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Title: I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0-7679-0382-X Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 06 June, 2000 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.05 (155 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: A Fresh Perspective
Comment: Every time I read (or listen to) a Bill Bryson book, I start laughing on page one and don't stop until I put it down. What sets this one apart is the format - it's a collection of columns instead of his usual full-length book, but he embraces the format, using it to talk about many facets of life in Britain and America. It's so interesting to hear about our daily American lives from the perspective of a prodigal son, since he both feels familiar and at odds with the culture at the same time. He misses things we've forgotten existed, and finds things we take for granted new and worth commenting on. I've never found another book written by someone in similar circumstances. If you like audio books at all, I highly recommend any Bill Bryson on audio. He reads everything himself, and it adds many layers of enjoyment. Not to mention that Iowan-British accent!
Rating: 5
Summary: Excellent essay collection about the US culture
Comment: In 1996, Bill Bryson was asked to write a weekly column about America for the "Mail On Sunday's Night & Day" magazine. Even though Bryson claimed not to have the time for this project, his friend Simon Kelner insisted on Bryson taking the time. The result is an often hilarious, sometimes thought-provoking approach to the unique US culture. Having been born in Iowa, but having lived many years in Great Britain, Bill Bryson has the advantage of being American and being able to see his own culture from a different perspective.
The book "I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away" contains 70 columns. In the first one titled "Coming Home," Bill Bryson tells the reader how it was for him to come home after spending nearly two decades in England. Reading the remaining 69 columns is like being taken by the hand by the author, who re-discovers the uniqueness of his own culture -- things he remembers from his childhood, things which have changed since he had left, and things which are new for him. Bryson talks about the positive sides of the American Way Of Life, but doesn't hesitate to mention negative sides. Some of the columns' headlines are somewhat telltale: "Junk Food Heaven," "Friendly People," "Why No One Walks," "So Sue Me," "The Waste Generation," "Shopping Madness," and "The Fat Of The Land" to name only a few.
Bill Bryson did an excellent job bringing out the essence of US culture in a highly entertaining way. The book is a great read both for Americans and non-Americans. Some of the essays might lead to interesting discussions -- teachers might want to use them for their English classes. All in all, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away" is a fun and also educating book for everyone interested in learning more about American culture while being aware that Bryson is also a master of irony.
Rating: 5
Summary: You may want to refrain from reading this book in public
Comment: Bill Bryson has woken up from a coma. Although he has never been on life support or had people anxiously wring their hands while standing over his bed, he has just woken up from a coma. Twenty years ago Bill Bryson made that international journey to Britain and started a new life, complete with wife and kids. Two decades later he packs them all up and journeys back to his motherland, America. He finds that in the twenty years away from his native land things have changed a lot, some for better, some for worst. This is his account on moving back to America after twenty years away.
Bryson was called upon by a British magazine to write weekly columns about returning to America and unleashes a whole new level of wit and flavor as he comically blunders through life for the first few months back. Although sometimes he complains a little too much, it is a book that you will want to refrain from reading in public. Bryson includes interesting and eye opening statistics on mainly pointless but highly entertaining topics. Did you know that 142,000 people per year are sent to the emergency room for injuries inflicted by their clothing, or that there are 256 people in Stockholm named Lars Larson?
Through all of these random statistics Bryson also brings up a good number of points such as why is there a twenty-four hour hotline on floss, or about even important things like red herrings in the political world and what they are trying to cover up. Bryson has written a beautiful love letter to his native country and although possibly irrelevant to life it is a great read and I highly recommend it for anyone who needs a good laugh.
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Title: Notes from a Small Island by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0380727501 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 01 May, 1997 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0060920084 Publisher: Perennial Pub. Date: 12 September, 1990 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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Title: A Walk in the Woods : Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767902521 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 04 May, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0767903862 Publisher: Broadway Pub. Date: 15 May, 2001 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title: Neither Here nor There: Travels in Europe by Bill Bryson ISBN: 0380713802 Publisher: Avon Pub. Date: 06 April, 1999 List Price(USD): $14.00 |
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