I’m a Bookie Here Myself

This week, I decided to read something I’ve never read before; a memoir. Why I have never read one is something I’m not really sure about, I mean, they seem like a perfectly wonderful style of book. So, I picked this book so that I could finally experience the allusive memoir. Then, I realized something else original about this particular book; is also an autobiography (which I haven’t read before either. To be honest, I don’t know the difference between the two) and also non-fiction (which I hate).

I have many reasons for my dislike of non-fiction books, from the idea that they are generally dull to the fact that most books I was forced to read in elementary school were non-fiction; that just left a bad taste in my mouth. My biggest issue with non-fiction is simple- why would I want to read about real life? I live it! I don’t need to read about someone else living their life! With the whole universe of incredible things the human mind can dream up and capture into book, why would I want to read about reality? I don’t know, that’s just how I think of it.

Let’s see what this non-fiction has in store…

Via amazon.com

I’m a Stranger Here Myself  by  Bill Bryson

Genre: Memoir, Autobiography, Non-Fiction

Setting: 1995 United States 

Published: 1999

Pages: 288

Well first off, this was not at all what I was expecting. I didn’t really look too much into this book before I started to read it (I hardly ever do), but I was definitely pleasantly surprised. There isn’t really a main story, only a main plot. Mr. Bryson has just returned to America after almost 2 decades living in England. An American by birth, Mr. Bryson moved to England in his 20s. He got married, and has 4 children there, all of whom moved to America with him. They settle in Hanover, New Hampshire, described by Bryson as, "... it is a friendly, well-ordered, prettily steepled community... Dartmouth College, whose benignly dominate presence give the town a backdrop of graceful buildings... and the presence of five thousand students, not not one of whom can be trusted to cross a road in safety." 

Instead of simply recounting his assimilation back into our culture, each chapter he talks about a different thing that either surprised him or was different than the land across the pond. There are chapters titled “Well, Doctor, I Was Just Trying To Lie Down…” where he expresses his astonishment as to the amount of injuries that result from things like beds, mattresses and pillows. Or his chapter “On Losing A Son” where he gets sentimental about how he has ‘lost’ his son to college, an experience most parents can relate to (I immediately called my dad and told him how much I missed him). My personal favorite is “Rules for Living”. This glorious chapter delves into ideas Mr. Bryson has that would, in his words, “make the world a better place.” Out of the 28 hysterical (and I think very wonderful) rules, my favorite is #1: “It is no longer permitted to be stupid and slow. You must choose one or the other.” I think we can benefit from that one.

This book is almost like his love letter to the U.S. (if love letters occasionally go on rants about how the US Postal System is pale in comparison to the ones in England, and are hysterically funny).

It made me see everyday things in a whole new light. Maybe non-fiction isn’t so bad after all…