Connect
Sponsors
Currently Reading
-
Terms
The Book Lady's Blog is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
Reviews and articles posted here are property of The Book Lady's Blog and are not to be posted elsewhere without permission. Please contact me if you wish to post any of my work, or any excerpt thereof, in any other location or format.
Miscellaneous
Meet Bookrageous!
Technical Stuff
Design Credits
Dec
30
Book Review: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
2009 at 5pm Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
When you’re packing for a trip halfway across the country, and you know you’ll be sitting in airports and on planes, you need good reading material. When your trip halfway across the country will deposit you into cold weather and a household full of family members and children filled with the holiday spirit, you need something more. You need the literary equivalent of “Calgon, take me away.”
And that’s where Bill Bryson comes in.
For the uninitiated (poor you!), Bryson is the author of a myriad of humorous travelogues, memoirs, and works of narrative nonfiction. His A Short History of Nearly Everything makes science and history exciting, and A Walk in the Woods actually had me thinking that I, too, wanted to hike the Appalachian Trail. When I need an escape that is both informative and entertaining, Bryson is my first choice, and In a Sunburned Country—his account of adventures in Australia—has everything I’ve come to know and love.
Bryson jumps right in with a brief introduction to the history of Australia, beginning with the history of colonization and the fact that Britain orginally used Australia as a prison camp. Interesting, right? As he explores Australia from the big cities to the desolate outback (it gets really hot there, by the way) and discusses the social and cultural history of Australians and its scientific significance (Australia has more species of plants and animals found only in one place in the world than any other location), Bryson works in anecdotes from his personal experiences and misadventures down under, and that’s why I love him so much. His narrative agility and his ability to weave research into story so deftly is unparalleled, at least in travel writing, where so many books feel like “Day One: Went to X, Did Y, Saw Z; lather, rinse, repeat.”
In a Sunburned Country taught me about people, places, and things I’d never heard of before, including a number of snakes, spiders, and insects who could kill me with a single bite, and it provided a beautiful, dangerous, occasionally frightening escape from the “real world.” I didn’t even mind that Bryson took a turn for the serious to explore Australia’s treatment of its indigenous people, the Aborigines, because he did it with great intelligence, insight, and depth of feeling.
And that just goes to show you that travel writing doesn’t have to be vapid, reliant on jokes about poop, or filled with convenient and stereotypical epiphanies. It can be substantial and educational, and it can assume a certain level of intelligence and worldliness from its readers, and still be wonderful and successful and widely read.
Oh, dear God, how I hope Bill Bryson will continue to be widely read.
Whether you’re looking for a virtual warm-weather getaway, an adventure in a faraway land, a few good laughs, proof that NONFICTION CAN BE FUN, REALLY! or a new favorite author, Bill Bryson and In a Sunburned Country will deliver….even though this isn’t my favorite of Bryson’s books (the aforementioned A Walk in the Woods holds a special place in my heart for most chuckle-inducing read ever), it is most excellent, and I highly recommend it. 4.25 out of 5.
No related posts.
[...] Book Review: In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson [...]
A group did a presentation on this book in a class I took last year, and I’ve wanted to read it ever since. I keep collecting Bryson books and adding them to my TBR shelf, but then never seem to make the leap from shelf to hand. I’ve no idea why that is!
Never read the guy, but you’ve got me convinced. I actually kintda like non-fiction, if well-written. You actually learn stuff! You are right, you have to have good material at the ready when you go to cold climates filled with loud family. This was exactly my predicament the last week…my escape was Fingersmith.
I adore Bill Bryson and have read almost everything he’s written … some quite a few times. My only complaint is I think he is due for another travel book!!!!!!!
Yes! I’d love for him to go to Asia. That would be great. A big, burly white man wandering through Tokyo.
Make the leap, Kim! It’s so worth it. One thing to know: It always takes me longer to read Bryson than I expect to, because even though it is horribly entertaining, there’s also a lot of information to absorb, and you want to read every word of his great stories. Can’t wait to hear about your first adventure with him soon.
I just loved this book! And most of Bill Bryson’s books, as well!
I love Bryson. I adored A Walk in the Woods. I also enjoyed Notes from a Small Island and after I read an earlier post by you, I decided to start this one. I really like it so far. I’m glad you recommended it and it helped you trough the holidays:)
I read A Walk in the Woods earlier this year and promptly put every single Bryson book on my TBR list. It is tied for first of my favourite books of the year. You are absolutely correct that Non-fiction can be fun. Thanks for reminding me I want to read more.
I love Bill Bryson’s travel books, and you and Jenners are right. It is about time he did another one!
Oh, that is so affirming to hear that someone started reading a book because of my recommendation. It always makes me smile.
I haven’t read Notes From a Small Island, but you can bet it’s on the list!
I still haven’t read a Bryson book even though I have quite a few of them. I’m really hoping to fix that this year.
I feel exactly the same about this book and A Walk in the Woods – although the latter is my all-time favorite, I really enjoyed Sunburned Country. The man actually got me interested in Australia, something no one had managed to do before.
The only book I have not enjoyed by Bryson is Thunderbolt Kid; I just couldn’t get into it.
[...] Reviews: The Book Lady’s Blog, Books and Cooks, Books in the City, Reading Matters, Sam Still Reading Have you reviewed this [...]