with a Fridge and A Year in the Merde immediately spring to mind. I love learning about new cultures, and it’s even better if I can vicariously immerse myself in them via an author’s tales of discovery and comic mishap.
I also happen to have a penchant for all things English. I swear I was born on the wrong continent; someone who drinks as much tea as I do surely doesn’t belong in a country where they once dumped it into a harbor. (I know they had their reasons. Tyrannical rule and all that. Still. ALL the tea?!?) So, a story about someone navigating the ins and outs of the English way of life seemed like a sure-fire hit for me.
The Road to Little Dribbling had me hooked from page one. From sentence one. (Or, from the first sentence. Because I write good.) That is how brilliantly this book began! Author Bill Bryson is clearly a clever, witty writer, and I was immediately drawn in by his sense of humor and hilarious descriptions of life abroad. For reals, I was laughing out loud every few paragraphs – the kind of laughing that garners weird looks if you happen to be doing so on public transportation.
While the prologue exceeded expectations, the following few chapters fell short. The rapier wit and anecdotes that peppered the prologue didn’t disappear completely, but they became buried under lots of historical facts and geography lessons about places the author visited. I’m all for history (really, I am), but I’m also that person who skims the plaques at museums instead of reading every. single. detail. (My husband, however, is not; he is that person who will thoroughly read every single plaque, poster, and flyer that is offered.)
I enjoyed the historical asides at first, but they quickly seemed to overtake the novel, leaving the funny encounters and comic misunderstandings to fill in the cracks between overly detailed descriptions of who founded what village and when. I probably could have soldiered on reading to get to the funnier bits – I did flip forward a few pages and spotted some entertaining dialogue – but since I was basically skimming 2-3 pages at a time to get to the “good parts,” I decided to throw in the Royal Wedding commemorative tea towel and add this one to the DNF pile. Regrettably.
That said, I encourage you to read The Road to Little Dribbling if you like a little humor with your travel guides or history lessons. This may be the book for you! I still may try reading another one of Bryson’s books sometime. He’s apparently written several, and, as I said, he clearly has a gift for humorous writing. Perhaps this particular book wasn’t just my cuppa tea.
And, despite the fact that I didn’t finish The Road to little Dribbling, I was still inspired to make a related recipe. Stay tuned for Blueberry Almond Scones later this week on the blog!
Do you have a DNF pile? How long do you wait before putting a book in that category? And, does it pain you to do so as much as it pains me? Share below!
I will admit, I absolutely adored this! However, I am a historian who will search out historical facts to be buried in haha. I also listened to the audiobook (read by Bill himself), and it was a lovely companion on my commute to work. I find that I can love a book in one format and not at all in another!
I don’t have a set rule for when I put a book down now- if I don’t have that feeling in the first reading session or two, it’s DNF and onto the next! Life is too short to waste it trying to read books I’m not interested in!
Yep, you are pretty much the audience I figured this book would appeal to! 😊 Someone who really likes historical info. I loved the humor in this book, but I couldn’t get past the details. It’s too bad because I really loved parts of the story! The audiobook idea is a good one. I might do better if I could listen to the facts instead of read them. I was a medieval history minor in college, and I always loved listening to lectures. Maybe I’ll try this title on audio one of these days. Thanks for the suggestion!!
Also, you should give Meet Me At The Museum a read. I just finished it so my review on the blog won’t post for awhile, but I think you would like it. Some good historical/archeological details in there, along with an excellent story!