If I told you that I was reading a Bill Bryson book while on holidays, you would be excused for thinking it was a travel book. Well, unless you happened to be travelling back to Des Moines, Iowa, in the 1950s, there is no travel-related information in The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. In his latest book, Bryson recounts amusing stories from his childhood. And if you liked his other books, you will like this one. It is lightly amusing and also an insight to how people reacted to the dawn of the modern age.
Perhaps the highlight of the book are the chapter beginning press clippings from the time. Here is an economically related taste:
In Coeur ‘Alene, Idaho, after householders reported that a car was tearing around the neighbourhood in reverse, Assistant Police Chief Robert Schmdit investigated and found behind the wheel a teen-age girl who explained: ‘My folks let me have the car; and I rand up too much mileage. I was just unwinding some of it.’ [From Time magazine, 9 July, 1956]
Excellent stuff.
I presume you’ll be partaking of tonight’s bookclub?