I am a Bill Bryson fan; I've read A Short History of Nearly Everything, At Home: A Short History of Private Life, and Made in America. Unlike these other books, Notes from a Big Country is one of Bryson's attempts at humor. It is a fun book, but not as engaging as his other books. So many of the essays replay humor that I've heard from other sources, so they do not have the ring of originality. But it is engaging, especially since Bryson intends the audience to be people in the United Kingdom. I listened to it as an audio book, and William Roberts is a very fine reader. Sometimes he affects accents that sound "just right" to my ears.

This was a really fun and engaging read! It’s a collection of small articles and observations that Bryson made for a newspaper, after moving from the UK back to the United States. It’s written in the second half of the nineties and it’s like a time capsule! All the things we were worried and annoyed over then that are a distant past - and some things that really haven’t changed. Like filling out government forms or calling helpdesk - that’s just the same.

According to the informal data I’ve collected (ahem, perusing other Goodreads reviews), I’m a Stranger Here Myself doesn’t represent Bryson’s best work. Since this was my first foray into his travel writing, however, I don’t have much to compare it to and was consequently delighted.

Perhaps this is partly due to the fact that I closely relate to the text’s premise, a collection of newspaper articles, aimed at a British audience, on returning to American life after living in England for over twenty years. Whilst I have only lived on this small island for five-ish years, and not continuously, American culture increasingly feels foreign to me when I return for visits. I nodded along while laughing out loud at Bryson’s reflections.

I also miss the warm nights of a proper American summer, serenaded by chirping crickets – my family must conclude I’ve gone nuts when I interrupt conversations to revel in the insects’ simple melody. I too look back fondly on drive-in movies, even if I recognise, as Bryson does when he drags his reluctant family to one of the last remaining drive-ins in his area, that they don’t offer the best cinematic viewing experience. RIP, drive-ins.

On the other hand, I also shake my head when my mother insists on driving round the parking lot to claim the closest spot possible. Bryson and I are both baffled that suburban Americans seem incapable of walking anywhere. The fact that I myself was one of them a short time ago remains irrelevant.

This collection does occasionally seem random, but I think that’s the result of its journalistic origins. One can picture Bryson idly sitting at his computer, desperately seeking a suitable topic for each week’s column. On the plus side, succinct chapters make for quick reading.

Even at his most aimless, Bryson’s comedic writing shines through. The wonders of his kitchen sink’s garbage disposal is the focus of a great segment called ‘How to Have Fun at Home.’ I’m not sure who else could make me chuckle while musing upon the adequacy of words, whether as descriptors or mere utterances:

‘[The British] are forever abandoning very good words, which is a trifle careless to say the very least. They had a nearly perfect word in shilling, for example, and just let it go. Half crown was also very good, guinea better still, and groat practically unbeatable, and yet they just allowed them to slip away.’ (p. 267)

I’m a Stranger Here Myself also demonstrates Bryson’s prescience as he meditates on the country’s more pressing issues. If he had reason to be alarmed about America’s stance on gun violence and immigration in the 1990s, I wonder how he regards current US politics. He has this to say on the latter:

‘There aren’t many human acts more foolishly simplistic or misguided, or more likely to lead to careless evil, than blaming general problems on small minorities, yet that seems to be quite a respectable impulse where immigration is concerned these days.’ (p. 108)

Word.

3,5 estrellas (pero no quiere decir que no sea muy entretenido) Me explico.

Antes de meterme en faena he de decir que soy un auténtico enamorado de los libros de Bill Bryson.
Su sentido del humor, la forma de contar las cosas, su amplia documentación y conocimiento hacen que leerle sea todo un placer.

Historias de un gran país no es el libro típico al que estaba acostumbrado. Es una compilación de 78 artículos semanales escritos para el periódico Daily Mail hablando sobre su país de origen, Estados Unidos. Bill Bryson nació en Iowa, pero vivió 20 años en Inglaterra antes de mudarse temporalmente a New Hampshire a mediados de 1996. En estos artículos cortos, que no llevan más de 5 minutos de lectura, el autor nos sacará más de una sonrisa contando aquellas cosas tan curiosas con las que una se topa cuando llega a Estados Unidos.

Aunque fue escrito a mediados de los 90, muchas cosas no han cambiado en absoluto, y me he sentido identificado con multitud de situaciones, pues yo viví allí 5 años. Lidiar con inmigración, tratar con el IRS, la comida, los grandes almacenes, ¡las mofetas!... No ha habido artículo que no me haya sacado como poco una sonrisa; otros directamente me han hecho reír a carcajadas.

Aunque no sea un 5 estrellas, pues en comparación con otros libros que he leído éste se queda corto, lo cierto es que se lee con rapidez y no cansa en absoluto. Muchas cosas de las que cuenta son muy interesantes, y aunque alguna gente diga que no hace sino quejarse y quejarse, lo hace con tanta gracia que al final hubiese deseado que siguiese haciéndolo durante otros 78 artículos más.

Lectura recomendable para los amantes de Bryson o para aquellos que hayan vivido allí durante un tiempo y que hayan tendio oportunidad de empaparse un poco de la cultura estadounidense.

It pains me to say this because I just read, and LOVED, A Short History of Nearly Everything by the same author, but I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away was shockingly dull.

I wasn't a fan of the audiobook narrator, who comically overacted, and the content was so dated that I could barely relate to it anymore. If you like lots (and I mean LOTS) of complaining about topics such as telemarketers, having to use ID to get on an airplane, having to actually put an address on a letter to get it delivered, and people being friendly, then this book is for you. Too much whinging for me.

