About this title: From one of the most beloved and bestselling authors in the English language comes a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the middle of the United States in the middle of the last century.
Note: This is a general synopsis. Each listing is described below.
Binding: Paperback
Publisher: Anchor Canada
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780385661621ISBN:0385661622
Description: Good. A copy that has been read, but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact, and the cover is intact (including dustcover, if applicable). The spine may show signs of wear. Pages can include limited notes and highlighting, and the copy can include "from the library of" labels. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Purchasing this book supports the King County Library System Foundation. Thriftbooks and KCLSF have partnered to help raise additional funds for the library system. Ex-Library book-will contain library markings. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Light shelf wear and minimal interior marks. Millions of satisfied customers and climbing. Thriftbooks is the name you can trust, guaranteed. Spend Less. Read More. read more
Description: Good. Former Library book. Shows some signs of wear, and may have some markings on the inside. Shipped to over one million happy customers. Your purchase benefits world literacy! read more
Description: Good. 076791936X Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: Good. 076791936X Former library item may have library binding and show stamps, stickers or other marks. Items not meeting quality expectations may be returned. Due to the large scale of our operation, we do not have access to the specific contents/condition of our items. read more
Description: New York: Broadway Books 2006 Advance Reading Copy 258 pages, 6 1/8 x 9 1/4, large format trade paperback CONDITION: VERY GOOD, a little spine roll o/w a very nice copy, near fine condition. read more
Description: Good. 2006-Hardcover----Used-Good-Hall Street Books proudly ships from Brooklyn, NY. All orders are processed and shipped within 24 hours, M-F. 100% money back No-Worry guarantee with expedited delivery and delivery confirmation available. read more
Description: Good. 076791936X Ex-library book with stickers and stampings. Overall good condition with clean text and good binding unless otherwise noted. Edges lightly soiled. Most items ship within 24 hours. read more
Description: Fair. 0739482939 Overall good condition with clean text and good binding unless otherwise noted. Light stain and warping on bottom corner of pages and edge. Front cover creased. Most items ship within 24 hours. read more
Binding: Hardcover
Publisher: Broadway
Date Published: 2006-10-17
ISBN-13:9780767919364ISBN:076791936X
Description: Good. Exactly as shown, Ex Library copy with usual stamps and stickers. Clear, protective mylar covering over dust jacket. Book itself is bound strong, has little wear and text is clean and unmarked. Smoke free home. read more
Binding: Trade paperback
Publisher: Broadway Books
Date Published: 2007
ISBN-13:9780767919371ISBN:0767919378
Description: Very good. No dust jacket as issued. Trade paperback (US). Glued binding. 270 p. Contains: Illustrations. Audience: General/trade. read more
Description: Good. 0767919378 25708 PB: spine smooth, text clean, cover has light/moderate shelf wear-allow up to 21 business days for standard USPS media mai l. wt1lbpf. read more
"I'm listening to this book on cd in my car. Some parts are so funny I find myself laughing until tears run down my face. The story about Grandma and the licorice babies is howlingly funny as is most of the book.
Discover Bill Bryson and you'll soon have an entire library of his works, which are entertaining, informative and hysterically, laugh-till-you-cry funny."
"I really enjoyed this book quite a bit. It was fun to read about life in the 50's for Bill and make parallels to my own childhood in a small town in the midwest. I laughed out loud many times and nodded my head a bunch of times.
One of my favorite parts is when Bill's mom convinces him to go to school in his sister's pants - lime green capri pants! She told him they were pirate pants. Very funny.
This was a very enjoyable read and I look forward to reading his other books."
"Although I've never been a fan of memoirs and autobiographies, a friend suggested I try this one and I'm grateful they did. Billy Bryson's wonderful writing style takes you away from modern day and transports you to the idealic 50's in such a magical way it's haunting. Having not grown up back then but knowing some about it, hearing his memories of growing up back then makes me want so badly to find someway to go and see if for myself. Great writing should make you forget your world and take you to their's, and this book does a magnificent job of that. Hearing about Bill's family, his friends, his neighborhood, and his thoughts is what this book is all about and it does it amazingly. Filled with humor, insight, and interesting trivia, this book should appeal to everyone."
"Bill Bryson is always fun, and his switch from travel memoirs to autobiography isn't really much of a switch at all - this book is a natural for him. But it will never be my favorite of his works.
That said, the book is good. Bryson's work is all about the narrative voice, and he's right at the peak of his ability here; he's honed and developed his voice and his style, but he hasn't reached what we might call the Dave Barry point, the place where a writer's current work becomes a caricature of his older, better work. So, for the sheer craft of it, this book is a great read. It's funny, it's light, it's fast.
Unfortunately, Bryson falls into basically every trap that waits for an autobiographer. He persistently mourns all the changes that have taken place since the '50s - oh noes! The world is different! And I remember liking the old things, therefore all this change is bad! He doesn't get that he remembers things as being shiny and golden because he had a happy childhood. Things look fabulous through a nostalgic lens, and it's the lens that matters, not the things themselves. If he'd had that same happy childhood in the 1900s, he'd be mourning the introduction of cars and women's suffrage.
Which is the other problem. Bryson was privileged, and he seems to have missed that - sure, he writes about McCarthyism and racism, but he doesn't seem to understand that his own perfect, shiny childhood was largely a result of his own privilege - and other people's lack of privilege.
Just in general, the section dealing with race is painful to read; he says he never heard anyone say anything racist (except his grandmother) even as he spouts every possible racist stereotype about the blacks who attended his high school. It's pretty clear that he doesn't really understand that racism is more than shooting blacks who try to vote. (And I'm not going to go into the sexism, largely because I suspect any honest memoir of a teenaged boy is going to be, well, hugely sexist.)
So, while this is a fun book to read, it's also uncomfortable in places - the places where Bryson exposes much more of himself than he intended to."
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