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Queenan Country: A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country
One semitropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken vindaloo in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression, coupled with dread of the fearsome Christmas pudding that awaited him for dessert, that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain.
Freed from the obligation to visit his wife's relations, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the limey heart of darkness.
The result is a very funny, picaresque adventure that will appeal to anglophile and anglophobe alike.
Freed from the obligation to visit his wife's relations, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the limey heart of darkness.
The result is a very funny, picaresque adventure that will appeal to anglophile and anglophobe alike.
256 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
5 people are currently reading
160 people want to read
About the author
Joe Queenan
46 books90 followersJoe Queenan is a humorist, critic and author from Philadelphia who graduated from Saint Joseph's University. He has written for numerous publications, such as Spy Magazine, TV Guide, Movieline, The Guardian and the New York Times Book Review. He has written eight books, including Balsamic Dreams, a scathing critique of the Baby Boomers, Red Lobster, White Trash, and the Blue Lagoon, a tour of low-brow American pop culture and Imperial Caddy, a fairly scathing view of Dan Quayle and the American Vice-Presidency.
Queenan's work is noted for his caustic wit.
Queenan's work is noted for his caustic wit.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 47 reviews
May 28, 2009
I'm all for sarcasm. It's my favorite type of humour. Jerry Sienfeld is God to me. But this book went way overboard. I agree with many of Queenan's commentaries, but he needs to put them to rest after making his point once. I'm glad I read this book, but I can never let my British husband. He'd be mortified.
January 7, 2018
I picked this book up at my library sale knowing how I desperately want to go to England and just explore. While reading this book my 2 sons out of 3 left for Uk on Christmas Eve to experience Boxing Day and as the UK Say FOOTBALL. So given a little background as to why I read & finished this book is how I give my review. But like the author says visiting England or even understanding it is like Alice- you fell down the rabbit hole how you interrupt life history & your own is....crazy but sane-you can never leave but you will always be connected. Just read and enjoy that is what I did for the first of the year 2018
December 22, 2013
I can't really put my finger on why I was disappointed by this. I think it is Queenan's style of writing. He seems to find the bad side in any situation, which after a while palled on me. May look at his other output, but not rushing there.
August 24, 2020
I thought I'd love this book, as the shameless anglophile that I am. But I struggled through it, until I decided to finally abandon it at 80%. What broke me in the end was a chapter in which Queenan took cheap shots at people's looks, describing UK women as "porcine," deriding their and their male-counterparts' hairdos, etc. Throughout the previous chapters, Queenan had something nasty to say about anyone who does not like the same music or food as him, about remote places and their residents, and almost anyone or anything else. But coming down on people's looks was already too much for me. I wonder why Queenan insists that he loves the country so much and lived there for so many years if he seems to like almost nothing at all about it. I appreciate sharp wit but not when it's just mean and degrading, and do not enjoy it when an author maliciously uses their "gift of the gab" to make themselves look better and smarter. To me, looking down on others is no special feat. Being inquisitive about different people and cultures and trying to find what's worth learning from there and what causes them to be as they are is more impressive and worth reading about.
June 19, 2011
Bill Bryson has nothing to fear from this guy. From the start, where the reader is given a short history lesson, I was under the impression Queenan was once told that he was funny, and he flashes his wit at every opportunity, and not all of it is actually witty. When I started to skim, I found that he interspersed the present with little anecdotes from the past, which I find tiresome. I hope Queenan had a good time in England, but doesn't decide to do the same thing with a trip to France.
August 27, 2012
The author never misses an opportunity to remind you that he is much more cultured and has far better taste than you, and never lets a gratuitous insult go unmade. It's basically 200+ pages of whining and ego.
March 14, 2019
Was donated a copy by a friend (sorry Mel!). I literally have a rule to always finish any book I start. I had to give up on page 29. Savage for the sake of it and not very amusing, I'm afraid this book was not at all my cup of tea. Next!
