Book Reviews: "Notes from a Big Country" (2000) and "A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail" (1999) by Bill Bryson

I was first introduced to Bill Bryson, an American-born humour writer living in England, by way of his best-seller from a few years back titled "A Short History of Nearly Everything". Given that I failed grade 11 biology, I thought that perhaps a layperson's guide to the ways of the universe and other things scientific would be of use to me, but alas, I was either not smart enough to grasp even his simple explanations of the Big Bang and the like, or just unimpressed with Bryson's prose to get beyond the first few chapters. So, on my bookshelf it continues to sit, probably due to some combination of both.

I decided to give him another chance when I was on holidays last week as I picked up "Notes from a Big Country" at the discount bookseller in an office tower near where I work in downtown Ottawa prior to leaving for my vacation. This collection of articles was penned for a UK periodical during the late 1990s after Bryson returned to America, settling in New Hampshire after spending twenty years in Britain (he has since returned across the pond). His wry observations on such weighty fare as the modern garbage disposal, the bagging of groceries, fast food and the movie rating system were reminiscent of Jerry Seinfeld's standup routines but with the type of patrician delivery you'd expect from a clumsy, tweed-wearing, pipe-smoking, middle-aged English literature professor who is about six months overdue for a haircut and a beard trim - all of which apply to Bryson expect for the professor part.

And Seinfeld's standup isn't very good.

Anyways, I found his writing to be somewhat formulaic as he uses words like "agreeable" far too often and also uses the technique of closing his articles with a "now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go (insert reference to previously mentioned troublesome apparatus here)." Given my previous experience with Bryson, I was about to deem him the most overrated American writer since J.D. Salinger after finishing "Notes", but then late in the week, I ran out of books to read and picked up "A Walk in the Woods" among the Mary Higgins Clark, Kathy Reich and Dan Brown books on sale at the closest thing resembling a fine bookstore near our resort.

In "A Walk in the Woods", Bryson decides to hike the Appalachian Trail from Georgia up through the East Coast of the United States into Maine. Imagine if yours truly tried to finish his own basement and that's pretty much what you've got here. Bryson goes to the local co-op equipment store and finds out before even starting that he's bitten off more than he can chew. Things get even hairier when his broke-the-mold college buddy, Stephen Katz, shows up from the Midwest to accompany Bryson for the journey.

Along the way, our two heroes deal with irritating know-it-all solo hikers who they just can't seem to shake in addition to various critters, bad maps, tremendously heavy backpacks and obese waitresses with jealous husbands. Now this is some good stuff. However, Katz soon disappears from the tale somewhere around Virginia and then for the entire second half, Bryson decides to give the reader a lecture on natural history amid rants regarding logging, conservation and generally anything to do with commerce. Like I said, I really don't have the brain capacity to understand science so this was disappointing especially after the laugh-out-loud first half where the sideman steals the show.

I'd say that "Notes from a Big Country" is the kind of book you'd find in the bathroom at your aunt and uncle's place, which is exactly what it deserves, while "A Walk in the Woods" is one you'd find in a cottage on a lake somewhere that you've been invited to for the weekend. In those contexts, these books would be properly placed, but otherwise, you wouldn't be missing much if you just skipped Bill Bryson altogether, even if you did fail grade 11 biology.

Overall ratings:

Notes from a Big Country: 5/10

A Walk in the Woods: 7/10