Be ready to go places you’ve never been

In A Sunburned Country, Bill Bryson, Doubleday Canada, 307 pages, $35

When you start reading this latest book by Bill Bryson, be prepared to go places you’ve never been – even if you’ve lived there or been there before.

In A Sunburned Country is a frolicking adventure Down Under that is not only hilarious and fascinating, but also a window on parts of Australia seldom seen or heard.

Bryson visits all the usual suspects, including Sydney, Melbourne and Surfers Paradise, but also ventures into the outback – that “boundless blank” – going way off the beaten track to places like Broken Hill, Tanunda and Daly Waters.

“Clearly (Australia) is a place worth getting to know,” he writes, and he does so by exploring the small, the fascinating, and the downright weird – the stromatolites in Shark Bay, the audiovisual theatre in Cowra, and the pet shop in Young.

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