Kaethe

There was a review, a long one. A really, really good one, that would tell you exactly what you want to know about the book, but nothing more. Apparently I failed to save that review. My apologies to you and to Mr Bryson, who really deserved that review.

The sixteen-year-old and I read this simultaneously, and we both dearly loved it. Bryson is always amusing, which is why we both read him, but he's also really good and including the sort of details you want to know. This is essentially all the big news stories of this one summer: a sensational murder trial, baseball records being set, movies, international news. He manages to pass along the juicy tidbits in context, and an appalling context is often is. The racism, sexism, fascism, etc. is just gross, but Bryson doesn't shirk from revealing those warts in his portrait. It is a book that will rule your small talk for the duration: "Hey, did you know...?" I felt so well informed while I was reading it.

Sadly, my memory is going, and two months later I'm hard-pressed to remember anything specific, except that I really enjoyed reading the book

Library copy