A look at America in the 1990s

books:


	• I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away Bill Bryson Broadway, 2000 - 304 pages average customer review:based on 220 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Laugh Out Loud

I loved this book and told all of my friends about it. In addition to being funny, it was well-researched, interesting, and informative. The author is humble and gracious and is able to laugh at himself, a quality I find admirable and refreshing. He is honest in his opinions without being self-righteous; and even in his criticism of the country, he expresses a hopefulness that it is possible to correct social injustice if we work together as a nation.

However, none of that is the main point of the book. It is simply a collection of his columns written for a British audience in which he makes observations about Americana that are hilarious most of the time. I found myself laughing out loud in a waiting room full of people and then explaining to others what I was reading. If you're looking for a book that will make you smile on an otherwise dreary day, this is the book for you.

Divided into short chapters, it's a book that's easy to read in short bursts--a great book for someone who has difficulty commiting to a lengthy novel.

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Unfriendly Toward America

I am in the process of reading all of Mr Brysons books but I was taken back by the unfriendly way he discribed America in this book.

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A look at America in the 1990s

This book is different from the other Bryson books I've read. Rather than addressing a single (mostly) coherent topic, this book is a collection of newspaper columns covering a rather broad and eclectic range of topics. He makes a number of interesting observations about the state of American society in the 1990's, especially the rise of the specialty coffee industry, and our tendancy to drive everywhere, including the gym to get exercise. While there are some laugh-out-loud bits buried in here, I somehow was expecting it to be more amusing as whole. In the introducton, Bryson notes these articles were originally written for a British audience and he has tried to remove "chunks of explication that an American would find unnecessary." I find this a bit disappointing--these bits might have been interesting, and would have provided some insights into the differences between the two countries. Overall, this was a light and diverting book, but certainly not the best Bryson has to offer.

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