Half price bargain at Stanstead Airport, bought for BC purposes.

Bill Bryson:
About The Book

From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s

Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."

Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and OF his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.

Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.

Intl bookray

Guidelines:
-PM me to join
-You must be willing to ship internationally to join (surface/economy mail more than ok!)
-Make a JE when you receive the book
-Read it within a month
-PM the next person on the list for their address
-Make a JE telling us what you thought of the book
-Send the book along

Questions? Please PM me!

Participants:
LindyLouMac, Italy
bestfriends, France
sudokugirl, Bosnia-Herzegovina
Lilifin, UK or Germany
Beekeeper40, UK
Gomboggit, USA
Silvia-pco, Portugal
RuthyToothy, UK
em64, Finland
MarysGirl, USA
Gooby, Australia

Arrived today and I am the first for this bookray of the latest Bill Bryson. Thanks very much Sobergirl. It looks like it will be an amusing read which I will start as soon as I have finished the book I am now reading.

The Good Old Days
Growing up in the the 50’s was something I also did, though in the UK. However there are many similarities, apart from baseball, so I found this made me laugh and stimulated many memories of my own childhood.
The good old days according to Bill Bryson are entertaining, amusing and informative what ever your age.
Definitely worth reading.

RELEASE NOTES:

En route to France

In my mailbox today, together with one other ringbook. Thanks LindyLouMac for sending it and Sobergirl for sharing.

I unpacked the other parcel first but this looks tempting too. Will decide tonight which one of the two will be up next.

This was my second book by Bill Brison. An enjoyable read; I had some good laughs. Still, I liked the other one ("Lost continent", also containing a lot of childhood memories) better.

Will be sent to sudokugirl next week. I already have her address.

Thanks for sharing.

RELEASE NOTES:

off to Bosnia-Herzegovina

It's here! :) I've been looking forward to reading this one for quite a while, but it'll have to wait a bit, as I have another bookring in front of it. It shouldn't be too long though.

Bryson's books always make for an entertaining read and this one wasn't any different. I really enjoyed it. Thank you for sharing, Sobergirl.

PMed Silvia-pco a few days ago, will wait a while longer for an address.

30/09/2007
Silvia-pco asked to be moved down the list. I've been trying to get in touch with lilifin for the past ten days but haven't been able to reach her. PMing beekeeper40 next.

RELEASE NOTES:

Sent to lilifin.

...just received...thanks! I'll read it as soon as possible!

That was a great book - probably the best by Bryson I've read so far! Funny enough, some of the stories he describes happened in a very similar way during my childhood - in Germany. Highly recommended book!

RELEASE NOTES:

sent today

Arrived today...just got to finish a current read then it is next on the list.

Much as I love Bill Bryson, I just couldn't get into this one. Mailing to next reader.

Received in the mail and will read ASAP.

I enjoyed reading this book, and about life for a small boy in the 1950's. I always enjoy Bryson's way of mixing humor and interesting information.Thanks for sharing it, Sobergirl! I will PM the next in line and get it moving asap.

Book arrived safely yesterday :-) I'm 2/3 of the way through another BookRing book at the moment, and then this one will be next in line.

I enjoyed this book very much, and it gave me an interesting insight into a '50s childhood, and also into life in the USA. I've only read one other Bryson book before (the one about the UK) but will now keep my eye out for some more of his :-)

RELEASE NOTES:

Mailed to Finland for the next person in the ring :-)

The book was waiting for me in the mailbox yesterday when I came home. It looked so tempting that I just had to start reading it. So far it has been an enjoyable read.

It was an interesting and entertaining read, at time Bryson was perhaps exaggerating a bit but then again that's his style. The book gave a good insight on the life in the 50's in a small town in the US. It was actually a bit scary to read how enthusiastic people were of all things 'atomic' at that time.

Have pm'd MarysGirl for her address.

EDIT 23.6.2008

Received MarysGirl's address today so will try to get it mailed either this evening or tomorrow.

Found this in the mail after a week of travel, just in time for another week on vacation. I love Bryson, so I'm looking forward to this one.

Finished this on my bicycle trip following the Erie Canal. It was fun, but not my favorite Bryson book. He's only six months older than I am and I grew up in the midwest, so his stories were quite nostalgic. My main problem was with what I thought of as his overly snarky tone. I'm sure it was a style choice - at that age, everyone else is stupid - and that's the tone he took, but I found it a bit much. His tone was much more self-deprecating in "A Walk in the Woods" and - I felt - much funnier.

I'll PM Gooby in Australia and send this one on its way. Thanks for sharing Sobergirl!

In the mail to Australia today. Hope you enjoy, Gooby! Qualifies as #9 for the 2008 Keep Them Moving Challenge.

I love Bill Bryson. Some of the passages in this book made me laugh until I cried. However, it has a feel that it was dashed off in order to get another book out - kind of like he wasn't really paying attention. Still worthwhile, nevertheless.