Neither Here Nor There

by Bill Bryson

Grade: Unfinished
Read: To page 164.

There was too much stuff about sex, and a bit of anti-Catholicism (not much, but it was the last straw so to speak), so I stopped. Plus I had a load of other books to read.

But there were some interesting bits, namely:

Is Copenhagen really the safest city in Europe? (pg. 125)

I have to look up the Skagen school of Danish painting, and if I ever go to Denmark, visit the Ostre Anlaeg museum. (pg. 127)

"Germans are flummoxed by humour, the Swiss have no concept of fun, the Spanish think there is nothing at all ridiculous about eating dinner at midnight, and the Italians should never, ever have been let in on the invention of the motor car."
...
"It fascinated me that Europeans could at once be so alike--that they could be so universally bookish and cerebral, and drive small cars, and live in little houses in ancient towns, and love soccer, and be relatively unmaterialistic and law-abiding, and have chilly hotel rooms and cosy and inviting places to eat and drink--and yet be so endlessly, unpredictably different from each other as well."

Is it still like that? I wonder. I keep thinking of demographics and the EU and the downfall of European Catholicism. (pg. 32)