December 2, 2016
I really wanted to read this book. I love England and Scotland and have traveled there on numerous occasions. I’m also a bit of a cranky curmudgeon, so I figured this book would be right up my alley. Not. While Mr. Queenan does share some interesting insights and experiences, his writing left me wondering who he was trying to impress. I get the feeling that he likes to hear himself talk. Sarcasm (which I enjoyed) aside, the author comes across as a pompous, highbrow wanna be, looking to score points with people who don’t understand that using simple words is as effective as trying to impress—and fail—using bazillion syllable words. Why spend a dollar a word, Mr. Queenan, when a nickel buys the same thing?
Anyway – great topic, appreciate the sarcasm and grouchiness, agree with much of what he has to say, but … please buddy, this ain’t your master’s thesis. Write it like you’d talk about it. And if you really talk the way you write? No holiday invite for you. The turkey puts us all to sleep. Your droning words are not needed.
Anyway – great topic, appreciate the sarcasm and grouchiness, agree with much of what he has to say, but … please buddy, this ain’t your master’s thesis. Write it like you’d talk about it. And if you really talk the way you write? No holiday invite for you. The turkey puts us all to sleep. Your droning words are not needed.
October 11, 2007
Having visited Great Britain twice for a week at a time in 1995 and 2000, I can say Queenan captures what I noticed only peripherally. This is not a tourist's United Kingdom. It is not a tawdry account, either, as are so many travel books claiming to be off-the-beaten-path accounts. Joe Queenan has genuine affection for the United Kingdom. Again, he avoids another trap: He does not become smug in his affection.
Reading QUEENAN COUNTRY I get a sense of a country which still eats meat pies, pulls a chain to flush instead of pushing a handle and spells one-syllable place names in such a way as to make them look as if they have three syllables. One chapter describes a rock and roll performance by a middle-aged band in a little club and highlights the ease with which the audience, the same age as the band, slips into the groove.
Reading QUEENAN COUNTRY I get a sense of a country which still eats meat pies, pulls a chain to flush instead of pushing a handle and spells one-syllable place names in such a way as to make them look as if they have three syllables. One chapter describes a rock and roll performance by a middle-aged band in a little club and highlights the ease with which the audience, the same age as the band, slips into the groove.
October 23, 2014
I have to say that I started reading this book hoping for a light-hearted tour of Britain, poking fun and highlighting similarities, differences between the English and American cultures a la Bill Bryson. However, I was seriously disappointed. Joe Queenan's writes this book in a condescending and supercilious fashion, that only succeeded in filling me with increasing my anger, the further I got into this book. As an Englishman, I was angered and upset by a number of the authors comments and assertions. I can only feel sorry for his English wife, who I were in her place would have 'divorced ' him. If I could have given this zero stars I would have!!!
July 23, 2011
I had a hard time with this book. I found his stories to be ok, but I wouldn't say that I really enjoyed them. I also didn't find the book to be that funny. After awhile I decided I had other books to read that might be better and I moved on to them instead and left this one unfinished.
October 14, 2016
Maybe because I haven't actually been to England, this wasn't nearly as funny as I thought it would be. I think the author really was just full of himself.
September 1, 2009
What a self-congratulatory, supercilious jerk this guy is!! I'm guessing the book is intended to be humorous, but it just comes off as nasty to both the Brits and the Americans.
May 30, 2013
It's okay...he's no Bill Bryson.
March 30, 2012
"This book is an attempt to make clear that there are things about Britain that delight me (Chelsea Pensioners, cows on the commons, Edward VII, Keith Richards), things that appall me (Chelsea football supporters, cows on canvases, Edward VIII, Cliff Richard), and things that mystify me (why anyone would listen to English morning radio, the House of Lords, the way people dress once they turn thirty, basically, the entire society). For the truth is, the Brits have always baffled me."
