Official Review: Notes from a Very Small island

[bookowlie]

Interesting review, sounds like a book I'd enjoy. I lived out of my home country for a couple of years (in eastern Europe, as a matter of fact), so a lot of this sounds familiar. I'd much rather read something like this than books about dragons, elves, wizards, zombies, vampires, etc.

Thanks PashaRu. I am also drawn to books about other places, whether in the U.S. or other countries. I always learn something interesting, even if it's about a place I am familiar with. In this case, I knew nothing about this small island and found the info particularly fascinating.

-- 11 Nov 2015, 13:55 --

I am not a vampire/elf/wizard/zombie/dragon fan either. I guess we are in the minority since there are so many fantasty loveers out there.

[DennisK]

Thanks for the great review, Bookowlie. It captured my interest and I am about ¼ through it. I love reading about different life styles in the nonfiction genera and this one is the kind of book that is what I would call a comfortable read. I remember briefly visiting Split in my youth – that was when it was part of Yugoslavia – beautiful country.

[bookowlie]

Thanks Dennis! I am glad you are enjoying it. That's so interesting that you visited Split when you were younger. The city is mentioned a few times in the book.

[anonanemone]

This book and setting sounds idyllic. I would love to live somewhere where life does not feel so fast paced. Thanks for another great review, bookowlie!

[bookowlie]

This book and setting sounds idyllic. I would love to live somewhere where life does not feel so fast paced. Thanks for another great review, bookowlie!

Thanks Anonanemone. I think everyone thinks the grass is greener on the side. The people that live in slow-paced rural areas probably long to move to a city.

[anonanemone]

I suspect that may be true... Still it's always nice to dream

[bookowlie]

That's what vacations are for!

[DennisK]

I just finished this book. I think it was a delightful tour of a remote location and its people. It left me thinking the world, with all its people and their lives, is a lot bigger than I realize.
There was a TV sitcom called Northern Exposure in which one of the main characters was the radio D.J. who, often times, started the episode with his observations of life within the story's community. I wonder if Stancomb's use of the D.J., he named Dario, was influenced by those TV broadcasts.
Bookowlie, you weren’t kidding when you mentioned the typos in this book – it stumbled my reading frequently. I don't believe the author proofed it even once. I believe this because one of the more frequent errors was the missing space between words. Any word processor would easily find that kind of mistake and highlight it with bells and dancing girls! How can something like that be missed? I think the book deserved a greater effort on his part – funny how some people can do a halfway decent job without even trying. I think this could be made into an entertaining TV sitcom. Regardless, I'm glad I read it.

[bookowlie]

You hit the nail on the head - I felt like I got a wonderful tour of the place and its people. When Northern Exposure was on, I never watched it other than a stray episode or two. I should see if the series is on Netflix. I would be surprised if the author was influenced by the use of the DJ in the show since he was from England.

The frequent missing spaces between words made me wonder if the problem was due to the particular reading format the book was in - for example, PDF, epub, MOBI, etc. I downloaded a review book last week and the line breaks were all uneven - for example - 3 words on a line, then a full line, I went back and converted it to a different format and the formatting problem disappeared.

[DennisK]

I didn't consider the reason for those typos would lie in the reader's software, but that makes a good deal more sense. Now, I'll be looking at my reader with guarded skepticism.
I thought the use of Dario to structure his chapters was clever. It reminded me of Northern Exposure. But don't you think the Brits watch American TV? I love to watch theirs. During my meanderings, I remember watching an episode of Bonanza with a group of retired fishermen along the Mediterranean coastline of Spain. That was back in the 60's – God knows what they are watching now!

I hear that one of the more popular shows in India is Jerry Springer!

-- 28 Nov 2015, 12:46 --

Retired Spanish fishermen …. actually a group of old men who hang around their cafes – much like the old men, here, who hang around donut shops. In fact, you can swap the two groups and no one would notice the difference.

[bookowlie]

In addition to the extra spaces, there were numerous errors such as missing words and incorrectly spelled words. So...the extra spaces weren't the only technical issue.

I've never thought of the Brits watching American TV shows. I think of them as not watching a lot of TV, for some reason. They don't have a lot of channels over there, so I figured there wasn't much of a demand. Jerry Springer watchers in India?! That's funny.

[Bigirimana Celestin]

Thanks for a good review. The book sound as helpful to know Croatia.

[bookowlie]

Thanks and welcome to the forums! The book is informative, but it's also an entertaining memoir about a man's experiences adjusting to life on a remote foreign island.

[gali]

BOTD!

Already commented, but wanted to congratulate the author on the great review and on being Book of the Day!

[bookowlie]

I am happy to see this book is the BOTD! It's a great memoir about a couple's move to a little known island and deserves the extra exposure.