Bill Bryson has become something like my spiritual guide. Taken together, his works form a roadmap for living life as a middle-aged, oversensitive, bookish, misanthropic, curious, and curiously inept man; and I am following his lead into the sunset.
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This book was particularly relevant for me, because I recently returned to New York to renew my visa. Like Bryson, I would be seeing my native land after a spell abroad (although my time away was much shorter). As usual, I got the audiobook version so I could savor his delicate voice and charming transatlantic accent. The whole experience warms my heart.
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I’m a Stranger Here Myself originated as a newspaper column for a British magazine, written about the trials of moving back to the United States after living his whole adult life in England. As such, this book is more of a collection than a unified whole. The subject jumps from buying fax machines to filing immigration paperwork, from playing ball with his son to gardening with his wife, not to mention thanksgiving, hair cuts, spell checkers, air travel, the economy, and much else.
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Strangely enough, the imposed brevity of a newspaper column allows us to see more of Bryson, not less. He mainly writes about whatever is on his mind, and frequently lapses into autobiography. We meet his wife and kids, examine his memories of his childhood, and get a tour of his town. If you like Bryson, this will be delightful; and if not, not.
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As far as the ostensible subject goes—and I say ostensible because Bryson often strays from it—I cannot say Bryson quite captures the experience of seeing American culture from a distance. He remarks that people here eat too much, walk too little, and consequently weigh too much. He notes our preoccupation with rules, our predilection for junk food, our reflexively optimistic attitude. To his credit, Bryson presciently condemns American xenophobia and our disastrous ‘War on Drugs’. But in general his observations seem rather superficial. Certainly he is no Tocqueville.
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I cannot resist including one of my own observations here. The thing that has most struck me upon moving back is the paranoia. There was a heat wave when I arrived, and everybody was worrying about it. When it gets cold, we’ll worry about that too. My family and friends are all biting their nails about this election. Indeed, I think it’s fair to say that fear has taken over this election season. On the right, they’re worried about immigrants, Muslims, communists, and Clinton; and on the left, we’re mainly worried about the possibility of a Trump presidency. When I turn on the local news I see there’s been a murder in Brooklyn, a man struck by lightning in Queens, and a fire in Manhattan. In other news, there might be something wrong with our water, certain foods might kill you, and certain hair products might cause cancer. And don’t forget that a terrible epidemic is on the horizon.

This example is just to show that Bryson could have gone much further in his cultural analysis. But the book is not meant to be a serious work of cultural criticism, so I suppose it’s unfair to fault a lighthearted collection of newspaper columns for being trivial. The pieces here were not meant to change your life or open your eyes, but to provide a modest dose of entertaining reading. And that’s what they do. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to go practice my transatlantic accent.

This is the first book I have read by this author, and I enjoyed it so much! It's one of those books you laugh out loud, and want to share with everyone around you. My husband and kids heard more than one passage of the book as I was reading it, because I just couldn't be the only one experiencing it.

sort of ‘wacky dad’ humor is not really for me (that said his descriptions are often quite fun and his section on tax forms spoke to me)

it’s tough because some topics are by now really outdated (and consumer tech appears to be one of Bryson’s pet hates)

i found it interesting to read what were essentially regular newspaper columns turned into a book of short stories - you can see the same phrases/‘writing tics’ pop up regularly (e.g. ‘frankly’ or ‘you see’) - i kind of liked that!

Am râs în hohote, pentru că asta-i umorul lui Bryson, dar cu ce am rămas din reportajele-eseu despre America lui poate fi rezumat perfect de titlul unuia dintre ele: "Uniformitatea fără gust".
(Dar cu gloanțe, orașe pentru mașini, nu oameni, salvată uneori de bunăvoința oamenilor. Și de diners, dacă ai noroc să mai găsești vreunul original, interbelic).

One of the funniest books I’ve ever read in my life - crying with laughter and gasping for breath funny - was Bill Bryson’s Road to Little Dribbling and one of the most interesting was his book on Shakespeare. This book was not like either of those - it was humorous, but more wryly clever than anything - and informative, but not overly, and it often felt dated - since the columns were originally written in 1997. Overall, I enjoyed it, but while the audiobook narrator was good, I would have preferred Bryson to read it himself. Also, I think I actually read it when it was first published in paperback, but only vaguely remembered that. My sad brain…

I am apparently going through a reading slump for a few months now but I flew through this book probably because it's a Bryson book or probably because my computer not working while it's waiting for a part so that's that but all I know that I read through this book unlike any other book this year or few months in the last year. It's also possible it's due to the format that is a collection of his weekly articles in a magazine so maybe that's but I have already picked the book in the same format based on the UK, so excuse me while I get lost in the travel experience and thoughts about the UK circa 1995 but I somehow think that I would still find it relevant. So then let's all just Keep on Reading.

People who don't read generally ask me my reasons for reading. Simply put I just love reading and so to that end I have made it my motto to just Keep on Reading. I love to read everything except for Self Help books but even those once in a while. I read almost all the genres but YA, Fantasy, Biographies are the most. My favorite series is, of course, Harry Potter but then there are many more books that I just adore. I have bookcases filled with books which are waiting to be read so can't stay and spend more time in this review, so remember I loved reading this and love reading more, you should also read what you love and then just Keep on Reading.

Do the English understand Americans?
And do Americans know anything about the English?
They both will with the humorous help of Bill Bryson

On the Hotline
I came across something in our bathroom the other day that has occupied my thoughts off and on ever since. It was a little dispenser of dental floss.It isn't the floss itself that is of interest to me but that the container has a toll-free number printed on it. You can call the company's Floss Hotline twenty-four hours a day. But here is the question: Why would you need to? I keep imagining some guy calling up and saying in an anxious voice, "OK, I've got the floss. Now what?"