"One semitropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken tikka masala in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression,coupled with the dread of the fearsome Christmas pudding that awaited him for dessert, that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain. Freed from the obligation to visit an unending procession of Aunty Margarets and Cousin Robins, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the heart of limey darkness.
"His trip was not in vain. Crisscrossing Old Blightly like Cromwell hunting Papists, Queenan finally came to terms with the choochiness, squiffiness,ponciness,and sticky wicketness that lie at the heart of the British character. Here he is trying to find out whose idea it was to impale King Edward II on a red-hot poker -- and what this says about English sexual politics. Here he is in an Edinburgh pub, seeking to pinpoint the connection between Edward I's pitiless 1297 invasion of Scotland and Paul McCartney's pitiless 1977 recording of 'Mull of Kintyre.' And here he is, trapped in a Gloustershire concert hall with an Eagles tribute band named Talon who secretly resent that they are nowhere near as famous as their evil nemeses, the Illegal Eagles. At the end of his epic adventure, the author returns chastened,non the wiser, but encouraged that his wife is actually as sane as she is, all things considered."
~~front & back flaps
It started out innocently enough, but then rapidly deteriorated into the sort of book you want to throw against the wall. (I didn't, because I want to trade it in, and my local USB has an intransigent attitude towards books in pieces.) The author was snide, snarky and snotty about most everything he came across, and most of the people as well. I hope he kept his opinions to himself while he was there, or else US/UK relations were set back an untold number of years, and new meaning given to the concept "Ugly American".
I was firmly intending to give this book no stars at all, since there is no star designating "HATED it!" And then I came to the final pages:
"... there is a personal Albion that belongs tome that no English citizen born in more recent times can ever know. I remember Stonehenge before the fence got put up around it, when you could simply drive up in the middle of the night and stand speechless before the mysterious monoliths. I remember the miner's strikes that caused Edward Heath's government to collapse. ... I remember that Carmella's Place in Nailsworth used to be called Tubby's, and that the plumbing didn't work under that name either. I remember stone pubs in Paganhill that were so frigid you had to already be drunk just to stay warm enough to take off your gloves and pay for your next drink ... I remember a pub in Dursley with a ceiling so low that my dart once deflected off the roof into the bull's-eye, much to my brother-in-law's disgust. I remember another freezing pub in Paganhill where my brother-in-law and I got doused in ice cold water by a drunken prankster who claimed to be aiming at somebody else, but Tony insisted on finishing our game of cribbage with the soaking cards because he four fives and a queen with two kings in the box and wasn't likely to get another hand like that for the rest of his life. ...
"Much of the Britain I love has disappeared. Edwardian pubs have been torn apart and remodeled to look Tudor; even in the dainty Cotswolds people rarely say things like 'Excuse me, old cock, could I borrow that stool?' anymore. But enough of the old Britain remains. ...
"There isn't anything in the world better than riding a London double-decker bus. There isn't a more beautiful place in the world than the Embankment at sunset. There is nothing more stirring than the Houses of Parliament illuminated at midnight... I have often said that if I had to pick a city to live in the rest of my life it would be Paris, but if I had to pick a city in which to spend the last day of my life it would be London. One chilly evening, I called a friend in New York to gloat that I was standing in the shadow of Nelson's statue in front of the National Gallery right beside St. Martin-in-the-Fields as Big Ben struck midnight, and he had the misfortune to be elsewhere. You cannot put a price on these things, and if you did, it would not be nearly high enough.
"I left London for New York the day after the Queen Mother's funeral. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people lined the streets. The service was broadcast over enormous speakers lining St. James Park; the silence was breathtakingly visceral. People were not afraid to weep openly ... After the funeral, the Queen herself motored past; it was the second time I had seen her in the past month. She had just lost a sister, now her mother. ... At the very end of the service, the Coldstream Guards, the Highlanders, and all the rest marched past in their amazing, resplendent, and very strange costumes. There were kilts, bagpipes, massive furry hats, battered tiger skins ... The British may have lost their empire, but they still know how to put on an impressive show. The ancient pipes filled the air with the tunes that had petrified enemies from Bunker Hill to Bengal. The pipes sported the very stiffest of upper lips. ... I did not want to be anywhere but Britain.
