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After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly three million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens--as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new-and-improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. From motels ("one of those things--airline food is another--that I get excited about and should know better") to careless barbers ("in the mirror I am confronted with an image that brings to mind a lemon meringue pie with ears"), I'm a Stranger Here Myself chronicles the quirkiest aspects of life in America, right down to our hardware-store lingo, tax-return instructions, and vulnerability to home injury ("statistically in New Hampshire I am far more likely to be hurt by my ceiling or underpants than by a stranger").

Along the way Bill Bryson also reveals his rules for life (#1: It is not permitted to be both slow and stupid. You must choose one or the other); delivers the commencement address to a local high school ("I've learned that if you touch a surface to see if it's hot, it will be"); and manages to make friends with a skunk. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended, if at times bemused, love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.

Average Customer Rating:

Bryson's views on America

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A collection of essays on Bryson's experiences and views of America, sometimes annoyingly pretentious and pedantic (especially in the beginning), but more often clever, funny, and perfectly balanced between critical and appreciative of American culture. For me, part of the thrill is that Bryson is a local writer. Great, though slightly dated, but beautiful and humorous and original collection chronicling nature, American commercialism, American communities, and American personality and nostalgia. Grade: A-

The travel essay master

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If you've lived outside the US, come from another country or ever wondered what people from other places think of Americans and the US on our home turf then this is a book you have to read. If this was written by a foreigner I might have taken some offense to parts of it. Bryson is an American and these are his humorous takes on what he saw when he re-entered his own country to live here again after time spent in Europe. A fun read (and if you see yourself occasionally, laugh it off.)

One of his best	Customer Rating:
I thought this was one of Bryson's best......short weekly column type stories on one subject. They were humorous, to the point, and folksy. He does (as he says himself) complain a bit too much, but if there's only one side to the story, it sounds like marketing material instead of a commentary. Enjoyed this one.

It's great to laugh at yourself if you are living in America

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This is the 2nd book I have read by Bill Bryson. I enjoyed it! I admire someone who can take normal life in America and write with such humor. I found myself giggling every few paragraphs. Such talent this writer has. Basically this book is filled with essays that are organized by chapters. He writes about all kinds of things about America, after moving to New Hampshire after living in Britain for 20 years. He writes about baseball, shopping, lawyers, over-the-counter medicine, drive-inn movies, computers, waste, airplanes and taxes among countless other things that sets America apart from other countries. The thing I love about Bryson's writing is, I learn something as I laugh thru the pages. His outlook on things is sometimes like reading my mind and putting it on paper. I highly recommend these books and look forward to reading others by this author.

Too much America bashing...	Customer Rating:
Not his best work. He is getting a bit too left leaning but still funny at times.