Very British Problems

An absolutely hilarious little book! I devoured it in two days, as I needed some light distraction after a much-stressed weekend. Each country in the world has its own sterotypes (although I prefer to call them mannerisms, but anyway.) and Rob Temple has managed to write about British habits in a funny, highly entertaining way without becoming offensive or resorting to silly jokes.

I cannot say whether all these ‘‘problems'' do actually take place as described, but I am guilty of some- okay, many of them- and I am not British. See? Mannerisms that are common to many cultures, people and countries around the world make me think that we are not so different after all, and this is an encouraging thought, especially in our difficult times.

I grabbed the kindle edition, so these notes are particular to that release:

* Formatting: bleh. Not a single consistent font though the book. Pages that have two lines of text. At least the formatting made for a quick read (I see goodreads lists the book as having 200+ pages? More like 50. I read the bulk of it in an hour.)
* Content: I (mistakenly) expected something with a bit more discussion. This book is to Britain what Foxworthy is to Red Necks - largely a collection of “you know you're British if...” punchlines without any actual framing discussions.

Somewhat disappointing, to be honest. In chapter 3 there's a quiz for how British you are - I came out decidedly British, which was fun/amusing, but that was really about as deep as the book got.