Notes from a Big Country
3 journalers for this copy...
FROM A REVIEWER ON AMAZON.COM
After living for twenty years in English he has moved his family back to the States to the lovely Hanover, NH to set up life anew. To preface these very funny pieces he explains that although he spent his youth in the sticky summers of Iowa (and retains a deep love for the game of baseball) he spent his adulthood in the UK where he learned to deal with grown-up issues (mortgages, taxes, putting in screens, getting the lawn mowed whilst on holiday, etc..). This is the perfect preface because, of course, he now finds that he is confronted with the country of his birth and is acutely aware of all of the ridiculous things he can now view as an outsider. He speaks to us about the pleasures of living in a small town where they (he is amazed) don't have to lock the doors and he can go to an honest-to-God diner for the slop they serve there as well as the absurdities found in every aisle of the typical American supermarket (the piece about the trip to the market and his insistence on buying a cart full of junk food that Mrs. B tells him he can only get if he will really eat it is a riot) and his discovery of 'breakfast pizza'. You don't have to have lived overseas to understand what can be frustrating about returning 'home' into culture shock once you read Bryson's simple and frankly logical, descriptions of what he sees after his absence. And any American who HAS dealt with the bureaucracies in other countries will weep with laughter and feel the pain as Bryson tries to get his wife (of 20+ years) a green card and to get the US government, sometime later, to divulge her social security number.
After living for twenty years in English he has moved his family back to the States to the lovely Hanover, NH to set up life anew. To preface these very funny pieces he explains that although he spent his youth in the sticky summers of Iowa (and retains a deep love for the game of baseball) he spent his adulthood in the UK where he learned to deal with grown-up issues (mortgages, taxes, putting in screens, getting the lawn mowed whilst on holiday, etc..). This is the perfect preface because, of course, he now finds that he is confronted with the country of his birth and is acutely aware of all of the ridiculous things he can now view as an outsider. He speaks to us about the pleasures of living in a small town where they (he is amazed) don't have to lock the doors and he can go to an honest-to-God diner for the slop they serve there as well as the absurdities found in every aisle of the typical American supermarket (the piece about the trip to the market and his insistence on buying a cart full of junk food that Mrs. B tells him he can only get if he will really eat it is a riot) and his discovery of 'breakfast pizza'. You don't have to have lived overseas to understand what can be frustrating about returning 'home' into culture shock once you read Bryson's simple and frankly logical, descriptions of what he sees after his absence. And any American who HAS dealt with the bureaucracies in other countries will weep with laughter and feel the pain as Bryson tries to get his wife (of 20+ years) a green card and to get the US government, sometime later, to divulge her social security number.
Journal Entry 2 by michyj at POSTED TO BOOKCROSSER WHO WON MY RABCK DRAW in By Mail, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases on Wednesday, January 2, 2008
Released 16 yrs ago (1/2/2008 UTC) at POSTED TO BOOKCROSSER WHO WON MY RABCK DRAW in By Mail, A RABCK -- Controlled Releases
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
RELEASE NOTES:
Sending to gillg who was one of the winners of my 'Never buying 5 boxes of books off ebay again' rabcks.
Sending to gillg who was one of the winners of my 'Never buying 5 boxes of books off ebay again' rabcks.
recieved today with thanks, looking forward to reading and releasing.
I really enjoyed reading Brysons anecdotes of life in america. We spent 13 months there several years ago and I can relate to many of the things he says. Some of the chapters had me laughing aloud.
passed on at the Perth Bookcrossers coffee this afternoon
Journal Entry 6 by ButtercupMorgan from Stirling, Western Australia Australia on Saturday, January 26, 2008
Picked up at meetup last weekend.
