Afriend in Canberra, with whom I share my passion for books (although his is a lot less pathological than mine), has just pointed out to me that one of my favourite authors, Bill Bryson, is coming to Canberra, to give a talk on 22nd February 2026, at Llewellyn Hall at the ANU.
I asked him if he had read Bill Bryson's book "Mother Tongue". He hadn't! As the backcover of the Penguin edition states, "No self-respecting English speaker should open his mouth without reading it", and so I put it aside for him. In the meantime here's the unabridged audiobook which I listened to all of last night before dropping off to sleep, resurfacing around two o'clock in the morning at Chapter 6 Pronunciation (3:17:57), and then dropping off again and waking up to listen to Chapter 12 English as a World Language (7:40:38). A sleepless night well spent!
As for listening to Bill Bryson in person, it's more the long drive than the ticket price of up to $185 that keeps me from clicking on BOOK NOW.