Super-great writer! Really great book - I laughed out loud all day long while I cleaned the house and packed...he cuts through the bull of day-to-day life and makes any situation a humorous one - mixed, of course, with meticulous research and a somber side when it comes to the big issues. I really love Bill Bryson, and you should too!

This is the first Bill Bryson book I have read and I found it laugh out loud funny. My husband was given it as a christmas gift and when he started reading it kept reading bits out to me because he thought they were so funny. We gave up on that approach and started reading it together and both loved it. Some of that might have been that we have just moved back to Australia from the US and enjoyed the reminders of some of the more quirky aspects of US culture that we miss, and also could relate to some of the frustrations he experienced in moving back there. This has inspired me to check out some of his others books which if the reviews on here are to go by should be even better than this.

This is the first Bill Bryson book I have read, which, I am told, was a mistake. I know several people who consider Bryson one of their favorite authors and they all seem to agree that this book is not a good "ambassador" for the rest of his work.

This book is a collection of newspaper articles that document his move from England to the United States. Most of them explain his bewilderment toward American culture and customs and often longs for the "simplicity" of the British lifestyle. I was originally under the impression that Bryson was British himself, until I discovered that he was born in Des Moines and moved to England at 24. He has spent the same amount of time in both countries, but it seems like he prefers to consider himself British. That's weird.

The articles are funny and short, which make for a quick read. At times, however, his humor was a bit over the top and somewhat whiny. I am excited to give Bryson another chance with his highly recommended "A Walk in the Woods" but I would not suggest this book to friends.

Finally rereading this one for the first time since joining Goodreads in 2011. I've reread it a BUNCH previously, mostly back in the days when I didn't have a public library, so I'd reread my own books way more. Anyway, it was interesting to get back to this one.

This is basically a collection of short essays about life in America. It was published in 1999, I think, and so parts of it are VERY dated. Like, dated to the point where I a few times I thought, "Yeah, I guess I don't need to own a copy of this anymore". But then there would be an essay that I found hilarious, or one that highlights how little other things change...and that would make me remember why I enjoy Bill Bryson's hyperbolic writing style so much.

At some point I may declutter my Bill Bryson collection (how often will I really reread ALL of them?), and when I do this might be one of the books to go since about 25% of the essays didn't interest me or were so outdated. His books are all readily available at libraries, so it won't be hard to reread any of them at any time......But I'm not quite there yet. I'll hang onto this one for now.

Bryson with his characteristic wit makes each column entry a delight to read. However, the columns tend to get a little dry towards the end of the book.

I lucked into this one at the local library's for sale shelves and read a few pages last night. I do like Bryson, but I like him when he rolls out the snark. Not much of that so far. This is a collection of newspaper columns he wrote for a British publication after he moved back to the USA after 20 years in England.

So far this is a bit underwhelming and the lowest rated(or will be) of the five Bryson Books I will have read(Small Island, Sunburned Land, Woods Walk, American Car Trip, This One). I believe that this is because there is NO NARRATIVE here as there is in the other books. Normally there's this road trip "thing" going on that provides a rhetorical hook for BB to hang his prose on. Not here. Oh well ... still diverting enough, I suppose.

Moving along, reading 2-3 of these three page essays at a time and finding myself a bit peeved as well as entertained. Mostly this stuff is pretty non-compelling stuff, as I've mentioned before, but occasionally Bryson pisses me of with some thoughtless bit of shallow libertarianism. This popped up in his expressed notion that there was plenty of room in the USA for everybody. Safe to say that back then at least, the notion of overpopulation and it's degrading effect on our environment and quality of life found no purchase within the BBB(Bill Bryson Brain). I like funny, observant stuff well enough, but I prefer it when some real thought has gone into it.

- Those "you see's" keep popping up - ICK!

Finished last night. Lotta "you see"s in this book. A dead on giveaway to bad writing. Otherwise the whole thing was just OK. A perfect "meh" overall.

- The ink-in-the-mouth bit was pretty funny. Reminded me of a Michael Richards sketch on "Fridays" years ago.

- Hey Bill! "30 less feet" s.b. "30 FEWER feet" and ... "Take Me Home Country Road" s.b. "Take Me Home Country RoadS"

- 2.75* rounds up to 3*

Is this the same book as "I'm a Stranger Here Myself"? I'm not I read a book with this title... and now the same issue with another Bryson Book. Multiple titles for one book?

Once upon a time, Bill Bryson changed my life. He wrote The Mother Tongue and it just opened up a whole new world to me. Later I read A Short History of Nearly Everything and actually openly cried at the beauty of it, and the way he could take such hugely complex, fantastical cosmological concepts and break them down so precisely and with such wonder. So I saw this and dove in. "This will be great!" I thought. "He'll return to America after so many years and really write interesting stories about differences and it will be cute and funny."

Aaand nope! If Bill Bryson of this book were standing here, I would be hard pressed not to punch him in the nose. Turns out he's a great explicator and communicator. As a diarist, memoirist, columnist, whatever you want to call it, he's a bitchy asshole of monstrous proportions. Seriously, every single column or essay in the entire book can be summed up like this: "Hey, English people! Did you know Americans are fat, stupid and litigious!? They are! Let me fail at being sarcastic about it. There, now I'll try to wrap it up like Dave Barry does and totally fail."

Seriously, what an asshole.