Bill Bryson

[World's #1 Astros Fan]

I was originally going to start a thread about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid but in reading this personal memoir of growing up in Des Moines in the 1950's, the thought occured to me that Bryson may well be one of the finest living writers today.  Plus, considering that the thread for A Short History of Nearly Everything was Ratto'd, I figured we could just use this thread to discuss the author's works in one spot.

For me, reading Bryson evokes many writers of variant backgrounds and reputations--James Thurber, Kurt Vonnegut,  Jean Shepherd, Garrison Keilor, Dave Barry, Philip Roth.  I know that some of those writers would be considered lightweights but, when you add it all up, you have a writer who, in my humble unapologetic opinion, could be mentioned in the same breath as the one and only Sam Clemens.  Yeah.  I went there.  

What's most impressive is that while Bryson is very a humorous writer, he's also been dubbed a "travel writer" and the fact that he was an editor of the business section of The Times of London demonstrates that he's no lightweight and is in fact quite skilled at establishing himself in mutiple literary forms.  A Short History, in fact, while humorous, is quite a departure from most of his work.

He's a writer's writer.  His use of humor, language, and well-placed hyperbole make me wish I had a fraction of his ability to take readers gliding through paragraphs in a seemingly effortless manner.

I've only read 3 of his books so far--besides the two mentioned here, I read Notes from a Small Island--and am curious about any suggestions people here may have.  I've heard the book that put him on the map--I'm a Stranger Here Myself--is a great read but that A Walk in the Woods may actually be his best book.  Anyone?

[J. Walter Weatherman]

The extra 'L' is for 'LOLOLOL.'

[Eli]

To me, Bryson compares favorably to a young Paul Tanner.

[PenPho]

I was originally going to start a thread about The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid but in reading this personal memoir of growing up in Des Moines in the 1950's, the thought occured to me that Bryson may well be one of the finest living writers today.  Plus, considering that the thread for A Short History of Nearly Everything was Ratto'd, I figured we could just use this thread to discuss the author's works in one spot.

For me, reading Bryson evokes many writers of variant backgrounds and reputations--James Thurber, Kurt Vonnegut,  Jean Shepherd, Garrison Keilor, Dave Barry, Philip Roth.  I know that some of those writers would be considered lightweights but, when you add it all up, you have a writer who, in my humble unapologetic opinion, could be mentioned in the same breath as the one and only Sam Clemens.  Yeah.  I went there.  

What's most impressive is that while Bryson is very a humorous writer, he's also been dubbed a "travel writer" and the fact that he was an editor of the business section of The Times of London demonstrates that he's no lightweight and is in fact quite skilled at establishing himself in mutiple literary forms.  A Short History, in fact, while humorous, is quite a departure from most of his work.

He's a writer's writer.  His use of humor, language, and well-placed hyperbole make me wish I had a fraction of his ability to take readers gliding through paragraphs in a seemingly effortless manner.

I've only read 3 of his books so far--besides the two mentioned here, I read Notes from a Small Island--and am curious about any suggestions people here may have.  I've heard the book that put him on the map--I'm a Stranger Here Myself--is a great read but that A Walk in the Woods may actually be his best book.  Anyone?

A thousand times that.

I've read about 8 or so of his books and liked A Walk in the Woods the most, by far.