I'm a Stranger Here Myself

Notes on Returning to America After 20 Years Away

By: Bill Bryson

Narrated by: William Roberts

A classic from the New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body.

After living in Britain for two decades, Bill Bryson recently moved back to the United States with his English wife and four children (he had read somewhere that nearly 3 million Americans believed they had been abducted by aliens—as he later put it, "it was clear my people needed me"). They were greeted by a new and improved America that boasts microwave pancakes, twenty-four-hour dental-floss hotlines, and the staunch conviction that ice is not a luxury item.

Delivering the brilliant comic musings that are a Bryson hallmark, I'm a Stranger Here Myself recounts his sometimes disconcerting reunion with the land of his birth. The result is a book filled with hysterical scenes of one man's attempt to reacquaint himself with his own country, but it is also an extended if at times bemused love letter to the homeland he has returned to after twenty years away.

Critic reviews

Praise For A Walk In The Woods:

"[Bryson is] great company from the start...equal parts Garrison Keillor, Michael Kinsley and...Dave Barry."
--The New York Times Book Review

"[A] terribly misguided and terribly funny tale of adventure....The yarn is choke-on-your-coffee funny."
--Washington Post

"A Walk In The Woods is an almost perfect travel book."
--Boston Globe

"Nobody has written anything like this book. It's funny--so funny I was laughing out loud and reading passages to anyone who would listen."
--Providence Journal-Bulletin

"Bill Bryson could write an essay about dryer lint or fever reducers and still make us laugh out loud."
--Chicago Sun-Times

Great light read

This was really fun to listen to — both because of what is being said and how it’s being said. Loved it even in 2023 even though it’s clearly a bit outdated.

Bill Bryson Exposes America's Good and Bad

Would you listen to I'm a Stranger Here Myself again? Why?

Yes, it is very funny, and he puts in words many of my same thoughts on topics like TV advertising and other strange things of American life.

What did you like best about this story?

His reading, his punch lines, his working in some history and facts that you likely didn't know, but now have at your fingertips because of his original way of describing them.

Which scene was your favorite?

The column on the missing Lear Jet, but a dozen or more touched me in special ways.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

No, it is easy to break apart as it is actually columns that appeared in a British paper, so each chapter stands along. Although they are all so interesting to me, I would have enjoyed listening to them all in one sitting. Others might not.

Any additional comments?

Bryson is a 5-Star author and also is a great reader of his own material. A really rare thing. I have listened to almost all his audio books. When he doesn't read them, the stand in reader sounds almost like him, which is a huge plus. These are books you can listen to over and over -- light enough on content, but there's enough that it leaves impressions on the listener and adds to the listeners feeling that they have "been along as a guest" on Bill's travels He had no peer that I know of in that category.

Sweet but dated

Love Bill Bryson, but this piece is mostly "current" commentary from over 20 years ago, a bit stale. Plenty of other great Bill Bryson reads to find!

Seems like it was written in the late 1990's.

What did you like best about I'm a Stranger Here Myself? What did you like least?

I like Bill Bryson, but most of this material is too out of date. I gave up listening about half way through.
It would be helpful if Audible included the original date of publication in their descriptions.

fun and often true. a tlittle exadurated.

Bill likes to wright about the various differences in lifestyle between England and the United States. you get a kick out of agreeing with his comparisons. sometimes however he exadurates. however its that bit of bravado that can make things interesting and sport a contrast. so I liked it. however this book for me anyway is by no means groundbreaking. the usa is a great country to visit and live in. I imagine so is great Britain. no place is exactly how one would envision, I'd say because they are real places, not just ones perception.