I have to say that I am a fan of Bill Bryson's writing. I qualify that because I once tried to listen to him read one of his own titles as an audibook. He writes with such great humor but, boy, did he put me to sleep when he read! I had figured he'd be an amazing reader of his own books. Ah well...
I find him quite funny as a writer. He easily bounces from thing to thing. In this book he certainly has a million and one opportunities for doing so! The whole book is about ONE single topic, the home. The book explores from the time of the earliest homes on earth up to modern day. On the way he looks at just about every possible related topic too!
If you like conversations that meander from topic to topic then this is a book you should pick up!
Bryson begins atop the house he lives in and while tracing its past he goes from room to room in his story-telling. As he discusses the roles of each room he also discusses related topics to each room.
Let me see if I can think of a few of the things explored in the book:
telephones and their place in the home
heating of homes
home libraries
gardening by gardeners and then by homeowners and...even (gasp) women
mice and other pests around the house
and of course the bedroom
~~~I only wish I had the ability to go through my notes for this book and post more in-depth. Again, this was a selection I checked out from our library's ebook lending service. Once the lending period for the book you are reading expires...so do your notes. (Unless you choose to renew it and are able to.) Unfortunately, when my book went *poof* so did my bookmarks and highlights and notes.
At 512 pages this selection is a pretty hefty one. It isn't filled with quite as much humor as most of Bryson's books are. Still, I enjoyed it a lot.
