About this title: Bill Bryson lived in Britain for 20 years, then returned with his family to the U.S. Here he writes about the process of re-entry--the shocks, the adjustments, the excesses, and (especially) the funny bits.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Edition: 14th Printing
Binding: Trade Paperback
Publisher: Broadway Books, New York, New York, U.S.A.
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780767903820ISBN:076790382X
Description: Good. No Dust Jacket as Issued. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall. Book shows moderate wear/ spine tight, pages clean/ covers slightly creased; moderate edge wear/ several page tips creased. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780767903820ISBN:076790382X
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780767903820ISBN:076790382X
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Broadway
Date Published: 2000
ISBN-13:9780767903820ISBN:076790382X
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Acceptable. Book is in good reading condition. Cover has wear at edges and corners, and may have creases. Spine has wear at edges and creases. read more
Description: Good. Only lightly used. Book has minimal wear to cover and binding. A few pages may have small creases and minimal underlining. Book selection as BIG as Texas. read more
Description: Good. Light shelving wear with minimal damage to cover and bindings. Pages show minor use. Help save a tree. Buy all your used books from Green Earth Books. Read. Recycle and Reuse! read more
"I've always found cultural differences between the United States and England--whether it is Yanks baffled by Brits or the other way around--amusing and endearing. Nobody captures this befuddlement better than repatriated Yank Bill Bryson, who describes his return to the U.S. after 20 years of living in England with a wry wit and the pathos of one who finds himself bewildered by his own native culture. This book is a collection of 70 newspaper columns that Bryson wrote during the first three years after he, his English wife, and four children moved from England and settled in Hanover, New Hampshire. I love Bryson's style because it reminds me a lot of Dave Barry and the late Erma Bombeck--down-to-earth, hyperbolic, and laugh-out-loud funny. Much of Bryson's focus is on nostagia for small town life (he grew up in Davenport, Iowa) and regret that America's main streets of the 1960s--small businesses, diners, etc.,--have been replaced by fast-food chains or abandoned in favor of big surburban malls. (He hopes the same trend will not happen to his beloved Hanover to which he pays constant tribute for its charm, low-key lifestyle, and lack of crime). Other chapters recount his bittersweet memories other dying American institutions such as the small privately-owned motels and the drive-in movie theater. But when he drags his family along for a sentimental visit to one of the few drive-ins that are left in the country, the experience ends in aggravation. (A very funny chapter). Other puzzlements he encounters in returning to American life include the huge availability of basically everything, especially junk food --"Everywhere I turned I was confronted with foods guaranted to make you waddle" (99)--the insistence of Americans on cupholders in their cars, the friendliness of people, and availability of university campus facilities, ice rinks, etc., to everyone at any time. "All this gives everyday encounters a sheen of openess and egalitarianism that I admire very much. It removes a lot of stuffiness from life" (126). But sometimes there are just too many choices in America--for everything, he says, and recounts conversations at coffee shops and pancake houses where he is bombarded by seemingly billions of varieties. "This abundance of choice not only makes every transaction take ten times as long as it ought to, but in a strange way, actually breeds dissatisfaction" (391-92). He mentions how there are many ways to die in America that don't exist in England--tornadoes, hurricanes, rock slides, avalanches, grizzly bears, rattlesnakes, etc., but observes that American don't worry about these things nearly as much as they worry about cholesterol and sodium levels. "Show most Americans an egg yolk and they will recoil in terror, but the most palpable and avoidable risks scarcely faze them" (143). He notes how the British are expert gardeners, while Americans spoil the aesthetics by calling the activity "yard work" (194). Other essays discuss the melancholia of sending a child off the college, family road trips, and Thanksgiving, a quintessential American holiday that the author loves. Christmas, however, is "something the British do exceptionally well." Bryson and his family still observe Chrstimas in the British way--with crackers, plum pudding with brandy butter, mince pies and a Yule log, "and we drink to excess and above all, we observe Boxing Day (bringing gifts to friends on Dec. 26)" (254). As for shopping, Bryson gripes about one of my pet peeves--salespeople who hover around you and won't leave. "It becomes a choice between tears and manslaughter" (352). Whereas American shoppers have three spans of time--now, tomorrow at the very latest, and we'll look elsewhere" (438), English people typically have to order an item weeks in advance before actually receiving it. Bryson adds, "The intricacies of modern American life still often leave me muddled. Things are so awfully complicated here, you see." He devotes entire chapters to the confusing intricacies of renting a car, filling out tax forms, and setting up a new computer. One of his last chapters repeats a graduation address he gave at a New Hampshire prep school. Among several gems of wisdom, he said, "Don't every make the horrible, unworthy mistake of thinking yourself more vital and significant than anyone else . . .Don't make the extremely foolish mistake of thinking winning is everything . . Taking part is the main thing. Doing your best is the main thing . . .Don't cheat . . You will always have your whole life ahead of you. That never stops and you shouldn't forget it" (449-50). This is a long review, but I haven't touched on half the topics Bryson covers, how funny they are, and what an overall delight this book is. Highly recommended for bits of wisdom and lots of laughs!"
