Letters from England by Karel Čapek is a book I picked up for $5 in New Zealand, one of those high points of secondhand-bookshopping. As suggested by the title, it’s a collection of letters from the Czech author’s travels in England. The translation (by Paul Selver) is very readable and the humour and outsider’s perspective enjoyable. Čapek is particularly intrigued by architectural fashion crazes that make whole streets look alike, the impressive powers and proportions of the police and the surprising Englishness of England!
Letters from England by Karel Čapek