Rating: 
Summary: Bryson In Warm & Witty Form
Review: I'm A Stranger Here Myself reflects the Bryson of latter years seen in "A Walk In The Woods" and "In a Sunburned Country." Wry, witty and full of good humour and laugh out loud moments.I enjoyed this collection of his weekly columns very much. Bryson turned two years worth of weekly observations on American life done for an English periodical into this book. What informs Brits will delight Americans as Bryson explores American trends, small town life and his personal experiences as the expatriate returned with English bride and children in tow. This collection runs the gamut. Bryson muses on the wonders of his hometown post office (with an annual customer appreciation day), American statistics pulled from the census (his piece on the number of us injured by our bedding -- sheets, pillows and spreads -- every year is a riot), travel over our vast expanses, his local coffee shop, his very own garden and English gardener (his wife), and very many other et ceteras. This is an eclectic selection. Although in some places the American reader may find some articles over-explained (one has to keep in mind he was writing for a foreign audience), this is a very well written collection of short essays. The confident Bryson humor is here, as well as his excellent use of language and sentence structure. Whereas I thought some of Bryson's early works tried for too much humor and sometimes seemed forced as well as overly sarcastic, here the author is content to share interesting thoughts and stories punctuated by yuks. This writer does have an engaging way with words. There are laugh-out-loud moments in the book and generally it is a very pleasant light diversion. Worth the read.
Rating: 
Summary: The best travel write on the planet
Review: I read this book last summer at my apartments pool. It was embarassing. I couldn't help lauging outloud. I must have looked like a total idiot. After reading In a Sunburneed Country (great) and Walk in the Woods (great) I had to read anything this guy wrote which led to those awkward looks at my local pool. Bryson had grown up in the states but moved to England for 20 or so years and then recently moved back to the U.S. He was writing for a local U.S. newspaper about the difference between America and England, and also about the differences between America now and America 20 years ago. He decided to publish these into a book. Every story is 3 to 4 pages and funny. This is a perfect book just to pick up once in a while and read a passage. Or you can just devour it down like I did. I have read Bryson's "The lost continent" which was great even though it was written 20 years ago and I read "Mother Tongue" which if you ever wanted to know the history of the English language this is your book. Although crammed with info Bryson actually makes something so hard to read funny. One of my lifes dreams is to have Bill Bryson take me on a vacation.
Rating:
Summary: Ouch! I've been laughing so hard that...
Review: This book has been hilarious from the first chapter to the last. If anyone can look at American culture (even our dental floss and diapers) and make you laugh about it, Bill Bryson is that man. You owe to yourself to read it- no that's an understatement. If you don't read it, then, as Bryson hillariously states, you will be "taken outside and shot." HAHAHAHAHA!
Rating:
Summary: Have a look, and smile
Review: This is a good read, funny and self-deprecating, but also full of the rabid insanity that passes for daily life in these United States when one sees it from the perspective of a good, honest corn-fed American who has lived outside this particular box for a while. Here is a man who reads newspapers, not just one, and not just the headlines on the front page, but the briefs and the page 13 stories that sharp-eyed, cynical and probably subversive editors find a way to tuck into the paper when they can. Check out "Drug Culture," "Hotel California," and particularly interesting, and still (the book was published in 1998) oddly relevant if you glance at, say, the New York Times, "Why Everyone is Worried," and "Those Boring Foreigners." There are also good bits, done by a truly funny man, on how to piss off a nun, the folly of flying, a chicken-or-the-egg discussion on walking. There is also, inevitably TV; "The Wasteland," "Commercials, Commercials, Commercials," free speech; "Spinning the Truth," and a wide variety of other delights. A reviewer from Canada mentioned differences between the U.S. and British editions of the book. I have not seen the U.S. edition (the British edition is called simply "Notes from a Big Country), but it will be interesting to sit down and see what the U.S. publisher felt it needed to add or subtract. Martin Amis had a similarly good run in his "Moronic Inferno," but Amis was much more serious about the whole thing, and later also moved to the U.S. And one wonders what to make of the fact, is it that the U.S. is bigger, and so by the law of averages simply provides more grist for the mill, or are they, and people like Gore Vidal (pretty much everyting), and Michael Moore (check out "Stupid White Men") on to something? Brian Anderson
Cologne, Germany
Rating:
Summary: Wonderful
Review: Bill Bryson has done it again... While this is not his most recent work, it is the one I've most recently read. Accessible, poignant, FUNNY, sharp-witted, compassionate, thought-provoking and above all, interesting, "Stranger" is one of those rare books that can be picked up and started from just about any page. The format of the work, a series of weekly newspaper columns in a London, England paper, lends itself well to Bryson's trademark blend of satire, political opinion and downright fantastic storytelling. I would be hard pressed to mention another author who could make a story about the misfortunes of getting stuck in an attic access hatch so interesting. Bryson also manages to convey a very good sense of living in a classic New England small town, regardless of his twenty year absence from the USA. His powers of observation (most pointedly those observations taken in front of a mirror...) are refreshing and often hilarious. Anyone who can spin hyperbole into downright funny satire like Bryson does in his observation of "tax-time" deserves a medal or something of the sort. Perhaps he should get a tax break for finally making sense of the whole business... Read the story and you'll see why that might just be reasonable. Bryon's literary humor seems to complement George Carlin's stand-up humor quite nicely. I'd love to see both of them do an act together. Now THERE'S an idea...