"As the last of the pipers disappeared toward their headquarters near Buckingham Palace, and I gazed over the sea of teary-eyed Brits, I felt the same way I did whenever I heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, that it was hard to believe that I had been lucky enough to live in the same solar system as such a remarkable human being. The English inspired a similar sense of affection and awe. They were, by turns, mad, hilarious, exasperating, unpredictable, peculiar, courageous, thrilling. The Brits were the very best mankind had to offer; if the planet was ever to host a more fascinating race, then the rest of us were in for a real treat. ... Standing in the park as the drone of the bagpipes receded into the distance, I was reassured by the though that there would always be Highlanders, there would always be Coldstream Guards, there would always be the queen, there would always be an England.
"The alternative was simply not acceptable."
Impossible to read that with a tug on your heartstrings. And it certainly redeemed the book.
(Q authors aren't that easy to come by, which explains how this book wound up in my TBR pile.)
"One semitropical Fourth of July, Joe Queenan's English wife suggested that the family might like a chicken tikka masala in lieu of the customary barbecue. It was this pitiless act of gastronomic cultural oppression,coupled with the dread of the fearsome Christmas pudding that awaited him for dessert, that inspired the author to make a solitary pilgrimage to Great Britain. Freed from the obligation to visit an unending procession of Aunty Margarets and Cousin Robins, as he had done for the first twenty-six years of their marriage, Queenan decided that he would not come back from Albion until he had finally penetrated the heart of limey darkness.
"His trip was not in vain. Crisscrossing Old Blightly like Cromwell hunting Papists, Queenan finally came to terms with the choochiness, squiffiness,ponciness,and sticky wicketness that lie at the heart of the British character. Here he is trying to find out whose idea it was to impale King Edward II on a red-hot poker -- and what this says about English sexual politics. Here he is in an Edinburgh pub, seeking to pinpoint the connection between Edward I's pitiless 1297 invasion of Scotland and Paul McCartney's pitiless 1977 recording of 'Mull of Kintyre.' And here he is, trapped in a Gloustershire concert hall with an Eagles tribute band named Talon who secretly resent that they are nowhere near as famous as their evil nemeses, the Illegal Eagles. At the end of his epic adventure, the author returns chastened,non the wiser, but encouraged that his wife is actually as sane as she is, all things considered."
~~front & back flaps
It started out innocently enough, but then rapidly deteriorated into the sort of book you want to throw against the wall. (I didn't, because I want to trade it in, and my local USB has an intransigent attitude towards books in pieces.) The author was snide, snarky and snotty about most everything he came across, and most of the people as well. I hope he kept his opinions to himself while he was there, or else US/UK relations were set back an untold number of years, and new meaning given to the concept "Ugly American".
I was firmly intending to give this book no stars at all, since there is no star designating "HATED it!" And then I came to the final pages:
"... there is a personal Albion that belongs tome that no English citizen born in more recent times can ever know. I remember Stonehenge before the fence got put up around it, when you could simply drive up in the middle of the night and stand speechless before the mysterious monoliths. I remember the miner's strikes that caused Edward Heath's government to collapse. ... I remember that Carmella's Place in Nailsworth used to be called Tubby's, and that the plumbing didn't work under that name either. I remember stone pubs in Paganhill that were so frigid you had to already be drunk just to stay warm enough to take off your gloves and pay for your next drink ... I remember a pub in Dursley with a ceiling so low that my dart once deflected off the roof into the bull's-eye, much to my brother-in-law's disgust. I remember another freezing pub in Paganhill where my brother-in-law and I got doused in ice cold water by a drunken prankster who claimed to be aiming at somebody else, but Tony insisted on finishing our game of cribbage with the soaking cards because he four fives and a queen with two kings in the box and wasn't likely to get another hand like that for the rest of his life. ...
