The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid
I needed a pit of a pick-me-up after the nightmare that was American Psycho, so I cracked open Bill Bryson’s latest book, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. It was just what I needed. (Not quite a unicorn chaser, but pretty close.) It’s basically just Bryson talking about his childhood growing up in the 50’s in Des Moines, Iowa, a place and time that are now so remote to us that Bryson can approach it like one of his other travel books. Since we saw the author in person earlier this year, it was as if I could hear his actual voice reading this one out loud. My favorite part was his several-years-long struggle to get into the “stripper tent” at the Iowa State Fair. His friend Stephen Katz (from A Walk in the Woods) makes an appearance towards the end. Overall it was a quick and pleasant read, though I’d still rank Down Under (known as In a Sunburned Country in the US) as his funniest. (And that’s not because I live here; I read it while we were still back in England.) If you’re the type of person that enjoys the gentle, nostalgic humor of A Christmas Story, then you’ll like this book.