Rating:
Summary: Interesting insights from the outside
Review: Bill Bryson's "I'm a Stranger..." is an interesting collection of observations and comments about several aspects of American life. As they are taken from weekly columns he wrote for a paper in England, this is not a "book" per se. But that fact doesn't take away from its charm, or, at times, stinging criticism. This is mostly a humorous work, like the article Bryson wrote poking fun at the US Federal Tax Return (wait 'til you hear it!). But it's not all light-hearted; Bryson also finds time for more serious matters, like immigration and gun control. His analyses of these situations and his expose' of inconsistent American values/beliefs is worth the price of the book alone. Sometimes it takes an outsider, like Bryson was, to show you things you couldn't see yourself. He does this splendidly. Others have commented that the book was a little too formulaic; I have noticed this too. Many of the articles end with a "punch-line" of sarcasm, and it seemed a bit predictable the more I read. For this reason I would recommend not reading too much at once. It worked better for me listening to one or two themes at a time, and then taking a break. The material (and Bryson's approach) remained more fresh that way. In all, though, this was a good effort. Bryson definitely makes you think about issues you might have taken for granted. Four stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Humourous collection of analytical and personal anecdotes
Review: I bought this book expecting more analysis from Bill Bryson on elements that make up America. This book does have some of this in Bryson's laid back and humourous manner. However, some of it is a bit more of a focus on his personal qualms with America other than an objective assessment. Not having read Bryson before I was expecting something a little more even. He does complain. A lot. But thankfully for his humour (in which he admits he complains a lot!) the book carries well and has some good anecdotes which open up America and other more personal anecdotes which tell you more about Bryson and his family than of the USA. I should mention that this is not a one piece book - but a collection of articles that he wrote over a two year period for a column in a newspaper. Because of this, you may tire from reading the same 'formula' for each chapter/article. None the less I was happy with the purchase and it was an easy read and gentle start to my amateur analysis on what makes the USA what it is.
Rating:
Summary: Hilarious brief readings
Review: Bryson is so observant and clever, you won't want to stop reading. But since the book is made up of small independent essays, you can read a little at a time. British and American people will both find insight and amusement about themselves and the "other side."
Rating:
Summary: essential ex-pat read
Review: as with all of bryson's, the book's greatest downfall is that it only lasts for a day or two! i can never seem to put my hands on one of his books without keeping a firm grip until i've reached the last page (with a break or two for coffee and rest). in this sense, i totally disagree with one of the other poster's who says that his books are excellent travel reads... au contraire!... you tend to finish them so quickly that you end up with a useless deadweight in your luggage after a day or two... and if you're traveling abroad, this can mean having to buy some hideous pulp fiction at a remote train station which offers a selection of five mass-market novels in english, two 18th-century classiques in french and one zelfhelp boek in dutch... but enough back-cover style raving for the book. all i have to say is that you will enjoy it immensely if you are an expat, like me, who takes the occasional trip back home to the united states... if you are slighly appalled by what you find when you do go to visit mom and dad, you will enjoy the book even more... and if you have reached the point where you no longer feel in touch with your american roots at all and find americans to be semi-extraterrestrial, then you will laugh like a drunken hyena at certain points during "i'm a stranger here myself"... bill has hit the nail on the head, perhaps more so than in other books of his, about how quirky the US can be. it would also be an interesting read for people from the states as a sort of textbook on what is unique about them... i'm certain that many do not realize just what the idiosycracies of american life truly are when compared with the customs and practices of other countries...
Rating:
Summary: Great, funny, well written...
Review: This is my first foray into Bryson's writing. All I can say is this: please take care not drink a beverage through most of this book (esp. the chapter "at a loss"), you'll end up showering whomever you're with, or at least, your walls.
I'm hooked!
| 