"Much of the Britain I love has disappeared. Edwardian pubs have been torn apart and remodeled to look Tudor; even in the dainty Cotswolds people rarely say things like 'Excuse me, old cock, could I borrow that stool?' anymore. But enough of the old Britain remains. ...
"There isn't anything in the world better than riding a London double-decker bus. There isn't a more beautiful place in the world than the Embankment at sunset. There is nothing more stirring than the Houses of Parliament illuminated at midnight... I have often said that if I had to pick a city to live in the rest of my life it would be Paris, but if I had to pick a city in which to spend the last day of my life it would be London. One chilly evening, I called a friend in New York to gloat that I was standing in the shadow of Nelson's statue in front of the National Gallery right beside St. Martin-in-the-Fields as Big Ben struck midnight, and he had the misfortune to be elsewhere. You cannot put a price on these things, and if you did, it would not be nearly high enough.
"I left London for New York the day after the Queen Mother's funeral. Hundreds of thousands of ordinary people lined the streets. The service was broadcast over enormous speakers lining St. James Park; the silence was breathtakingly visceral. People were not afraid to weep openly ... After the funeral, the Queen herself motored past; it was the second time I had seen her in the past month. She had just lost a sister, now her mother. ... At the very end of the service, the Coldstream Guards, the Highlanders, and all the rest marched past in their amazing, resplendent, and very strange costumes. There were kilts, bagpipes, massive furry hats, battered tiger skins ... The British may have lost their empire, but they still know how to put on an impressive show. The ancient pipes filled the air with the tunes that had petrified enemies from Bunker Hill to Bengal. The pipes sported the very stiffest of upper lips. ... I did not want to be anywhere but Britain.
"As the last of the pipers disappeared toward their headquarters near Buckingham Palace, and I gazed over the sea of teary-eyed Brits, I felt the same way I did whenever I heard Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, that it was hard to believe that I had been lucky enough to live in the same solar system as such a remarkable human being. The English inspired a similar sense of affection and awe. They were, by turns, mad, hilarious, exasperating, unpredictable, peculiar, courageous, thrilling. The Brits were the very best mankind had to offer; if the planet was ever to host a more fascinating race, then the rest of us were in for a real treat. ... Standing in the park as the drone of the bagpipes receded into the distance, I was reassured by the though that there would always be Highlanders, there would always be Coldstream Guards, there would always be the queen, there would always be an England.
"The alternative was simply not acceptable."
Impossible to read that with a tug on your heartstrings. And it certainly redeemed the book.
(Q authors aren't that easy to come by, which explains how this book wound up in my TBR pile.)
March 11, 2025
이 저자가 지독한 책벌레임을 알기에 미국인으로서 영국여행기를 쓴거 같아 호기심에 택한 책이다. 읽다보니 영국여행의 내용은 양념이라고 생각할 만큼이고, 주로 자신이 얼마나 많은 지식의 소유자인지를 과시하는 장으로 보여서 중간쯤에 과연 내가 끝까지 읽을 수가 있을까 어지러웠다. 네이티브 잉글리시 스피커들 조차 일상에서 쓰이지 않는 현란한 단어나 관용어가 난무하여 읽기 쉽지 않은 책이다.
어린시절 학교 교육으로 읽었던 영문학을 비롯해 대부분의 클라식이라 불리우는 책들을 가차없이 비판하는 모습은 유례가 없다 할 것이다. 뿐만아니라 영국인들에게 오래전 부터 전해오는 그들의 신화들을 하나하나 들쳐내며 넌세스라고 거의 쓰레기 취급한다. 이런 모습은 그의 자신감이라기 보다는 오만함이라고 여실히 느끼게 하였다. 각지를 다니며 콘서트, 연극, 엔터테인먼트, 흘러간 팝뮤직, 뮤지엄 그리고 그림작품을 즐기며 느끼는, 그자신만의 영국여행을 즐기는 방식이 이방인의 입장으로서는 다채롭고 독특하게 느껴졌다. 또한 영국역사에 대한 무한한 지식을 바탕으로 영국왕들의 행태들을 조롱하며 그들의 이야기를 들려주는데 그의 따른 유적지 방문도 있어서 깊이가 없는 여행기라 할 수는 없다. 대부분의 영국주민들은 따분하고, 재미없으며, 편견에 차있고, 섬세함이 결여된 세련되지 못한 사람들이다 라고 직격탄을 날린다.
