Day 10 - My Xmas Month Countdown - A Book and a Song

It's a drizzly cool day here in the Valley. The pups and I went to the vets this morning so Bonnie could get her monthly allergy shot. Clyde didn't behave too badly. On Friday they go to the cleaners to get their winter bath and haircut. Jo spent the morning organizing Christmas stuff.

Now it's time for my Xmas Countdown post, Day 10 or Book and Song #16. When I hit #10, I may add some favorite TV shows of 2019. We'll see. Anyway, here we go.

Book 16

Bill Bryon

Bill Bryson - The Road to Little Dribbling.

Jo introduced me to American author, Bryson. She loved his travel journals. I've read 5 of his books since she pointed him out to me; Shakespeare, the World as a Stage, One Summer, America 1927, Neither Here nor There, At Home, A Short History of Private Life and A Short History of Nearly Everything. And now, I've added The Road to Little Dribbling. I enjoy his humour and the manner in which he provides information about history, countries, science, almost anything. You're being taught without even realizing it. My review of Little Dribbling is below.

"Over the past few years I've read and enjoyed a few of Bill Bryson's excellent novels; At Home, One Summer, A Short History of Nearly Everything, etc. I like his wit and intelligence and the varied information that he imparts and his enjoyable, readable manner of doing so. The Road to Little Dribbling: More Notes From a Small Island was published in 2015 and could be considered as a sequel to his previous Notes from a Small Island (I haven't read that yet, my wife Jo has).

In Notes, he journeyed throughout Great Britain, talking about the localities, the history, culture, etc. In The Road to Little Dribbling, Bryson revisits this previous journey, this time trying to take a look at locales he missed on his previous journey, starting in southern England, Bognor Regis and ending on the most northern point of Scotland, Cape Wrath.

As per all of the other books I've read, it's a meandering journey, criss-crossing England and Wales until his final dash to Cape Wrath. Bryson is getting more crusty and irascible as he gets older, but then again who isn't. He does spend a fair amount of time deriding 'stupidity' and being gently turned away from conversations that might turn cranky, either by his wife or friends taking him by the elbow or by having the conversations with his inner voice.

In each locale, he finds bits of history or science or just interesting tidbits that add to the richness of his journey. At one point he wanders into a discussion of two books that discuss how the English motorway numbering system works and doesn't work, or how the various districts of London are numbered and, once again, how it works and doesn't work and how it confuses even long-time residents. It might seem a boring subject, but Bryson has a way of making it interesting, touching lightly on it to impart  information and making it humorous to make you enjoy discovering those facts.

I've always had an interest in Great Britain, having spent some time traveling throughout during the course of my military career. My wife, like Bryson's, is English so I spent a lot of time reading her excerpts to see what she thought, which added to my enjoyment. All in all, the journey was fun and informative and continued my enjoyment of reading and following Bryson's unique perspective and writing. (4.5 stars)"

Song 16

Sigala / Becky Hill

Sigala / Becky Hill - Wish You Well.

Bruce Fielder (AKA Sigala) was born in Norwich, England in 1989 and is a record producer / DJ. He has had six singles top the UK charts. Becky Hill is an English singer / songwriter who was born in 1994 in Bewdley, Worcestershire. (You may see her again in this list). In 2014, she became the first winner of the Voice UK to score a UK #1 hit. Wish You Well was written by both and released in May 2019. The single peaked at #8 on the UK singles chart.

There you go. I hope you enjoy both. I'm off for lunch.