I like Bill Bryson - a very unassuming, quiet man. I knew him fairly vaguely/casually during the years when he lived at Malham (I was a coach at the nearest athletics track and his eldest son trained there so Bill often picked him up). A very genuine chap - when my youngest daughter and I drove around New England during her gap year, we called in and were made very welcome.
This is not to comment on his literary style - everyone has their own tastes- but as a man he is a very decent, likeable human being.