어떤 나라의 문화에 이렇게 적나라하게 바라보고 표현 할 수 있는 저자의 직설을 보면서 그의 풍만한 자신감에 대해, 이게 오만 만이 아닌 다른 문화에서 오는 건 아닐까 하는 의문과 함께 경의로움까지 느껴졌다. 한데 마지막에 영국여왕 어머니의 장례식에서 오열하는 영국인들의 모습에 동감하면서, 영국여왕을 사진에 담을 수 있고, 그를 가족과 공유하며 기뻐하는 그의 모습이, 그가 내종 영국인의 전통이나 행동을 넌센스라고 신랄하게 비꼬는 모습과 극히 배치된다. 게다가 다시태어나면 영국에서 꼭 살아보고 싶고, 영국인들은 지구가 배출할 수 있는 최고의 사람들이라 아부하며, 여왕이여 영원하라를 외치면서 책을 마감한다. 이런 사람을 싸이코패스라고 하는구나 생각하며 웃지 않을 수 없었다.
지적유희를 즐기는 사람이나 영국에 대한 관심이 있는 사람은 재미로 읽을 순 있겠다 싶은 책이다.
어린시절 학교 교육으로 읽었던 영문학을 비롯해 대부분의 클라식이라 불리우는 책들을 가차없이 비판하는 모습은 유례가 없다 할 것이다. 뿐만아니라 영국인들에게 오래전 부터 전해오는 그들의 신화들을 하나하나 들쳐내며 넌세스라고 거의 쓰레기 취급한다. 이런 모습은 그의 자신감이라기 보다는 오만함이라고 여실히 느끼게 하였다. 각지를 다니며 콘서트, 연극, 엔터테인먼트, 흘러간 팝뮤직, 뮤지엄 그리고 그림작품을 즐기며 느끼는, 그자신만의 영국여행을 즐기는 방식이 이방인의 입장으로서는 다채롭고 독특하게 느껴졌다. 또한 영국역사에 대한 무한한 지식을 바탕으로 영국왕들의 행태들을 조롱하며 그들의 이야기를 들려주는데 그의 따른 유적지 방문도 있어서 깊이가 없는 여행기라 할 수는 없다. 대부분의 영국주민들은 따분하고, 재미없으며, 편견에 차있고, 섬세함이 결여된 세련되지 못한 사람들이다 라고 직격탄을 날린다.
어떤 나라의 문화에 이렇게 적나라하게 바라보고 표현 할 수 있는 저자의 직설을 보면서 그의 풍만한 자신감에 대해, 이게 오만 만이 아닌 다른 문화에서 오는 건 아닐까 하는 의문과 함께 경의로움까지 느껴졌다. 한데 마지막에 영국여왕 어머니의 장례식에서 오열하는 영국인들의 모습에 동감하면서, 영국여왕을 사진에 담을 수 있고, 그를 가족과 공유하며 기뻐하는 그의 모습이, 그가 내종 영국인의 전통이나 행동을 넌센스라고 신랄하게 비꼬는 모습과 극히 배치된다. 게다가 다시태어나면 영국에서 꼭 살아보고 싶고, 영국인들은 지구가 배출할 수 있는 최고의 사람들이라 아부하며, 여왕이여 영원하라를 외치면서 책을 마감한다. 이런 사람을 싸이코패스라고 하는구나 생각하며 웃지 않을 수 없었다.
