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Nowhere was like everywhere else, says author Bill Bryson of his childhood. Looking back he laments the blanding out of contemporary culture, but his universal appeal shows that although the world may be a smaller place these days, it still enjoys the gentle tug of nostalgia and the occasional poke in the eye.
At the Hyatt today, the best-selling author charmed 550 fans at a sellout Herald-Dymocks book lunch, with his wry humour and sly observation.
The genial American who has spent much of his life in Britain talked about growing up in 1950s America - a time of unbridled optimism and innocence - and read from his memoir The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid. The book about childhood has struck a chord worldwide and follows on from his travel writing and the popular science book, The Short History of Almost Everything, which has sold 65,000 copies in New Zealand alone.
He had the audience in stitches with stories of life in Des Moines, Iowa, growing up in a household of journalists where wordplay was a way of life. His father, he said, took the family across America on a road-trip to prove he was generous to a fault - this he did by throwing a quarter into the San Andreas faultline.
Bryson told the crowd, "I've never been very good at profundities - I just blurt something out," but later in fielding questions he revealed some of the craft - and eye for detail - that goes into his writing.
The Short History took four years of careful research and hectoring from his publisher to drag him out of museums. His travel writing was now based more on memory than notes.
"What remains is, I think, the stuff that is worth remembering."
To the inevitable question about what he thought about New Zealand, Bryson was fulsome in his praise.
Bryson was cagey on whether he'll turn his critical eye on Aotearoa anytime soon, but the idea is on his maybe to do list. Next up is a book on a subject to be decided, but which involves a promise to his wife that it won't involve globe-trotting.
It was the biggest crowd yet for a Herald-Dymocks book lunch. Bryson has a number of other appearances lined up and he is mid-way through a week-long publicity tour of the country's main centres.
At the weekend he heads to Queenstown for a few days rest with his daughter, a serious runner, who skipped the Herald lunch yesterday in favour of jogging in the Domain.
In Saturday's Weekend Herald you can read Carroll du Chateau's full interview with Bryson.
