THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THE THUNDERBOLT KID [A MEMOIR] BY BILL BRYSON

Good, fun, easy read ... strange that it was recommended to me by several "younger" friends because the time frame is cemented in my era.

Is one of the funniest books that I have ever read. I recommend this book to anybody that loves to laugh.

This book is for those who love movies like Stand By Me, A Christmas Story and to a lesser extent sentimental television shows like "The Wonder Years". Bill Bryson is a great writer and a great storyteller. I realized this as soon as I read the first few chapters of another book of his, "A Walk In the Woods". Rarely, do I get even a chuckle out of a book. It takes a certain...more

This book is for those who love movies like Stand By Me, A Christmas Story and to a lesser extent sentimental television shows like "The Wonder Years". Bill Bryson is a great writer and a great storyteller. I realized this as soon as I read the first few chapters of another book of his, "A Walk In the Woods". Rarely, do I get even a chuckle out of a book. It takes a certain something for a book to make me laugh. Bryson's aforementioned book made me laugh and so did this one. Quite a lot in fact. This book is about growing up in the 50s but the themes are universal. I grew up in the 80s and it didn't make a lick of difference really because I could relate to a lot of what Bryson recalls. He specifically talks about his childhood house and how he knew every nook and cranny and what was underneath everyone's beds and what every single type of non-edible object tasted like. Yep, that's childhood. Bryson's fond memories of his paper route and the old people who he delivered newspaper to reminded me of my years as a paperboy in the quite different early 90s. The old people were still quirky, bizarre and sometimes scary. I'd recommend this book. An easy and enjoyable read.   hide

A fun autobiography of growing up in the '50s. A trip down memory lane with numerous laugh-out-loud moments.