Sarah Lyall in The Anglo Files has written a great semi biographical piece about her transition from America to England. She married a writer and moved to central London to pursue a new life and to continue her career as a journalist. She produces a witty, funny and faced paced account of how different she found the cultures and the unexpected difficulties she faced while trying to adopt a new culture.
She talks about the overall social conscious of the English people in there lack of belief in therapy, their acceptance of drunken playboy behavior from their Parliament members and Royal family, and their absolute fascination with cricket, which I still do not understand. She talks about how children's education systems are dramatically different, socio-economic status still matters, and how they eat baked beans for breakfast and enjoy not having lights on. She sees a culture still heavily influenced by WWII, most notably the ration system that taught them to live with the bare minimum...and be thankful for it. They truly enjoy sunshine because they hardly see it, dampness doesn't bother them, and umbrella's are every day necessities.
She finds that most of the harmless stereotypes about the Brits are fairly true. They enjoy beer immensely, they love soccer (excuse me, football), have a perverse aversion to being praised, find being embarrassed to be the worst thing that can ever happen to them, and hold hundred year old traditions very close. Lyall also sees just how different American English is from the Queen's English. The difference in semantics and verbal style can almost be chalked up a language barrier. She found it most times to be amusing but on more then one occasion hindering and annoying.
This is just a great easy read that will keep you entertained and teach you a thing or two about our neighbors across the pond. It's a small island with big culture and this first person insight from a person who knows how to convey it makes for a great post summer read.
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