A travelogue by Bill Bryson is as close to a sure thing as funny books get. The Lost Continent is no exception. Following an urge to rediscover his youth (he should know better), the author leaves his native Des Moines, Iowa, in a journey that takes him across 38 states. Lucky for us, he brought a notebook.

With a razor wit and a kind heart, Bryson serves up a colourful tale of boredom, kitsch, and beauty when you least expect it. Gentler elements aside, The Lost Continent is an amusing book. Here's Bryson on the women of his native state: "I will say this, however--and it's a strange, strange thing--the teenaged daughters of these fat women are always utterly delectable ... I don't know what it is that happens to them, but it must be awful to marry one of those nubile cuties knowing that there is a time bomb ticking away in her that will at some unknown date make her bloat out into something huge and grotesque, presumably all of a sudden and without much notice, like a self- inflating raft from which the pin has been yanked."

Yes, Bill, but be honest: what do you really think?

2008-09-10 Pants-wettingly funny

I think you either dig Bryson or you don't. This was the second book of his I read (first was Neither Here nor There). A year or so after I read the book I got this (on tape) to hear on holiday, and began listening in the departure lounge at LHR. Basically my wife had to virtually throw a fire-bucket over me since I was apparently making a spectacle of myself. Kerry Shale's rapid-fire delivery really makes this a great (if exhausting) listen. Even though I've heard it many times (and have attempted to mimic parts of it to friends a thousand times) I still don't get tired of hearing it. If the weather's crap and there's nothing on TV this is hard to beat for sheer pants-wettingly funny listening. The best bits are Kerry Shale's take on the Southern accent: "Can I HEP you?" "Ha doo lack Miss Hippy?" [you're going to need to buy it to figure this one out] and my special favourite "How about a piece o'Pah? We got blueberry, blackberry, raspberry, boysenberry, huckleberry, whortleberry, cherry berry, hair berry, Chuck Berry and Beri Beri". Frankly, if you can listen to this stuff for longer than a minute or two without cracking up you've either got no sense of humour or you deserve an award.