RSSBill Bryson returns as the “Thunderbolt Kid”
Brysonians, rejoice! Bill is back.
Bill Bryson is a hoot. He’s also a Renaissance man, having summarized his galactic knowledge in the humbly titled A Short History of Nearly Everything and expanded on his global travels in tomes like In a Sunburned Country and A Walk in the Woods.
The wry Bryson has returned to entertain his legions of fans (and to win over new ones) with The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid: A Memoir. Well, the Des Moines native has actually returned to bookshelves in the United Kingdom, where he lives and where his memoir of life as a Midwestern superhero (in his childhood imagination, at least) is currently available.
The U.S. version of Thunderbolt Kid isn’t slated for publication until October 17. Never fear, however, because (as of this writing) a handful of advance copies are waiting to be rescued by you on Alibris—until eager Brysonians snatch them all up, that is. If that happens, you’ll at least be able to get a taste of the new book via an amusing excerpt on the Guardian Unlimited site.
I was in the UK recently where I bought and read “Thunderbolt Kid.” I was already a Bryson fan, so I may be biased, but I really enjoyed the book. My only criticism is that it ends too soon. I would like to have seen it continue into Bryson’s late teen and college years.
It reminded me a bit of Dave Barry’s “Dave Barry Turns 50″ because it describes a recently bygone America in the time of the Baby Boomers, a golden age that fits these nostalgic books perfectly. Sink your teeth into this one and you’ll get not only Bryson, but some fascinating and stirring history of the United States from a smalltown/midwest city viewpoint, all with that nicely alternating Britified wit and American humor that ices the cake of every Bryson book.
I enjoyed it. Hope he has more books in store for us fans.
John
by john nations, 16 Sep 2006 at 5:39 pm