Book Review - Notes from a Big Country by Bill Bryson

 Notes from a Big Country: Journey into the American Dream by Bill Bryson

London: Black Swan, 2016 (first published 1998)       ISBN: 9781784161842

It's been a very long time since I've read any Bill Bryson, and after smiling my way through Notes from a Big Country I'm wondering why. This compilation of his columns for The Mail on Sunday documents his move back from England to America, and humorously looks at the quirks of life in America, his home country, but with a view coloured by his years in England.

Many of the columns (should I call them chapters?) highlight the size and weirdness of America. From explaining how capital punishment actually costs the US more than sentencing murderers for life, to pointing out that the fact that Americans are statistically much more likely to die than the British (and it's not all down to guns).

He pillories America's obsession with diets and self-improvement, while railing against their ridiculous bureaucracy and need for everyone to obey the rules, no matter how stupid they are.

It's all done in such a pleasantly amusing way that even Bryson's harshest columns still bring a wry smile from the reader. And he also writes about what makes America a lovely place as well - the friendliness of the average American, the beautiful scenery, and the abundance of everything.

Given everything that's been going on in the world lately, and that for some reason I've read a string of difficult and serious books, I was enormously glad and relieved to sit down for a day or two and work my way through this one. If you want interesting, amusing and yes, even enlightening reading, I can recommend Notes from a Big Country.

Cheers for now, from

A View Over the Bell