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[at-l] The Bryson Book, wade right in and stir it up.
On 12 Apr 2002 at 23:26, GADog430@aol.com wrote:
> I wonder if perhaps the problem with the book is that it is just not a good
> book? I found the first part entertaining, but was also disappointed by other
> sections. For instance, he talks about meeting hikers, but doesn't mention
> what they said or talked about. Did they have stories to tell? Were they
> overcoming some physical or personal travail? What was their motivation?
> I find it hard to believe that he hiked over 870 miles (his calculation) and
> he did not hear one interesting or funny story. But they were not included?
> Did he forget to take notes?
No funny stories? You and I must have been reading different
books. I laughed from cover to cover.
Mary Ellen? The "bear attack," at night, at the campsite?
The phone calls to cab companies, from Gatlinburg? Katz at
the bunkhouse at Rainbow Springs? The waitress at Amicalola?
Katz' girlfriend from the laundromat? Killing mice at Birch
Springs shelter? Stealing shoelaces from obnoxious yuppie
weekenders? The hitch to Hiawasee with the newleyweds?
None of this was funny? I'd say, then, that you need to work
on your sense of humor. What book were you reading, anyway?
Mine has the title, "A Walk In the Woods," by Bill Bryson.
In between the humor there are some serious, salient comments
about life in the USA... this from a dude who was born in Iowa,
worked as a newspaper man in England for 20 years, and then
returned to the USA, to live in Hanover NH, as a forty-something.
Now, I can imagine that our two serious AT/BM Apostles here
will sternly denounce Bryson as a heretic, but I for one would
be deliriously happy to see Bill Bryson as the next US President.
Yeah, I like him that much.
Similar praise for every other Bryson book, too -- I've read
them all -- Lost Continent, Notes From a Small Island, A
Sunburned Country, I'm A Stranger Here Myself,
Neither Here Nor There... It's gotten to where the first thing
I do at the bookstore is look for a new book by Bryson.
rafe b.
aka terrapin