Notes From a Big Country Audio CD – MP3 Audio, 28 Nov. 2016

If I'm honest, I was surprised to even find as many negative reviews for this book as I did - so be warned in advance that the adjective "glowing" could have been created for this review!Where to start? This book is a joy. Bryson, as a native of the US who spent a large chunk of his formative years in the UK, is able to view both cultures from a position that's neither a real outsider nor quite an insider in eachThere is no real narrative thread in this book as regular Bryson fans will have been accustomed to finding elsewhere: the format is very specific: a series of articles, written from America, for British readers. I can see how some people view this as a weakness, but in many ways it's a huge plus - it's possible to race through half a dozen "chapters" with ease, but similarly if time is pressing it is very enjoyable just to dip in. It's not really a book so much as a collection of essays/letters, but none the worse for that.I didn't find the book especially negative about either country: Bryson does confess to having a good complain (sometimes with good reason, having read the trials of his wife and his friends becoming legal citizens, for instance). Generally, however, he is quite willing to poke fun at both the country of his birth and the country he has adopted as a second home with a certain amount of glee, a great deal of affection, and the relative objectivity of a man who belongs exclusively to neither place.Overall... it made me laugh, time and again. In amongst the giggles, I got a little insight into the differences between the two countries, a few wonderful descriptions of the US (including glowing accounts of New Hampshire's severe-but-beautiful winters), and a vast amount of interest and enjoyment. One I know I shall re-read over and again, and that I can whole-heartily recommend to others.

Having previously read a Bill Bryson and finding it too long and boring, I was very pleasantly surprised by this book. It was a record of a weekly page that Bill wrote for a New York newspaper and was the reason he returned to America with his family. This was wriiten nearly 20 years ago but I expect a lot of the American way of life stop I'll holds today. Bill Bryson is American by birth but continually mocks the American ,way of of life and the American values. He clearly has a very good sense of humour but says that Americans generally do not understand humour. I think sometimes Bill sees himself more British than American. His wife and children spent many years in Yorkshire ( but they are not noted for their sense of humour).I enjoyed this book and as the description says , actually did find myself laughing out loud and shaking my head on many occasions..I

I hadn't read a Bill Bryson book in more than 20 year's, and I knew he is descriptive in a humorous way. I was also interested in his take on growing up in the 50s and 60s Middle America. I did find it funny and informative, although I did't get all the cultural reference points. I found it an easy read. I also bought " The lost continent".

"Big Country" is a collection of witty pieces about life in the US which Bryson wrote for a British newspaper some years ago. Each chapter is one of those pieces - a self-contained, often funny commentary, informed by Bryson's experience as a US citizen who has lived for years in the UK before returning to US suburbia.I found some of the writing exquisite - real laugh-out-loud moments of hilarity. Some of the pieces are less inspired; and the fact that each of the short pieces is self-contained makes this a book to dip into, rather than read from cover to cover. A few of the pieces are now (2018) starting to feel a bit dated.Verdict: often insightful and funny but a bit hit and miss.

Bryson's best book full of wit and humour his take on everyday life is very amusing,such an easy read.Each chapter seems like a bit of a moan but the way he puts across his thoughts is highly entertaining.Each subject is dealt with concisely in about 3 or 4 pages which allows him to tackle about 80 different topics on the habits of modern American life. I especially like his chapter "on losing a son" which is very touching. Most of all its a cracking read ideal to dip in and out of. I have read this book several times and still enjoy his unique style of writing.More like this please Bill.Here is a list of my favorite top 10 Bill Bryson books in order of preference;1. Notes from a big country2. Neither here nor there3. A walk in the woods4. The lost continent5. Notes from a small island6. Down under7. At home8. One summer 19279. Shakespere10.The life and times of the thunderbolt kid

I agree with some of the other reviewers. This book is not on the same level with some of other books by Bill Bryson. In a sense, the author himself hints to the cause of this, when he explains that he has been more-or-less cajoled into writing it, and he didn't have time for it. It is a collection of articles published in the Mail on Sunday in UK about various aspects of Bill Bryson's view on life in the United States - after he moved back there in the '90's with his family. Quite funny in places, but generally with very little depth. Also, some topics read quite differently or dated now, as many facets of life in the US have eventually made it to UK and Europe - so they are not nearly as novel as they seemed at the time.

This is like a compendium of magazine columns so very little continuity from one chapter to the next. We'll observed though!

A good read, very funny and great if you want to leave gaps in between reading, just the thing to read before turning the light out at night as you don't have long chapters. It's just a series of articles put together in one book.Highly enjoyable but not up to the standard of his 'normal' books.