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Notes from a Big Country: A Selection (1998)

by Bill Bryson

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7,0761091,195 (3.77)123
Biography & Autobiography. Essays. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML:A classic from the New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body.
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliensâ??as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.
Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years aw
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Showing 1-5 of 104 (next | show all)
2.5 stars rounding up. I tried again with Bill Bryson. I've not really loved a book of his since A Walk in the Woods. This is 20 years old, and boy does it show. I guess it makes sense - it was designed to reflect on a particular time and place. Bryson's commentary comes off too often as grumpy ranting. Just didn't love it. ( )
  CarolHicksCase | Mar 12, 2023 |
I thought this book was very funny. None of the columns is terribly long, but all of them show the ridiculous side of modern life in the United States. I especially enjoyed Bryson's attempts to explain baseball. ( )
  Pferdina | Sep 29, 2022 |
This is a book of articles Bryson wrote for a British newspaper after he returned back to the US after 20 years of living (and starting a family) in the English countryside. It's an interesting point of view of mid-90s American life - both an American's and a Brit's because, while he was born and raised in Iowa, being away for most of his adult life only to return is still a bit of a culture shock.
Bill Bryson has a great sense of humour that had me laughing out loud nearly every article (and the graduation speech towards the end made me snivel). This is just a fun read but was interesting to me being an American interested in British culture and the differences therein. I also enjoyed his [b:Notes from a Small Island|28|Notes from a Small Island|Bill Bryson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1411111661s/28.jpg|940892] for the same reason. The book was also a nostalgic look-back at how America was while I was growing up, having been born in the mid-80s. ( )
  brittaniethekid | Jul 7, 2022 |
I enjoyed this book. He made some interesting obsetvations and it was an amusing read. If you are looking for a quick, funny read I would recommend it. ( )
  queenofthebobs | Mar 14, 2021 |
Another winner from Bill Bryson. This book is a bit dated now, but for the most part that only adds to the hilarity. ( )
  AngelClaw | Nov 4, 2019 |
Showing 1-5 of 104 (next | show all)
You can be a Bryson fan -- and I am, really -- and still think that these particular columns might best have been left to their original foreign audience. People who have lived in the United States more recently than the mid-1970's have already recovered from their astonishment that there is a breakfast cereal called Count Chocula.
 
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To Cynthia, David, Felicity, Catherine, and Sam
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I once joked in a book that there are three things you can't do in life.
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(Click to show. Warning: May contain spoilers.)
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Published in Britain as "Notes from a Big Country"
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Biography & Autobiography. Essays. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML:A classic from the New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body.
After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliensâ??as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.
Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years aw

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