"I like Bill Bryson. Let me just start it that way.
This one, though, was kind of boring. It started strong. I'd say the first 40 pages were great. I laughed out loud and all that. But, then it degenerated into some really formulaic, well-worn territory. Observations about complicated computer instructions, how his wife forced him onto some exaggerated diet, excessive paperwork can be excessive, etc. Even the overly familiar stuff had decent moments, but what stood out were all the hackneyed jokes and references to how his kids don't like what he likes, blah blah blah. I was surprised.
And, during moments when he would exaggerate a detail or two for effect, like when he said a brand of adult diapers were labeled "Whoa! Dambusters" (which is funny), he followed it up in the next sentence explaining that, no, that's not really what they said. He peppered a lot of the essays with these "just kidding" bits.
Maybe read the first 40 pages, then go read Pure Drivel by Steve Martin. Or a different Bill Bryson book."
"Apparently, a lot of people are already familiar with Bill Bryon's books, but this was a first for me. It won't be the last. This particular book is a collection of musings on life in America written by Bryson after he returned to his native U.S. following twenty years in England. There are, of course, plenty of interesting observations on the differences between the two countries, but that's less the point than the observations in general. Why? They're dead-on in accuracy and funny in a way that's somehow a cross between David Sedaris and Dave Berry.
Some of the stories -- musings, really -- will make you smile. Others are laugh-out-loud funny, especially Bryson's account of putting up a Christmas tree. The guy is a wonderfully shrewd observer of the minutiae of life; we feel it, he writes it.
To be sure, some of the nuggets are uneven. Some likely will leave you lukewarm. But the very next one could be a gut-buster from which you'll feel compelled to read paragraphs aloud to someone else. In my mind, this is the best kind of book to have that can be read simultaneously with a full-length novel. (Aside: That makes it ideal for the Kindle or other e-readers. You can have several books going at once and your place in each is automatically remembered whether you close the book, let it go to sleep, or shut it down altogether.)
Anyway, if you're in need of a break from something profound or lengthy, you could do a whole lot worse than Bryson. He was a delightful find for me."
"I usually don't choose books like this -- and I didn't choose this one -- my husband did. We listened to it in total on the way to Utah this weekend. It's just 4 tapes long. These are vignettes produced in a column by Bill Bryson about what he "discovered" about his native land after living in England for 20 years. The view of an insider/outsider of our American way of life was completely, laugh-out-loud, hilarious. The writing was crisp, the insights terrific. The description of the silliness of menu descriptions by a waiter in a fancy restaurant was incredible. The misery of a day at the beach, the dependence of Americans on cars, the proliferation of variations of breakfast cereal -- one after another, we just roared with laughter."
We guarantee every item's condition, as described on Alibris. If you are not satisfied that an item is as described, return your purchase for a refund.
rating
