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| I'm a Stranger Here Myself: Notes on Returning to America After Twenty Years Away | 
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Avg. Customer Rating:  (based on 235 reviews)
Sales Rank: 675597
Category: Book
Author: Bill Bryson
Publisher: Random House Audio
Studio: Random House Audio
Manufacturer: Random House Audio
Label: Random House Audio
Format: Abridged, Audiobook
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Audio Cassette
Edition: Abridged
Number Of Items: 4
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 4.2 x 1.2
ISBN: 055352626X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.92
EAN: 9780553526264
ASIN: 055352626X
Publication Date: May 4, 1999
Release Date: May 4, 1999
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
The master humorist and bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods now guides us on an affectionate, hysterically funny tour of America's most outrageous absurdities.After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly three million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new-and-improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item. Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. From motels ("one of those things--airline food is another--that I get excited about and should know better") to careless barbers ("in the mirror I am confronted with an image that brings to mind a lemon meringue pie with ears"), I'm a Stranger Here Myself chronicles the quirkiest aspects of life in America, right down to our hardware-store lingo, tax-return instructions, and vulnerability to home injury ("statistically in New Hampshire I am far more likely to be hurt by my ceiling or underpants than by a stranger"). Along the way Bill Bryson also reveals his rules for life (#1: It is not permitted to be both slow and stupid. You must choose one or the other); delivers the commencement address to a local high school ("I've learned that if you touch a surface to see if it's hot, it will be"); and manages to make friends with a skunk. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended, if at times bemused, love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.
Amazon.com Review
In the world of contemporary travel writing, Bill Bryson, the bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods, often emerges as a major contender for King of Crankiness. Granted, he complains well and humorously, but between every line of his travel books you can almost hear the tinny echo: "I wanna go home, I miss my wife." Happily, I'm a Stranger Here Myself unleashes a new Bryson, more contemplative and less likely to toss daggers. After two decades in England, he's relocated to Hanover, New Hampshire. In this collection (drawn from dispatches for London's Night & Day magazine), he's writing from home, in close proximity to wife and family. We find a happy marriage between humor and reflection as he assesses life both in New England and in the contemporary United States. With the telescopic perspective of one who's stepped out of the American mainstream and come back after 20 years, Bryson aptly holds the mirror up to U.S. culture, capturing its absurdities--such as hotlines for dental floss, the cult of the lawsuit, and strange American injuries such as those sustained from pillows and beds. "In the time it takes you to read this," he writes, "four of my fellow citizens will somehow manage to be wounded by their bedding." The book also reflects the sweet side of small-town USA, with columns about post-office parties, dining at diners, and Thanksgiving--when the only goal is to "get your stomach into the approximate shape of a beach ball" and be grateful. And grateful we are that the previously peripatetic Bryson has returned to the U.S., turning his eye to this land--while living at home and near his wife. Under her benevolent influence, he entertains through thoughtful insights, not sarcastic stabs. --Melissa Rossi
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| Customer Reviews: Read 230 more reviews...
 He Can't Help It, He's a Liberal June 4, 2009
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
I hiked a portion of the Appalachian Trail; therefore I've read Bill Bryson's A Walk in the Woods. (I didn't meet a soul on the AT who hadn't.) There is no disputing, Mr. Bryson is a humorous and gifted writer, so I bought I'm a Stranger Here Myself.
Unfortunately, every discriminating reader of Mr. Bryson's works will quickly realize that Mr. Bryson is also a Liberal. And like many Liberal authors, he just can't help himself. His writing is laced with tiresome liberal commentary and snide comments aimed at conservative icons (the much loved President Reagan) and traditions. He is also a true believer in the theory of evolution so we get these authoritative descriptions of how things began when none of it can possibly be proved. One also gleans that he's been snookered by the ubiquitous global warming propoganda. Further, he is mystified by the American's attachment to his guns. It would be reasonable to summarize Mr. Bryson's book content by saying that Mr. Bryson's worldview is an almalgam of every extant Liberal cliche.
There were times when I wished he had stayed in England to save America from yet another destructive Liberal elitist sneering down his nose at we pitiable, uncouth Americans. We have enough of these fools here already.
Liberal authors along with actors in Hollywood just don't get it: it is safe to assume that more than 50% of your audience aren't liberal; hence, leave the political proselytizing for political forums and please just entertain us.
There were actually moments in I'm a Stranger Here Myself where I marvelled at Mr. Bryson's flagrant ignorance. He has got to be joking, I thought. Yet, if not ignorance, then what? Could he be willingly promoting the nefarious agenda of rewriting American history to expunge all references to God? Say it isn't so! Example: Mr. Bryson claims with a straight face that Thanksgiving came about when the pilgrims thanked the Indians. I kid you not. What falacious hogwash! I had to bark a laugh of astonished derision.
But aside from the content of his books, Mr. Bryson is truly a talented compiler of sytax. He's just not that deep of a thinker or a thorough fact checker.
 May have been OK in weekly installments... May 7, 2009
Someone in my book club selected this book for the group to read. It is a compilation of articles written for a weekly newspaper. While I'm sure the articles worked as a weekly supplement, the compilation is... boring. While certainly a talented writer, article after article seemed the same style - flat - and eventually boring. Perhaps more selectivity should have been exercised in picking those articles to be used, rather than just slapping them together into a book. Also - the author's wife is correct - he complains alot!
Whine, whine, whine! April 10, 2009
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This is a collection of short articles in which the author whines about anything and everything. We all know one of those people. They can complain about anything - too hot, too cold, too rainy, too sunny. At one point, he even complained about other people driving with their windows up! How can that bother someone? Several times, I found myself almost in disbelief that he could complain (or even care) about these things.
I would have probably given this book 1 star for the negativity, but he is funny at times, and he had the mercy of making each chapter only a few pages, so the reader only needs to take it in small doses.
Ok: I'm done whining about his whining.
Funny book... but only for a selct few March 9, 2009
This book is going to be a great, satisfying, and simply funny read... but only if you like and are accustomed to Bill Bryson's writing style, flair, and sense of humor. Otherwise. its just going to be another good book on the (sarcastic) joy of living in America.
A terrific read for all though!
Hostile December 29, 2008
0 out of 2 found this review helpful
After reading "A Short History of Nearly Everything," I became a fast fan of Mr. Brysons writing style. I felt that he inserted humor and wit with accurate fact.
However, this book takes on a very hostile, almost scathing review of the USA. I pity the foreign reader on what seems to be a very downtrodden review of the United States as a whole.
Granted after not living in his country of birth for over twenty years, it is not nearly as terrible as Mr. Bryson makes it out to be.
The book starts out with humor and wit, and turns sharply to a very disappointed view of what the USA has become in his absence. The book is riddled with what seems to be one constant complaint about everything and anything. I am sorely unsatisfied with the contents, and would not recommend this piece due to it's brief chapters and sore dissatisfaction with living in America.
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