Customer Reviews
Sheer brilliance - By: Sizzle, 20 Jun 2008 
This is guaranteed to put a smile on virtually anyone's face.
Bryson's dry humour & witty observations of life's absurdity coupled with Kerry Shale's excellent delivery make this an easy winner.
The basic material is also very interesting so a wining combination all round.
I had thisin the car & found myself sitting listening to it long after I had arrived at my destination - it's that good!
One of our fave honorary Brits goes home for a bit ... - By: Annabel Gaskell, 14 Apr 2008 
Another tome of brilliantly sparkling gems from Bill Bryson. What I found funniest was that his wife & family, all born & raisedin England, appeared to find American life like being let loosein a toyshop - revelingin becoming optimistic Americans. Whereas our Bill has absorbed so much Britishnessin his twenty years here he has become an honorary Brit! This makes his exasperation with queuing, bad shop assistants, & bureaucracy of the US kind even funnier than ever. In some of the columns he tries to be more positive & these, as he admits, are the more sentimental. Would that each of the pieces were double the length though - I got through the pages just too fast.
Great read! - By: N. Smith, 01 Oct 2007 This title was chosen by my book club as this month's title & I was dreading reading it, as my previous encounter with Mr Bryson was 'A Short History of Nearly Everything' which I hated. I was really surprised how much I enjoyed this book. It has many laugh out loud moments like Bill's hatred of the barbers & love of motels & the US Postal Services' Customer Day. The 4 page chapters are ideal as he get's to cover a wide range of topics. From reading this I will definitely try some of Bryson's other titles. A great read.
A very funny, very clever, very snappy read. - By: Sam Anders, 09 Aug 2007 Bill Bryson has a somewhat unique point of view for writing a book on American life, bornin America but living a long timein England before returning to America with his English wife & children. The result was a regular series of newspaper articles (unsure what newspaper) which are collected together here.
The articles are observant, witty, & wonderfully funny. Bryson is so normal & easy to relate to that the articles are infectiously funny, his strange obsessions & neuroses are not only hilarious but also quite sweet & infinitely endearing. His unique take on American life is what really drives the book since there's no continuous narrative of any kind due to the episodic structure.
I can't really describe the bookin any particular detail except to say that this is something very funny that more than once an article is guaranteed to cripple you with laughter. You should really give this a try, you won't regret it.
Glad i live in Britain. - By: mr Average, 13 Jun 2007 Bill Bryson is a genius writer & yet again he has delivered entertainment & boredom reliefin this book.I read itin a succession of three quarter hour work breaks - & the four page bite size chapters(78in all)are ideal as you can always finish looking forward to a new chapter the next time you pick the book up.
Each story was originally an weekly article for a newspaper that Bill was roped into writing - but he will refer back to previous chapters as the book progresses.
The hilarious stories are about the frustrations & exasperation's & idiosyncrasies of livingin the USA compared to when he lived herein the UK.Bill almost underplays himself making you realize that despite his fame & fortune he is a normal down to earth guy who strugglesin life just like you & i.....Fantastic!.I'm gonna read another Bill Bryson book now!....whey hey!.
