Stuart Maconie

Over the years, I've enjoyed Stuart Maconie's radio shows and, perhaps to a lesser extent, his other books. Not this one.
It is truly awful. The high concept is fairly flawed, but the execution is deplorable. Pompous and preposterous in the extreme, the repetitive narrative circles around a few themes and groups without making much sense. I will still look fondly on his other output, but I was glad this was over. As, I suspect, was he.

Excellent read. A thoughtful account of his own journey. A mixture of travelogue and historical and political account. It celebrates the good of England and what unites the country and acknowledges those who have little and are seldom heard. He rejects on Brexit and Donald Trump and how 2016 was similar to 1936 when the Jarrow folk marched to London.

Had a laugh. But there wasn't enough of a structure so it all bumbled on rather and I had to skip a lot of the last chapters to get to the end.

I had high hopes for this one, but had to skip through a lot of the chapters as the author seemed to go on endlessly. I was not familiar with many of the names and places he mentions, since I am not British. I liked the chapters about music and literature. Definitely not Bill Bryson.