Susan Allen TothRezensionen

Journal entry regarding this book from nine years ago: " I enjoyed this book so much that I'm going to get a copy for my permanent collection. For some reason, I seem to have developed somewhat of an annoyance/dislike/aversion to England in the last few years but this book has really changed my mind. I want to have a copy for myself to use as a guide and plan a trip of my own someday.

Since the book was written 18 years ago, I am interested in finding out what Ms. Toth and her husband are up to now. I think it's wonderful that she found such a loving life partner and travelling buddy in her second husband, James."

Today's journal entry:

It's funny how one's mind can change about a book over time. The first time I read this, I was completely enraptured and immediately in love with England. This time through though, I found the book to be pretty depressing overall. Maybe it's because I've had my own happy experiences in England now to compare it to, but I just found it pretty negative this time around.

The essays included span at least 30 years--- she's gone as a single young woman, a single woman in her 30s, a teacher, a mother, a married woman to a man who wasn't that into it...and a married woman with a husband who was a kindred spirit. Those are the ones I enjoyed the most---the ones featuring her, now deceased, husband and best friend. The ones featuring her spoiled brat daughter, Jenny, were my least favorite. Nothing at all endeared me to that whiny whiner.

Much of the book's references were outdated (Reagan, Diana) but I did relate to the desire to pretend like I live there when I visit. It's much more fun to see England as a wannabe resident than as a tourist---cheaper too.

I didn't enjoy many parts---a lot of going on about her personal life that I couldn't relate to---and the sheep dog trials went ON and on...not a fan.

I did enjoy the chapter on walking sticks.

So, overall, I think there have been much better travels journals written---my own included. However, since this one did play a part in my own love affair with England, I suppose it's not all bad.

This book was meant to be relatable.

Reading this memoir was like reading a Judy Blume book in the 5th grade. I felt the same sense of not being able to quire relate to the awkward teen thing. I just wasn't really an awkward teen and definitely wasn't an innocent or inexperienced one. Now that I'm living a much more moral and decent life than I did as a teen, I should be able to say that I wish my teen years would have been more like the idyllic ones she describes. But really, they were great years and I wouldn't be who I am now (and wouldn't be avoiding the stuff I now avoid) without them. Does that character revelation disappoint you? Ha! Well, I guess you can take comfort in the fact that I'll always tell it to you straight---like it or not!

In other ways, I related completely. For instance, in her chapter on being a bookworm she discusses the city library of her youth. "Entering the Ames Public Library I could feel its compelling power immediately." In describing the selection of books she says, "It was like having a box of assorted chocolate, all tempting, with unknown centers. I wanted to bite into each one right away to see what it was like." Recently, my mom and I visited the library in my hometown. So many wonderful memories came rushing back---libraries have always felt like home to me. Even upon the very first visit!

I related well to her stories about her early days in journalism and trying to put together a feature story form an interview subject that was way over her head. Her experiences mirrored my own immature attempts to appear to be a "real newspaperwoman" in my early 20s. Like me, she didn't last long in journalism.

The book is basically a really thorough social commentary on American life in between my mother's and grandmother's eras. Allen Toth had a simple, positive childhood, for the most part and told her story in an engaging way. Were I a good 30 years older than I am, I think this story would have affected me strongly. As it is, I can't say that I enjoyed the book---but I obviously found enough worth in it to read it through.

Susan Toth's travel writing is pretty fun to read, as she takes you places you wouldn't normally hear about in England/Scotland/Wales. In this volume, she describes a donkey sanctuary in Devon, the art of garden visiting, the lesser known but pleasantly remote Scottish island of Mull, and England's last-built grand castle, Castle Drogo. Quite enjoyable.

I quite enjoyed this travel guide. True, it begins with a couple of chapters that are now seriously outdated (this book was written in the early 90's, slightly before the Internet could be used for travel research & bookings, and in the long-ago days when you could overpack as much as you wanted for a flight and bring all sorts of food and drink on the plane, etc.)

But then the author gets into the meat of the book. I enjoyed her chapter on how to keep a travel journal, and why it can be so delightful. I loved her descriptions of various out-of-the-way places in the English and Scottish countryside. Pooh country! Bluebell woods! The far northeast Highlands! Only one chapter of the book is devoted to London, and even that focuses on the garden spaces.

Her theory of travel (that on one trip, you should only plan to explore an area about the size of your thumbprint on a large-scale map, staying for at least a week in one spot and checking out places no more than an hour's drive away) means that she and her husband were able to soak in much more of their travel experience than your average sightseer rushing from place to place. Ah, for the luxury of being able to take multiple trips to England and not feel like you had to see it all in one go!

With chapters on sheep dog trials, an unexpected foray into the high life at the Savoy, the royal family, badger-watching, incredible and peace-inspiring gardens, the delights of the a good walking-stick, and the joys of walking where the paths lead you, this book was mostly right up my alley.

This book by Susan Allen Toth, and another book I've recently read (A Fine Romance: Falling in Love with the English Countryside by Susan Branch) have done an amazing job at letting me live vicariously and travel the parts of England I would love to see someday. These two authors hit the nail on the head when it comes to describing why I feel drawn to England and what I would look for during a sojourn there.

