very simple

So I did manage to read another book which I completely forgot to list in the last entry. I actually finished this one on the plane on the way home.

I have to say that I didn’t nearly enjoy this book as I have the other Bryson books that I’ve read to date. Maybe because it was one of his earlier efforts (written all the way back in 1989), and I get that part of Bryson’s schtick is that he’s a curmudgeon – he makes fun of himself as much as he makes fun of others, but 90 percent of the observations in this book consisted of how fat, ugly and dumb everyone (and, in particular, the women) he encounters are. Broad generalizations about just how disgusting a bunch of people who are probably spending a lot more time working a lot harder than some guy who makes a living driving around making broad generalizations about the american population just doesn’t pique my interest. Very few attempts to actually ingratiate himself occur – if someone looks at him funny, he just assumes they’re a backwards rube and doesn’t even try to communicate. Oh, and did you know that people down south had unintelligible accents? Isn’t that just the height of social commentary and wit?

Oy. I’m glad I read some of Bryson’s later work first, if only because if this had been the first book that I had read, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have bothered to even pick up those far superior samples.

Tags: books, travel