Bill Bryson's "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid" will be the November discussion book for Cannon Beach Reads. Photo from www.barnesandnoble.com

CANNON BEACH – “The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid,” by Bill Bryson, is the Cannon Beach Reads selection for November. A discussion about the book will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 19, in the Cannon Beach Library, 131 N. Hemlock St.

Born in 1951 in the middle of the United States and using “The Thunderbolt Kid” persona as a springboard, Bryson re-creates the life of his family 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 says, 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 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.

Bryson was born in Des Moines, Iowa, in 1951. He attended Drake University but dropped out in 1972, deciding to backpack around Europe for four months. Some of his experiences in Europe are relived as flashbacks in “Neither Here Nor There: Travels in Europe,” which documents a similar journey Bryson made 20 years later.

Bryson first visited England in 1973 during his tour of Europe and decided to stay after landing a job working in a psychiatric hospital. It was there that he met a nurse named Cynthia, whom he eventually married. The couple returned to the U.S. in 1975 so Bryson could complete his college degree, after which, in 1977, they settled in England, where they remained until 1995. Living in North Yorkshire and mainly working as a journalist, Bryson eventually became chief sub-editor of the business section of The Times, and then deputy national news editor of the business section of The Independent. He left journalism in 1987 and started writing independently.

In 1995, Bryson returned to the United States to live in Hanover, N.H. for several years; stories about this time are included in his book “I’m A Stranger Here Myself,” alternatively titled “Notes from a Big Country” in Britain and Canada. In 2003, however, the Brysons and their four children returned to England .

In 2004, Bryson won the prestigious Aventis Prize for best general science book with “A Short History of Nearly Everything.” This 500-page popular literature piece explores not only the histories and current state of the sciences, but also reveals their humble and often humorous beginnings.

Cannon Beach Reads is a free book group sponsored by the nonprofit Cannon Beach Library to encourage reading and discussion of significant books. Anyone can attend the discussion, even if they have not read the book. Books can be purchased at the Cannon Beach Book Company or are available to be checked out at the library. For further information about Cannon Beach Reads, call the library at (503) 436-1391.