At Home: A Short History of Private Life

At Home: A Short History of Private Life
By: Bill Bryson

I always enjoy Bill Bryson’s books, and though this one didn’t have me laughing out loud like A Walk in the Woods did, it’s still pleasant reading. In this book, the author goes from room to room in the old English house and uses each room’s function as a lead in to all sorts of interesting trivia about the way the world was when the house was first built or even earlier, and how things have evolved over time. The Drawing Room, for instance, (which, Bryson explains, comes from an older term Withdrawing Room, and was a room that the family could withdraw to for privacy) starts out as a discussion of comfort but soon wanders into topics ranging from crop rotation to English furniture. If you like history and enjoy learning bits of unusual trivia this would be an excellent book choice.

Sallie
Indian River Library