Bill Bryson’s 1998 travel memoir A Walk in the Woods achieved such popularity largely due to its comfortable, conversational style. The novel reads like a letter from an old friend, and works equally well read to oneself or aloud, perhaps around a campfire or elsewhere in nature. Equal parts encyclopedic fact and hysterical farce, A Walk in the Woods illuminates the lazy, artificial and consumer-driven modern American lifestyle, and the average man’s sore disconnect from nature: As Bryson puts it, the trail taught him to appreciate “low-level ecstasy – something we could all do with more of in our lives” (page 125).
Bryson’s hysterical, informative writing style is the result of years of experience. He wrote for The Times and The Independent while living in North Yorkshire, England for nearly 20 years. He is also a scholar of the English language itself, having written several books on the linguistics and usage of English and the language’s development throughout history.
In 1995, Bryson moved to Hanover, New Hampshire with his wife Cynthia and four children. It was from Hanover that Bryson spent a summer hiking the Appalachian Trail with childhood friend who appeared under the pseudonym Stephen Katz. This Katz is also featured in one of Bryson’s most recent works, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. This autobiographical memoir is Bryson’s wry account of just about the most all-American childhood you could get: growing up in the mid-century Midwest. Click here to watch the neat flash animation he created to promote the book.
Expect the same rapid pace and hilarious, informative and lively discourse in all of Bryson's works. I'm definitely going to check out that one, and "Mother Tongue", next.
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