Prompt #4 Book

Every time I get on an airplane I am terrified. I do not enjoy traveling, but I love visiting other countries. I hate train stations, airports, bus stops, just waiting in general. To me, there is no worse feeling than being out of control. But Bryson doesn’t seem to share any of my worries. He just travels from town to town having a jolly ol’ time remember the towns from his youth. If that were me I would be freaking out! How can he be so out of control and relaxed at the same time? That really surprises me.

Prompt #7 Chapter 13

This chapter was about Rome. I was right; Bryson continued to make funny jokes about how the Roman should never have been introduced to the invention of the automobile; alluding to the fact that he believes Italians to be the worst drivers in Europe. It’s interesting because some people may not appreciate Bryson’s sense of humor and writing style; but for me it makes all the difference.

Prompt #8 Book

I don’t think this book as a deeper them or lesson; after all it is a travel narrative. But I do believe that this book contains within it a very strong message. This book emphasizes the importance of travel. Going out of your comfort area and trying new and interesting things. Bryson is roof that you don’t even need to speak the language in order to communicate and have a fun time.

Prompt #10 Book

One of the main reasons why I enjoy this book so much is because I have traveled to many of the cities Bryson has gone to. Because Bryson and I share this “travelers-connection” it allows me to be able to travel with him instead of just reading a book.
Not only do I feel connected with the content of the book, but also to Bryson’s for of narration. It is very sarcastic and comical. In a way, it resembles how I speak. So not only can I picture what he’s talking about but he’s describing it in my own language!

Prompt #2 Book

The hardest thing for me to understand is how Bryson can believe so adamantly in European stereotypes but never so much as actually have a conversation with them. He may talk to one or two people every now and again, but he vast majority of the time his is walking by himself.
It occurs to me now that Bryson is incapable of having a conversation because he only speaks English. But still, I would have thought someone as cultured and well-traveled has Bryson would know not to put too much stock in gross-generalizations.

Prompt #5 Chapter 8

Towards the end of this chapter Bryson talks a little about Anne Franks House in Holland. He tells about how hard it must have been for eight people to live in an attic for three years in Nazi-occupied territory. But interestingly enough, he pays his respects to the wife of the husband who owned the house who managed to feed ten people for three years during the most heavily rationed time in Holland’s recent history. It is an accomplishment that I never considered before. It must have been so dangerous to have lived during WWII especially for Europeans.

Prompt #6 Chapter 6

In a few chapters Bryson will be in Italy. Bryson is going to love Italy, all the culture and geography. Throughout the book so far he has been alluding, or rather stating, that he believes Italians (especially Romans) are horrible drivers. So when he is in Italy I bet he will make the some jokes about how terrible the Italians drivers are.
Interestingly enough, I have been to Italy and I didn’t think that the drivers there are that bad. I think all Europeans drives are pretty reckless; but I would never have singled the Italians out.

Prompt #1 Chapter 4

This chapter was titled Paris, and as I’m sure you can guess it was all about the behavioral quirks of the Parisians. What I loved about his chapter was Bryson’s sense of humor. It kept the chapter interesting and made me want to keep reading. One of my favorite jokes was: “You would go into a bakery and be greeted by some vast sluglike creature with a look that told you you would never be friends. In halting French you would ask for a small loaf of bread. The woman would give you a long, cold stare and hen put a dead beaver o n the counter. ‘No, no,’ you would ay, hands aflutter, ‘not a dead beaver. A loaf of bread’” (Bryson 41).
I have been to Paris and I can remember being treated in a very similar manner by a French woman who owned a n ice cream store.

Prompt #11 Chapter 1

I love the author’s style. He is so sarcastic it so funny. Every paragraph Bryson is cracking a new joke! I can’t get enough of it. Here is an example: “I had brought with me a yellow backpack so enormous that when I went through custom I half expected to be asked, “ Anything to declare? Cigarettes? Alcohol? Dead horse?...” (Bryson 15).
I think that his sarcasm is very effective; it helps paint a clearer picture for the readers to understand. It also helps to keep my attention because every time Bryson makes a joke I’m sucked back into the story.

Independent Reading-14-Key Quote

"But that's the glory of foreign travel, as far as I am concerned. I don't want to know what people are talking about. I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything. Suddenly you are five years old again. You can't read anything, you have only the most rudimentary sense of how things work, you can't even reliably cross a street without endangering your life. Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses."
--Bill Bryson
This book, Neither Here nor There is a travelers novel and this quotation captures the very essence of what it feels like to travel in a foreign country that you have never been to before. The last line of the quotation really hold significant value to the book itself: "Your whole existence becomes a series of interesting guesses." Because that is how the narrator lives his life, one interesting guess at a time.