Motels
We generally camped in motel rooms where the beds sagged as if they had last been occupied by a horse and the cooling system was an open window and where you could generally count on being awakened in the night by a piercing shriek, the sound of splintering furniture, and a female voice pleading, "Put the gun down, Vinnie. I'll do anything you say." I don't wish to suggest that these experiences left me scarred and irrationally embittered, but I can clearly remember watching Janet Leigh being hacked up in the Bates Motel in Psycho and thinking, "At least she got a shower curtain."

Garbage Disposal
I have never had a garbage disposal before, so I have been learning its tolerances through a process of trial and error. Chopsticks give perhaps the liveliest response (this is not recommended, of course, but there comes a time with every piece of machinery when you just have to see what it can do), but cantaloupe rinds make the richest, throatiest sound and result in less "down time." Coffee grounds in quantity are the most likely to provide a satisfying "Vesuvius effect," though for obvious reasons it is best not to attempt this difficult feat until your wife has gone out for the day and to have a mop and stepladder standing by.

The Boys in Blue
Even better were the sheriff's deputies in Milwaukee who were sent to the local airport with a team of sniffer dogs to practice hunting out explosives. The deputies hid a five-pound package of live explosives somewhere in the airport and then-I just love this-forgot where. Needless to say, the dogs couldn't find it. That was in February, and they're still looking. It was the second time that the Milwaukee sheriff's department has managed to mislay explosives at the airport.

Inefficiency Report
The other day something in our local newspaper caught my eye. It was an article reporting that the control tower and related facilities at our local airport are to be privatized. The airport loses money, so the Federal Aviation Administration is trying to cut costs by contracting out landing services to someone who can do it more cheaply. What especially caught my attention was a sentence deep in the article that said, "A spokeswoman with the Federal Aviation Administration's regional office in New York City, Arlene Sarlac, could not provide the name of the company that will be taking over the tower.

"Well, that's really reassuring to hear. Now maybe I am hypertouchy because I use the airport from time to time and have a particular interest in its ability to bring planes down in an approximately normal fashion, so I would rather like to know that the tower hasn't been bought by, say, the New England Roller Towel Company or Crash Services (Panama) Ltd., very least, that the Federal Aviation Ad ministration would have some idea of whom they were selling the tower to. Call me particular, but it seems to me that that's the sort of thing you ought to have on file somewhere.

Bill Bryson was raised in America and later lived in Britain where he married a British lady. Now, years later he returned to America and with his family views the US as a completely new country. Some bookshops place his stories in the Travel section, others put him in the Humor section - Bill deserves a shelf all to himself

Enjoy!

I adore Bill Bryson and this book is laugh out loud funny. I've read his take as an American living in Britain and now I get his take as an American expat returned to America. Bill grew up in Iowa and returned to New Hampshire with his British family in tow.

This book is a collection of weekly columns he wrote for a British Newspaper at the time (1998)

2.5, there are better Bill Bryson books out there. In fact all of his books are better than this one. Because the novel is just a collection of his newspaper articles it can become a bit repetitive, he does in fact repeat himself on several occasions...perhaps just to remind weekly column readers about a previously mentioned exploit. But reading all the columns at once doesn't make for literature. And some of them just don't make sense...like the one on the Titanic...which is just an oddball conversation taking place on the sinking ship.
Skip this one and go directly to one of his other books.

Bill Bryson is an Anglo-American author of books on travel, science, language and other non-fiction topics.


Bill Bryson

Bill Bryson, born in Iowa, lived in England for twenty years before returning to the U.S. with his family. This book is a compilation of humorous articles about America that Bryson wrote for a British publication. The book, published in 2000, is somewhat dated. Even taking this into account many articles have a snarky, annoying tone. This was disappointing as I usually like Bryson's books.

Parts of the book did make me smile

This audiobook made me laugh out loud. A lot.The people that passed me on the highway this morning must have thought I was nuts. #audiodriving
Bryson is hit or miss for me. This was a definite hit. I also will only listen to his audio books if William Roberts narrates. He is perfect. If you haven't listened to A Walk in the Woods yet, pick the William Roberts version.

1000 BOOKS READ!!!

Okay, maybe it's not an exact 1000. Some of the books I've added to my GR read list are not even books. On the other hand, I know I've forgotten some of the books I read as a kid, so maybe it evens out in the end, and GR's count is probably as accurate as it's going to get. Therefore, let the good times roll!



Oh my goodness, that was fun. Okay, back to business.


I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America after Twenty Years Away is a very long title. It rambles a bit, doesn't it? Unfortunately, so does its author, Bill Bryson. This book loses focus. Sure, these are essays, but even within each essay he gets lost now and then.

I am a Bryson fan, but this was not one of my favorites of his. It's a collection from his column in a Brit newspaper. It's mildly interesting for its take on American life viewed through the lens of an American ex-pat returning home after Englishing himself up for a few years. That could be a good premise and most of this is fairly entertaining, but often it devolves into complaining rants. The humor also occasionally falls back on John Cleese's list tactic of comedy creation, where if you don't have a strong premise, you just keep adding to it so that the preponderance of substance eventually feels like quality. You can almost see Bryson flailing around for things to write about. Creating content for a weekly column is no easy task!

I prefer when he focuses on a topic and sticks with it for the length of the book. For instance, A Walk in the Woods is about walking the Appalachian Trail. In a Sunburned Country is a humous look at the deadliness of Australia. The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is a delightful recounting of his childhood in the Midwest. One Summer: America, 1927 is...self-explanatory. All of these are better than I'm a Stranger Here Myself, as far as my tastes go.