Recently I was looking for a book to read before I went to sleep that wouldn’t cause dysfunctional family, C.I.S.-ish, war and/or grief ridden nightmares and I discovered Bill Bryson’s, The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid buried in my TBR pile. Bryson is a travel writer who has taken on other subjects in his last few books, writing with the same witty, ironic style that made his travelogues so popular. The Thunderbolt Kid is a memoir of his years growing up in Iowa in the 1950’s, and although bookbabie was born at the very end of the 50’s (practically the 60’s really), much of this book still rang true for me. (Apparently Silly Putty, Slinkys, wax lips, and crazy relatives are institutions of an American childhood no matter when or where you are born!) I’m going to reccomend it to my husband, Mr. Bookbabie, who is closer to Mr. Bryson’s age (much, much older than bookbabie herself). Even though he mostly reads work related stuff, I think he will really enjoy this book. It’s a fun read, particularly for anyone who is a baby boomer, or who raised boomers in the postwar, sleepy fifties – a charmer!