I’m a Stranger Here Myself by Bill Bryson
Just finished this book – which was strange for me! I’m used to either reading brand-new, or not-even-released-yet books, or ones that are at least 50 years old that I have found around the house. This book is old enough so its pages are slightly discolored, but it doesn’t smell like “old book,” or “basement.”
A friend of mine on the “left coast” sent me this, as she thought I might enjoy it. It’s a collection of essays, so good for reading a bit at a time. And she was right. The essays are just a few pages long each, so good while waiting for my computer to start up, waiting for a kettle to boil …
And she was right – I did enjoy it. Mr. Bryson is an American, who, at the time he was writing this, had just moved back to America after spending twenty years in England. And he and his wife and children move to Hanover, New Hampshire, which is about an hour North of here. He grew up in the mid-West, so many of his observations are about the oddities of life in New England, the climate and how we all react to it.
Pretty much befuddled by much of life anyway, his observations on the differences of life in America than that of life in England are always fun, often funny, and will make you smile,
I am sure he’s written plenty more since this was printed in 1999, and some of the individual essays are a little dated when he talk about technology and politics, but otherwise it is mostly about us – human beings, and so is pretty timeless stuff.
Not the kind of book you feel compelled to read all at once, but the kind that is good to have around for a chuckle when you need one. And, with the modern wonder are online bookstores, it is still available and “in stock” which is pretty cool in itself!