"Neither Here Nor There" (book review)

...by Bill Bryson, 1991.

A book about BB's travels, largely by train, from Norway through to Istanbul.
This book reminds me in many ways of the inter-rail trip Lois and I undertook in the Summer of our first year in the U.K.
Though I think our budget was considerably more restricted than BB's!
Couldn't help noticing that many of BB's observations were common with ours - for example, the madness of Italian traffic, Swiss propriety, French stand-offishness...

Apart from a few spectacularly hilarious incidents (parking in Rome, for instance), however, this book disappoints.
I was left with a feeling that BB hadn't really gone very much beyond the surface experiences that tourists in this situation go through.
The book quickly becomes an account of where he dined, slept, drank, withdrew money, hopped on and off trains.
It lacks the richness of "Down Under" (reviewed on this blogsite), the hilarity of The Thunderbolt Kid, the sharpness of Notes From a Big Country.
A better book about travelling throught Europe is the one I read about a year ago and also reviewed here, whose name escapes me - much richer language, and a much more interesting journey (pre-World War 2).

Recommended for those who enjoy Bryson, who have travelled through Europe, or who are planning to.
Particularly and unintentionally poignant are BB's observations of Yugoslavia and, in particular, Sarajevo - places now tragically altered and wrecked by the stupidity of civil war and racial intolerance.

5/10.