ROADS TO QUOZ

If you're in a hurry to get somewhere, use the expressway. But if you have time to meander and marvel at things along the way, use America's blue highways, the small roads that allow such reflection. William Least Heat-Moon introduced America to the BLUE HIGHWAYS 25 years ago, and now he's back with ROADS TO QUOZ, a ramble through wonderful and mysterious places that most Americans never see from the superhighways. Narrator Sherman Howard perfectly delivers the author’s saunter through the states. Howard's untroubled, unhurried exposition allows the listener to bask in the splendid (sometimes overdone) descriptions of "all things Quoz—things strange, incongruous, or peculiar." Howard delights in telling us about the mysterious Quapaw Ghost Light of Oklahoma or southern river towns that time forgot. It's like sitting on Grandpa's knee or hearing the ghost of Charles Kuralt exulting in all the wonderful tiny things that make up the fabric of America. M.S. © AudioFile 2008, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2008]