지적유희를 즐기는 사람이나 영국에 대한 관심이 있는 사람은 재미로 읽을 순 있겠다 싶은 책이다.
July 7, 2019
An over-educated curmudgeon forever shouting "Get out of my yard". Sigh. I really found so much of his bitching and moaning tiresome. He reminds me a bit of Bourdain - they both must excoriate everything that bugs them, even a little. When there is no variation in the rage, it gets dull.
March 8, 2011
If Bill Bryson filed his teeth to sharp points, wrote with a hatchet instead of a pen, constructed pinatas filled with unwrapped Baby Ruth candy bars (so they looked like poo when burst open) in the likeness of Mr. Andrew Lloyd Weber and the rock band Queen, gave up his generally benevolent and gentle outlook in favor a snarl, and traveled the world in search of monuments to dubious taste, he would be Joe Queenan. Queenan is cranky, convinced of his own correctness, and merciless. He really should pick on people his own size--many of his targets, while certainly rich and famous, couldn't hit back with the force with which Queenan slaps them around. Sometimes it's like watching Hummer roll over geese--not fair and a just too much. On the other hand, there are a lot of geese crapping up the roads these days, aren't there, so . . . . Queenan is also well-informed, turns a phrase with gemlike brilliance, manages to help one to see (always nice in a writer), surprisingly affective at times, and, as long as he is laughing at something you don't like, seriously funny. Give his books to fans of Bryson with an edgy sense of humor, of Mary Roach (if you haven't read Bonk and Packing for Mars, you should), P. J. O'Rourke, or Dave Barry. They will appeal to readers who enjoy a book for its style more than other appeal factors. Sentimentalists and fans of Queen, Red Lobster, Barbara Streisand, and especially the aforementioned Mr. Webber need not apply.
October 14, 2012
Joe Queenan is an acerbic, mean spirited, and very funny writer, 1 part Twain to 3 parts Mencken. And he's not afraid to admit it. His strong opinions on the icons of theater, music, literature, sports, and Princess Di are sure to infuriate just about anyone on both sides of pond .
Anyone who has an interest in the intersection of two cultures so seemingly close - but so worlds apart - as the British & American, should read this one. Basically, start with the assumption that both suck, but in different ways.Yet we're still better than anyone else. We have have a stereotyped and mythologized vision of each other, and a sanitized, self-serving view of our own qualities.
This book has helped me in some small way in dealing with my own enigmatic relationship with the British, characterized by a less than successful marriage, as well as the greatest travels of my life. I won't spoil the ending, but in the last few pages, Joe's heart comes out on his sleeve..
Anyone who has an interest in the intersection of two cultures so seemingly close - but so worlds apart - as the British & American, should read this one. Basically, start with the assumption that both suck, but in different ways.Yet we're still better than anyone else. We have have a stereotyped and mythologized vision of each other, and a sanitized, self-serving view of our own qualities.
This book has helped me in some small way in dealing with my own enigmatic relationship with the British, characterized by a less than successful marriage, as well as the greatest travels of my life. I won't spoil the ending, but in the last few pages, Joe's heart comes out on his sleeve..
September 29, 2013
I finished reading Queenan Country by Joe Queenan. The subtitle is "A Reluctant Anglophile's Pilgrimage to the Mother Country". This man knows England and writes about it in a clever humorous tour de force. I must say that there was a certain whoosh! right over my head factor here since I don't know enough about some of his references to understand the wit that is at play. So, I skipped over the parts I didn't get and went directly to reading where I could laugh, chuckle and enjoy the humor. My favorite chapter is "No Mersey" wherein the author describes following the trail of the Beatles. If you don't read anything else in this book, go directly to this chapter! And, of course, it is Queenan's love of England and his English wife that allows him to poke fun at the country and its inhabitants in hilarious, good fun.
