No talk on Bill Bryson?

[brandons34]

This man has single handedly offered me more insight into life, love, and the world in general than any other author.Your sentiments?

[barbara0207]

I liked the first books I read, "I'm a Stranger Here Myself" and "Mother Tongue". He displays a wonderful kind of humour here, sometimes I laughed out loud.

But there was something I disliked about "Mother Tongue": his use of cliche where other languages and speakers are concerned. He does not seem to have too much insight into these languages, I felt. He makes fun of people from other countries trying to speak English, but never says a word about what English speakers may sound like when they are trying to speak a foreign language. (Some people would even say "If they try", but the members of this forum show that that must be a cliche, too.)

Yesterday I checked amazon for another Bryson book describing his "adventures" on a trip through Europe. I used the function "Search Inside" to read a little bit, and what I found was appalling. I swear I have never come across a book that relies so much on cliche and prejudice. I wondered why he made the trip at all, he could have written down his prejudice from his own study at home.

Then I turned to the reviews. Most reviews from Europeans conveyed the same impression I got, whereas non-European reviewers found the book amusing...;)

The day before I had ordered Bryon's book on a trip through Australia. Hm, will that be full of cliches, too? But at least he could talk to people there, which he obviously couldn't on his trip through Europe.

Well, let's wait and see ...

[Nossa]

I only have his book "A Short History of Nearly Everything"...and I haven't started reading it yet...but everyone who read it said it's a pretty good book.

[morgane]

I have read almost all of Bill Bryson's books. But I don't think they are worth discussing in a literature forum, because they are not great pieces of literature, but only travel literature. I really enjoyed reading his books, I found them rather interesting and above all sometimes so funny that I laughed out loud. But I quite agree with what someone has written: sometimes he relies too much on prejudice when he describes foreign countries. But you have to keep in mind that he is as critical against the US, his mother country, and England, where he lived for a long time, than against other European countries. I just think he likes being very satirical.

[barbara0207]

Being critical is all right, he can be as critical as he pleases. But spreading cliche and prejudice is a completely different matter. It doesn't help people understand cultural differences. And sometimes he just isn't well informed. When he visits Aachen he expects a band in lederhosen and with an accordion. But Bavaria is hundreds of miles away from Aachen, for goodness' sake. He looks for a cheap fast food restaurant and then complains that the food isn't any good and so on and so on. These are the things I dislike about his books. Sometimes I get the impression that he just writes down the cliches to get a cheap laugh.