4 posts tagged “bill bryson”

I just can't get enough of this stuff!

Apr 20, 2009
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I know I've been on the Bill Bryson train lately, but I just can't get enough of his stuff. It's hilarious. I was crying last night from laughing. My roommates thought I was in hysterics because I was stressed out about planning my wedding. Nope. Just happy that Bill Bryson knows what it feels like to ride in the car across the Midwest. My favorite bit from last night's reading, from The Lost Continent: Travels in Small-town America, by Bill Bryson (on vacation driving with his family):

"My father's particular specialty was the ability to get hopelessly lost without ever actually losing sight of his target. He never arrived at an amusement park or tourist attraction without first approaching it from several directions, like a pilot making passes over an unfamiliar airport. My sister and brother and I, bouncing on the back seat, could always see it on the other side of the freeway and cry, "There it is! There it is!" Then after a minute we would spy it from another angle on the far side of a cement works. And then across a broad river. And then on the other side of the freeway again. Sometimes all that would separate us from our goal would be a high chain-link fence. On the other side you would see happy, carefree families parking their cars and getting ready for a wonderful day. "How did they get in there?" my dad would cry, the veins on his forehead lively. "Why can't the city put up some signs, for Christ's sake? It's no wonder you can't find your way into the place," he would add, conveniently overlooking the fact that 18,000 other people, some of them of decidedly limited mental capacity, had managed to get onto the right side of the fence without too much difficulty."

Please go and get Bill Bryson's books. You'll laugh the entire time!

Bill Bryson visit

Apr 13, 2009
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Here is Mr. Bryson accepting an award. I didn't get a good picture of him at his lecture, it was dark and there were too many people.

Mr. Bryson signing my copy of Neither Here Nor There.

Me and Dan's stepmom Susan after the Bryson events.

Rainy days and Mondays -- (or the combination of both) -- always get me down...

Apr 13, 2009
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Two quick things:
1 - Follow me on Twitter or Facebook. I update more often.
2 - I'll post the photo of Bill Bryson signing my book later tonight ;)

Bill Bryson, here I come!

Apr 2, 2009
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So for a long time now, I've thought about what I really want to do with my life. What in this world makes me happy? What should I be spending my limited number of days on this earth doing? The first answer is traveling. And an incredibly-almost-neck-and-neck second answer is writing about those travels. I want to be a travel writer. And if I throw in some PR and some music and some painting in there, my life will be complete. But I'll settle for the traveling part.

I love Bill Bryson's books. He's an incredible witty and careful writer, and I admire his style very much. PLUS: he's a native Iowan (from Des Moines) AND a Drake alum (go Bulldogs!). So when I found out that he was giving the Bucksbaum lecture tonight at Drake, I really wanted to go.

My future mother-in-law (also a Drake alum) calls me on Monday and says she loves Bill Bryson, she wants to come see his lecture and hang out with me. So today! I get to: go to a Q&A with Mr. Bryson, attend his lecture and a booksigning. I'm really excited, and I think today will provide some good in-law bonding time. I'm so excited!

I just can't get enough of this stuff!

Bill Bryson visit

Rainy days and Mondays -- (or the combination of both) -- always get me down...

Bill Bryson, here I come!

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