At Home by Bill Bryson

At Home by Bill Bryson   It didn’t take me long after reading the Boston Globe‘s review of Bill Bryson’s newest book to head on over to Porter Square Books to pick up a copy.

The book is irrestible to me – about one of my favorite subjects, written by one of my favorite authors.

In At Home: A Short History of Private Life Bill Bryson delves deeply (it really isn’t “short” – it’s a hefty 497 pages) into the history of each room in his Victorian  house in chapters that include The Cellar, The Bedroom, The Stairs, The Nursery, and many more. The topics in At Home are actually far ranging as Bryson’s plan was to write “a history of the world without leaving home”. I’ll have to report back on just what that entails since I haven’t yet finished – ok – started – the book.

Books about the idea of home – it’s history and evolution, what we think about it, what people thought about it in the past, etc. – line my shelves. I’m delighted to get Bill Bryson’s take on it.

Bryson’s been one of my favorites since I first read The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-Town America years ago.  Bryson wrote about America as he retraced the vacation trips of his childhood.  It’s laugh-till-you-cry-funny.  There are a number of Bryson books in my collection but another favorite is A Walk In the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail.

If you haven’t been introduced to Bill Bryson’s books you’re in for a treat.

At Home: A Short History of Private Life by Bill Bryson is published by Doubleday and available at your local bookstore.

Categories: Everything Else

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 5th, 2010 at 11:54 pm and is filed under Everything Else. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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