I can't remember I have ever enjoyed a book more than Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything, and although the reviews were mixed on this one, it promised to have what I chiefly like - a never-ending stream of mostly worthless historical information about something that you can file away for mental reference. Here, the framework is Bryson's home in England, a former parsonage from the mid-19th century, and he uses each room in it to tell the story of the history of that room throughout history.
Much of the story revolves around what that room had become by the time the house was built in Victorian England and how it has changed since, and I found that very interesting, especially since at the same time I was reading this I was listening to a TTC series of lectures on the Victorian period in England (and starting another series on 19th century Europe generally).
Good book if you like historical trivia and well-written serial anecdotes about minor historical figures. probably terribly boring if you're a normal person.