The life and times of the thunderbolt kid: a memoir
From one of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s.
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."
Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.
9780739346594
9780767926317
9780739315231
9780767919364
9780375434303
Grouping Information
Grouped Work ID | 55849769-7965-b503-7785-38ac3c9c874b |
---|---|
Grouping Title | life and times of the thunderbolt kid |
Grouping Author | bill bryson |
Grouping Category | book |
Grouping Language | English (eng) |
Last Grouping Update | 2023-05-27 06:01:16AM |
Last Indexed | 2023-05-27 06:06:56AM |
Solr Fields
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From one of the world's most beloved writers and New York Times bestselling author of A Walk in the Woods and The Body, a vivid, nostalgic, and utterly hilarious memoir of growing up in the 1950s.
Bill Bryson was born in the middle of the American century—1951—in the middle of the United States—Des Moines, Iowa—in the middle of the largest generation in American history—the baby boomers. As one of the best and funniest writers alive, he is perfectly positioned to mine his memories of a totally all-American childhood for 24-carat memoir gold. Like millions of his generational peers, Bill Bryson grew up with a rich fantasy life as a superhero. In his case, he ran around his house and neighborhood with an old football jersey with a thunderbolt on it and a towel about his neck that served as his cape, leaping tall buildings in a single bound and vanquishing awful evildoers (and morons)—in his head—as "The Thunderbolt Kid."
Using this persona as a springboard, Bill Bryson re-creates the life of his family and his native city in the 1950s in all its transcendent normality—a life at once completely familiar to us all and as far away and unreachable as another galaxy. It was, he reminds us, a happy time, when automobiles and televisions and appliances (not to mention nuclear weapons) grew larger and more numerous with each passing year, and DDT, cigarettes, and the fallout from atmospheric testing were considered harmless or even good for you. He brings us into the life of his loving but eccentric family, including affectionate portraits of his father, a gifted sportswriter for the local paper and dedicated practitioner of isometric exercises, and of his mother, whose job as the home furnishing editor for the same paper left her little time for practicing the domestic arts at home. The many readers of Bill Bryson’s earlier classic, A Walk in the Woods, will greet the reappearance in these pages of the immortal Stephen Katz, seen hijacking literally boxcar loads of beer. He is joined in the Bryson gallery of immortal characters by the demonically clever Willoughby brothers, who apply their scientific skills and can-do attitude to gleefully destructive ends.
Warm and laugh-out-loud funny, and full of his inimitable, pitch-perfect observations, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid is as wondrous a book as Bill Bryson has ever written. It will enchant anyone who has ever been young.
CD Audiobook
Large Print
eAudiobook
eBook
Books
eBook
9780739315231
9780739346594
9780767919364
9780767919371
9780767926317
Adult Book Non-Fiction
Adult Fiction
FOL ADULT CD/SPOKEN WORD
WDP CD SPOKEN WD ADULT
Non Fiction
Rancho Cordova
Broadway Books
Crown
Random House Audio
Random House Large Print
Bryson, Bill
Travel writers -- United States -- Biography
The life and times of the thunderbolt kid : a memoir / Bill Bryson
The life and times of the thunderbolt kid [sound recording] : [a memoir] / Bill Bryson
The life and times of the thunderbolt kid [text (large print)] : a memoir / Bill Bryson
Bryson, Bill
Essays
Humor (Nonfiction)
Nonfiction
Travel writers
Solr Details Tables
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overdrive:bdba9116-d2d5-4b70-8359-aad49ecf7106 | eBook | eBook | English | Crown | 2006 | |||
ils:.b17813530 | CD Audiobook | Audio Books | English | Random House Audio | p2006 | 6 sound discs (ca. 7 hrs., 30 min.) : digital ; 4 3/4 in. | ||
ils:.b17753612 | Book | Books | 1st ed | English | Broadway Books | c2006 | x, 270 p. : ill. ; 25 cm. | |
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