Rating: 
Summary: Poignant, funny and true
Review: Bryson's collection is sharp and funny, and not always a jab at America, as some of the previous reviews indicate. He seems to have a bemused love/hate relationship with America. What is so amazing is how hilarious his rants can be, yet on a turn you realize just how right he is. Many of the essays here made me pondrous and wistful. The work is easily digestible in small chunks (3-4 pp. for each essay)--it is a perfect choice for a car ride or a doctor's office waiting room.
Rating:
Summary: Best ever Bryson
Review: Hilariously funny, remarkably honest observations about the world's most powerful nation. Straight to the point and so true it should be made compulsory school reading in the USA and elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Great as almost always
Review: Bill Bryson in a collection of sydicated newspaper articles is just as enjoyable as he is in his longer works. Quirky, witty, and inventive. Great choice if you only have time to read a few pages a day and nobody in your local paper floats your boat.
Rating: 
Summary: Sad to say, it left me underwhelmed
Review: I read the entire 'walk in the woods' in one sitting, which I would say was one of the best books I've ever read. On the strength of that I bought this book. It was definitely funny in parts, and certainly an easy read. But I felt a bit cheated. While some of the articles (this book is a complication of newspaper columns) were great, others were just plain sub-par. Perhaps spread out over a year or so (as the articles were written), it may have been ok but to read essentially the same articles over and over - his problems with computers and technology, for example, really dragged. As an example, he complains about his spell-checker. He must have bought some really bad software to get a spell checker as bad as the one he described. Maybe they were that bad when he got his - but these things change so the book is now out of date. And what did that have to do with returning to America from England? Hmmm.... But if you ignore the technology stuff, it really does have some funny articles. I wish it had been edited a little more, that's all.
Rating: 
Summary: Looking In the Mirror
Review: Unlike the excellent "A Walk In the Woods," our well-traveled friend makes most of his observations from his home in New Hampshire. As he walked the AT in "Woods," I pictured Bill sitting on a log jotting down anecdotes on a notepad he has tried desparately to keep dry. In "Stranger," I picture him typing furiously as Mrs. Bryson is pleading with him to enter the attic for the box of Christmas lights. "Stranger" does not have as much of the historic perspective as "Woods," but it is not really called for here, and when it is, it is used accordingly. Those that feel that the Britons reading the articles that spawned this book will leave with a twisted sense of America should consider the following: I cannot walk outside my home because there is no sidewalk; there is 24 hour coverage of the same political stories on as many as 10 different cable channels; and there really is an 800 number on my dental floss. There is no place like home. Good work, ol' chap. Looking forward to my next Bryson book, and as Amazon.com points out, the ones I do not own are already on my "Recommended" list. Who says you can't find good help when you need it?
Rating:
Summary: laughed 'til I cried
Review: This book was so funny. Written as a compilation of a series of newspaper columns, Bryson makes fun of everything from junk food to the English language, but, most of all, Bryson makes fun of himself. I was reading it on a plane, and it was all I could do not to bust out laughing, and have my fellow passengers think me a lunatic. Bryson's gift is in the rhythm of his humour, the way he nostalgicly describes the disappearing All-American diner or the post office community, then blind sides you with a sarcastic remark so sharp you laugh until you're in pain. You would laugh, then stop and realize he is not just describing his own experiences, but those of everyone else's as well. I look forward to reading his other memoirs.
Rating:
Summary: A Typical British Perspective on the US
Review: I came across a used copy of "Notes from a Big Country" which was the title for this work when it was published for British readers. Like other Bryson's works, it has a considerable degree of charm, wit, some sting, and more than a little bit of truth. American readers will understand and relate to Bryson's experiences and frustrations as an ex-patriot returning home. As with other Bryson books, however, after awhile you want to say "lighten up Bill". He even shares that his English born wife responded when reading a draft for one of the articles included in this collection "bitch, bitch, bitch". After awhile you do recognize that Bryson was providing what his British audience sought -- pokes and taunts validating their sense of the inadequacy of the United States. Since Bryson is an Anglophile his comparisons of American and British culture and society are from the perspective that the latter is decidedly superior. While Bryson's criticisms and frustrations are well founded, they would be more palatable if balanced with some favorable observations. While he does share the warmth, generosity and security of his New England community, he then qualifies this segment by noting that a New York transplant advised him "this isn't the real world, its New Hampshire". While all Americans are not all dull, dim witted sheep who prefer a junk food diet and who are too apathetic to resist unthinking bureaucracy this book leaves one with the impression that this largely Bryson's opinion. While this book isn't entirely negative, one is reminded that humor is well intended when you are laughing "with someone". Since this collection, like other Bryson books, primarily laughs "at" the United States you are left with the question "why did Bryson choose to return?"
Rating:
Summary: Funniest of them all so far
Review: This is my favorite Bryson book (so far). Having lived in Europe myself, I can relate a bit to the shock of returning home to America in all her glory. Mr. Bryson's observations on the post office, the grocery store, walking vs driving...all clever and funny, but too too true. I never thought I'd read a travel book about my own country, but there you have it. This one's worth your time. If you'll excuse me, I have to drive next door and buy a box of toaster-pizza.
Rating:
Summary: Big Laughs from Gentle Jabs
Review: I bought this in an airport and read it from cover to cover on the flight...I laughed so loud and so hard that the guy across the aisle finally leaned over and said, "WHAT are you reading?" Bill Bryson pokes fun (gently) at an America he has recently rediscovered.
Rating: 
Summary: Not up to his usual standards
Review: I guess because it is a collection of observations and not as focussed as his other books I lost interest in this one. Without a central theme other than "How strange America is now" Bryson's generally on target wit and observations tend to meander from point to point. Viewing America from the perspective of an American who had been away for years is definitely aimed at a British audience who I hope enjoyed it more than I did.
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