June 17, 2011
I'll be going on a trip to London soon (after a 13-year absence) so when I spotted Joe Queenan's take on Merry Ol' Britain I just knew I had to grab it. Also, I once saw that My Fair Hugh film he made (and keeps referencing in the book) on the BBC during a trip in 1996. Wow, that was a long time ago.
Joe is hysterical. Also very witty and intelligent. He is also quite the history buff. This makes the book interesting and not just snarky. His snarkiness is a bit elevated. I loved his chapter about Liverpool as I had almost the same exact experience (missed the Beatles bus and just hired a taxi to take me around for an hour). The chapters about Scotland, English literature and, well everything else, are really great. I don't know when I've had such an enjoyable read. And now I can't wait to go back to London.
Joe is hysterical. Also very witty and intelligent. He is also quite the history buff. This makes the book interesting and not just snarky. His snarkiness is a bit elevated. I loved his chapter about Liverpool as I had almost the same exact experience (missed the Beatles bus and just hired a taxi to take me around for an hour). The chapters about Scotland, English literature and, well everything else, are really great. I don't know when I've had such an enjoyable read. And now I can't wait to go back to London.
Want to read
October 2, 2008Interesting book. A travellog from a person who hates traveling; where the idea of a good day is finding John Lennon's house, spending 15 minutes in a famous church then heading down to the pub for the rest of the day. Very entertaining look at England as Americans want to see her. You won't learn much from this book either practical for the traveler or philisophically, but it is a nice bit of light reading that will vindicate whatever feelings you already have toward The Kingdom by the Sea.
-Ben
10/1/08
-Ben
10/1/08
May 31, 2013
My love/hate relationship with Queenan continues. He is an arrogant jerk in SO many ways and I took real offense at his unwarranted attacks on a number of popular entertainers like Barbara Streisand and Billy Joel. Even so, he has a way with his nasty words and I laughed out loud at many of his comments. In this book, he does a sort of travel narrative across Britain, its sights, people, and culture. His wife is English so he has spent a lot of time there and has lots of material to draw on. I can't take big doses of Queenan, but once in a while he is a guilty pleasure.
January 13, 2012
I am not persuaded that Joe Queenan is such a 'reluctant' Anglophile. His wit and wisdom is well known, has many followers and many detractors. This book drew me to be one of the former.
A sharp observer of the British and the British way of life, I thoroughly enjoyed his acerbic take on so many cherished aspects of England. He had me laughing aloud several times and I found myself wanting more after the last page.
One cannot ask for more.
A sharp observer of the British and the British way of life, I thoroughly enjoyed his acerbic take on so many cherished aspects of England. He had me laughing aloud several times and I found myself wanting more after the last page.
One cannot ask for more.
December 18, 2018
I generally like Joe Queenan, but it took me quite a while to work my way through this book. It's not that it was bad, but Mr. Queenan's snide cynicism can be wearing in large doses, and I took time away to read other books while I was reading this one.
Sometimes he is quite funny, and he does wrap it up on a positive note, but as far as travel books (in the U.K. or elsewhere), I much prefer Bill Bryson, who like Mr. Queenan, is also married to a Brit.
Sometimes he is quite funny, and he does wrap it up on a positive note, but as far as travel books (in the U.K. or elsewhere), I much prefer Bill Bryson, who like Mr. Queenan, is also married to a Brit.
Read
May 15, 2015If you like Bill Bryson and humorous travelogues, try this book about an American humorist’s journey to Great Britain. He explores the rich history of the area and pokes fun at its modern eccentricities. Hilarious and snarky.
January 24, 2008
Even if you're not a hopeless Anglophile (like me) you will love what he observes and how he writes. This was such a fun read.
April 5, 2011
Witty, some of it is laugh-out-loud funny, some over-the-top sarcasm. Not the usual travelogue, that's for sure!
June 17, 2008
Whilst I may not agree with the majority of Mr. Queenan's observations, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. If you like your travelogues with liberal lashings of vinegar, then you'll enjoy this!
July 5, 2008
Amusing and diverting.
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