Bill Bryson: Funniest Travel Writer Ever!

I am reading another Bill Bryson book, In a Sunburned Country,, which is his book about Australia. Over the years I have read 3 of his books: Lost Continent, Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe, and A Walk in the Woods. I can honestly say he is one of my favorite authors.

This guy makes me LLOL, Literally Laugh Out Loud, while reading. I swear his descriptions are hilarious. For example when in Canberra, he is explaining how unbearably boring and desolate it is:

In 1996 the prime Minister, John Howard, caused a stir after his election by declining to live in Canberra. He would, he announced, continue to reside in Sydney and commute to Canberra as duties required. As you can imagine, this caused an uproar among Canberra's citizens, presumably because they hadn't thought of that themselves."

ROFLMAO!

I try to pay attention while I am reading because he has such a great writing style: hilarious, descriptive, yet natural at the same time. I wish I could copy his admiral use of adjectives and adverbs, but alas it is a lot harder than it looks. This man can tell a story. He also makes fun of himself in a way that just cracks the reader up. He goes off on these trips, alone, and I guess he goes out to pubs and hopes to meet people and sits there and drinks beer and takes notes. Sometimes he drinks too much and can't understand his notes, such as one time his notes said:

Victoria Bitter--why called??? Not bitter at all. But quite nice!!!"

Anyway, if you have not checked out Bill Bryson's books, I recommend them highly. Lost Continent describes his journey following the same route his father used to take them around America when he was a kid, crammed into the back of the family station wagon. His descriptions of the American landscape are hysterical. He is especially disgusted with the endless strips of big box stores, fast food places, and unending parkling lot ugliness we have erected all over our country. One of the funniest parts is his visit to the Great Smoky Mtns and that tacky monstruosity called Gatlinburg. He loved it in a bad means good way.

The book about Europe is a must-read if you have ever done the Eurail Pass thing through Europe, like I did. A Walk in the Woods is his attempt to hike the Appalachian trail. It is tremendously informative about the history of this revered trail and what it requires to successfully hike it. Bryson and his very overweight couch-potato friend, Katz, the same guy he went to Europe with, try to avoid being attacked by bears as they trek uphill with 60 pounds of stuff on their backs. It has a bit of a sad ending, which I won't spoil here. I highly recommend it to anyone who enjoys knowing more about our land and a fast comical read. Although it is jampacked with information on the US Forest Service and its history, you can't put it down.

Now along with being funny, these books are also very informative. I am learning so much about Australia. I cannot believe how incredibly ignorant I have been about this continent. For example I had no clue that 80% of the population lives on 5% of the land. I was not aware of how many dangerous creatures that inhabit this land. Also I learned there is still a ton of gold out there. But how to get to it? You would burn up, and there are no gas stations or food. And you would never find your way back. And you would get killed by one of the many lethal creatures inhabiting the Land Down Under. But still I bet little boys growing up there dream about figuring out a way to overcome these deadly obstacles and get some gold and get rich.