Bill Bryson - A Walk in the Woods

Pros: Well written, humorous, irreverent
Cons: A bit too obsessed with bears

Bill Bryson is hardly the type one would regard as an active outdoorsman. By his own description, Bryson is the stereotypical Everyman--middle aged with a bit of paunch, someone unaccustomed to rigorous exercise, a man painfully lacking in practical...

Pros: See review
Cons: See review

At the end of the Stephen King book, On Writing, there's a suggested reading list. These are books that King, himself, has read over the past few years and ones he recommends. Always on the lookout for something new to read, I scanned the list ...

Pros: Vivid imagery, great story telling, funny, moving and inspiring
Cons: A little preachy at times

It's not often that I find have to pace myself when reading a book.  (Food is another story, but I digress).  I wanted to plunge farther and farther into "A Walk in the Woods", but this is writing to be enjoyed slowly.  Bryson's eye for ...

Pros: Easy to read.
Cons: Goes off the beaten path at times.

Bill Bryson's adventure on the Appalachian Trail was wonderful escape literature during recent cold winter months. Where I live, the snow has been on the ground since November with temperatures below 20 degrees, so I found myself walking along with the ...

Pros: Great Read, funny, informative, descriptive, you feel like you are on parts of the trail.
Cons: Some would be upset that he they did not finish the trail...i did not care

This was the first book I read by Bill Bryson. I loved it so much that I have read others by the same author. The one reason why I loved this book so much was because I loved his sense of humor. When I began reading the book I already knew that he did ...

Pros: Entertaining, funny - no hilarious - well written.
Cons: It ends!

This was the first Bill Bryson book I read, and since then have read 6 more. I discovered him years ago when he used to write each week in one of the UK's Sunday paper magazines. In this tale, his friend Stephen Katz from "Neither Here Nor There" (and 25 years ago, with two or three visits in between) wants to join Bill on a walk through the Appalachian Trail, and there ensues a hilarious adventure. His style of writing has the reader (well, me at least!) literally laughing out loud, so that onlookers could be excused for thinking you may be slightly mad. In all his books, he manages to be informative as well as extremely funny. Although Bill Bryson can be found in the travel section of any bookstore, they are not strictly speaking travel books, but much more than that. He makes you feel as though you're on the journey with him, and part of his adventure, because that's what most of his books are, adventures. I want them to last forever, and it's always a bit like having withdrawal symptoms for a while when you come to the end.