This book acknowledges periodically that, just as with all places, England has changed over the years. It may not be as safe as it used to be. It isn't a fairy tale. But the attractions described in this book can still be found, and would still seem to fill the traveler with the greatest of satisfaction.

Check out my review at:

http://shannonsbookbag.blogspot.com/2014/04/no-saints-around-here-toth.html

55. England As You Like It by Susan Allen Toth. Toth has written several books about traveling around England, part travel guide, part memoir, they are books of slow, calming travel with lots of manor houses and gardens, usually with her husband James.
This book is geared towards the first-time traveler to England, and as it was published in 1995, much of the travel advice can be skipped as the internet has made things like writing to a historical society for pamphlets obsolete. But these first few chapters can also be read to remember how much effort had to be made back then.
Toth travels by her "thumbprint theory" which is trying to spend a week at a time in an area that covers no more than the size of her thumb on the map. While this is a good way to get to know a place better than moving around, it works best for someone who knows they will be returning often.
My favorite chapter was one about Daphne Du Maurier's area of Cornwall, seeing Menabilly, Du Maurier's home and the inspiration for Manderlay, and exploring her neighborhood. But there is also a fun chapter about shopping for biscuits and sweets at Sainsbury's and another chapter explaining why she and her husband prefer packing their own food rather than eating in restaurants.

*with a foray to Scotland--d.j.First ed.

I enjoy travel memoirs, especially those dealing with the UK. My Love Affair with England is a great little book that showcases what the author loves about England. The book is divided into chapters with each of these being separate experiences on her travels. At times, the experiences are a little dated in relation to present day, but they are still wonderful insights into the author's feelings for her favorite travel spot.

I likely would not have read this book except that I quite like Susan Allen Toth's books on England. I knew going in that this book is definitely NOT those books. In this book, Toth recounts, often agonizingly, how she took care of her husband during his last years with Parkinson's disease. The book offers information, observations, emotions and insights that are valuable for people who are taking care of a chronically ill person. However, in this case, financial strain is not one of the stresses.

Rambling book of memories. Lack of story--felt incoherent and babbling.

This is the second book I've read from Toth. She and her husband are hardcore Anglophiles from Minnesota, spending much of their time in London while also driving all over the U.K., searching out gardens, castles and animal sanctuaries. These aren't just "my vacation" type memoirs, as Toth has 30 years of traveling about the U.K. and gets to meet with Lords to discuss their property. She's still enchanted with Great Britain decades later, which makes her an easy-going travel companion.

With her first trip to London as a college student in 1960, American professor Toth was a confirmed Anglophile. Over the decades she kept returning, as a new teacher clumsily guiding a group of students on a literary course, through a short and rocky marriage, as a mother with a hectic schedule and an unhappy child, and many times with a new husband who learns to love England too. She hitchhikes, discusses food,sheepdog trials, English gardens and walking the countryside.

And all that sounds pretty unoriginal and sappy, doesn't it? The title alone is probably why I let it sit on the shelf for at four years even though it came with high recommendations. I'll say that Toth would likely have a bigger audience if her titles were more intriguing. For example, the essay title "1978: A Shady Patch" is about the seven month period when she, her daughter and a friend shared a London flat as Toth taught a course at a nearby college. Newly divorced, with little money and even less time, Toth ends up renting the flat belonging to the brother of the infamous Lord Lucan, a place Toth refers to as "The Murder Flat". The friend, brought along as a live-in babysitter, can't deal with Toth's six year-old and both women have brief flings with men who disappear. Now would you expect all that from the title?½

Lovely. How I would like to go on the leisurely walks along the cliff paths Toth describes so beautifully.

This is an absolutely wonderful book! Having grown up in a small town in Minnesota and having raised a wonderful daughter and son in a major metropolitan area, I can say that those small town memories and experiences clearly made me a better mother, instilling in my own children the small town values and experiences. Another of Toth's books recalls her experiences leaving the small town for an Ivy League college -- an often tough transition.

Very nice indeed. Not quite Bill Bryson but still a nice addition to my own love affair with England.

WARNING: Do not pick up this book unless you're ready to book a flight. My wife has promised me a trip in the Spring as a graduation present. But after getting into this book, I realize I can't wait that long. I pushing for a December trip.½

As I was (still) busily cataloguing my books on LibraryThing, I came across this one and pulled it out to dive into immediately. I can't really even say why. Perhaps it was the title combined with the knowledge that my 20th high school reunion is rapidly approaching. Add in that Toth lives almost in the shadow of my high school, in a city I've never been back to since I graduated, and that made it seem sort of ordained that I would stumble across it now. It is not all about high school reunions but instead is a collection of essays just musing about life in general. Some of the essays are a bit dated; ironically, many of the essays, written in Toth's middle-age, were indeed written when I was a high-schooler and therefore just a hop, skip, and jump away from her. But most of them are still pertinent, thoughtful writings on the minutia of everyday living. The essays are almost entirely domestically set or concerned--including one that takes on the pre-conceived view that domestic writing is worthless--so they come off as being about small subjects but for those of use who live those small subjects, they are satisfying indeed.

I liked this.

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