NOTES FROM A BIG COUNTRY
Bill Bryson has the rare knack of being out of his depth wherever he goes, even (perhaps especially) in the land of his birth. This became all too apparent when, after nearly two decades in England, the writer upped sticks with Mrs. Bryson and returned to live in the country he had left as a youth. Of course there were things Bryson missed about Blighty but any sense of loss was countered by the joy of rediscovering some of the forgotten treasures of his childhood: the glories of a New England autumn; the pleasingly comical sight of oneself in shorts; and motel rooms where you can generally count on being awakened in the night by a piercing shriek. Whether discussing the strange appeal of breakfast pizza or the jaw-slackening direness of American TV, Bill Bryson brings his inimitable brand of bemused wit to bear on that strangest of phenomena. . . the American way of life.