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4th out of 43 books
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37 voters
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Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey
About a quarter century ago, a previously unknown writer named William Least Heat-Moon wrote a book called Blue Highways. Acclaimed as a classic, it was a travel book like no other. Quirky, discursive, endlessly curious, Heat-Moon had embarked on an American journey off the beaten path. Sticking to the small places via the small roads--those colored blue on maps--he uncove...more
Hardcover, 480 pages
Published
October 29th 2008
by Little, Brown and Company
(first published October 11th 2008)
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3 1/2 rounded up to 4. I could have given it a 5 if he hadn't gotten so wordy in places. There were parts I just had to skip over, but the rest of the book mostly made up for it. I realize that wouldn't bother a lot of people, but I tend to start skimming books after a hundred or so pages as it is.
Ajk
rated it
Recommends it for:
People who love America and want to revel in how awesome it is.
Shelves:
non-fiction
Between moving 3 times in the same city, taking two trips out of country, and actually having a job, this one took a while to read. The fact that it weighs in at 608 pages didn't hurt, either. But what a 608 pages it was.
Roads to Quoz is about William Least-Heat Moon's travels around the U.S. It's really six different books in one, as he goes to the Pine Belt South, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Great Plains, and Mid-Atlantic. All the trips are different and are quite stand alo...more
Roads to Quoz is about William Least-Heat Moon's travels around the U.S. It's really six different books in one, as he goes to the Pine Belt South, Southeast, Southwest, Northeast, Great Plains, and Mid-Atlantic. All the trips are different and are quite stand alo...more
More than twenty years after writing the classic Blue Highways, Least Heat-Moon has written another road trip book that I thoroughly enjoyed. He’s a hardcore traveler who has been to every county in the lower 48. He has documented six of his journeys in this book. On some of the journeys he’s in search of something and on some he’s traveling just to see what he can see. There are times when his complaints seem to be those of a crotchety elitist, but for the most part I think his critiques o...more
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I’m having a hard time putting my finger on why I didn’t enjoy this book. I loved Blue Highways, Least-Heat Moon’s solitary journey through the forgotten backroads of America. Though Roads to Quoz is very similar in content, and the flowery prose is both creative and entertaining, the book itself failed to draw me in. Perhaps it’s a lack of a feeling of authenticity? The sense of navel-gazing is much stronger this time around, and the travels in this story were undertaken ostensibly to feed t...more
Years ago, the book "Blue Highways" influenced me as I had the opportunity to travel around the US, but this Roads to Quoz did not recapture the spirit of that book (in my opinion).
In this book, William Least Heat Moon is traveling with his wife (I think they're married) and I'm happy for him that he's in love, but their ongoing cutesy banter irritated me. Travel writing may be more compelling when the writer is on his/her own.
Some of his descriptions of the pl...more
In this book, William Least Heat Moon is traveling with his wife (I think they're married) and I'm happy for him that he's in love, but their ongoing cutesy banter irritated me. Travel writing may be more compelling when the writer is on his/her own.
Some of his descriptions of the pl...more
Road's to Quoz is a book you read for the meandering travels of the author and find out many facets the author introduces you to in one book. What is Quoz? Pg 9, "quoz, a noun, both singular and plural, referring to anything strange, incongruous, or peculoiar, at its heart is the unknown, the mysterious." The travels across the U.S., the people he meets, the history he explores are not the well known but the little known which are often quickly forgotten but are so interesting and uniq...more
This work of over 500 pages would benefit greatly by trimming down to half its length. I'm sure the author himself could never do that because he is obviously in love with his wit and verbiage. Really disappointing because I love a good travel read...and because some of this is really good. The author often catches one up in the narrative only to become annoyingly erudite. What a show off; not only of his own cleverness, but his wife's as well.
The only wat to get through this is to skip a...more
The only wat to get through this is to skip a...more
Hmm, what category does travel writing belong in? Fiction or non-? I think I'll keep it in fiction, cuz it was fun to read! Though I didn't love it as much as I loved "Blue Highways," which was one of my all-time favorite books I've read.
Anyway, "Roads to Quoz." Still enjoyable to read. It's long, so it's good for a long plane trip, or vacation, or whenever you have time for a slow, rambling read. It's not a page-turner; it's a relaxed ride, like "Life ...more
Anyway, "Roads to Quoz." Still enjoyable to read. It's long, so it's good for a long plane trip, or vacation, or whenever you have time for a slow, rambling read. It's not a page-turner; it's a relaxed ride, like "Life ...more
We met William Least Heat-Moon when we visited the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. You can listen to him talk about "Roads to Quoz: An American Mosey" here: www.authorsontourlive.com/?p=207
Book info:
William Least Heat-Moon’s first book "Blue Highways" was acclaimed as a classic–a travel book like no other. Quirky, discursive, endlessly curious, Heat-Moon had embarked on a journey off the beaten path. Sticking to the small places via the small roads-tho...more
Book info:
William Least Heat-Moon’s first book "Blue Highways" was acclaimed as a classic–a travel book like no other. Quirky, discursive, endlessly curious, Heat-Moon had embarked on a journey off the beaten path. Sticking to the small places via the small roads-tho...more
Least Heat-Moon is a difficult author for me. I read (aloud) his Blue Highways in 1987 while we moved across country from Bellingham WA to Chapel Hill NC. I loved it. Then I tried to read PrairyErth and RIver Horse and although I loved the premise of each book, I just couldn't get far into them. The author is quite self absorbed and basically you are getting his thoughts while traveling and sometimes it is interesting and sometimes not.
I enjoyed listening to Roads to Quoz which is a...more
I enjoyed listening to Roads to Quoz which is a...more
Anyone who likes good writing will like WLHM - I've been a fan since reading the first installment of "Blue Highways" years ago. WLHM is a master teller of anecdotes and weaver of tales. Seemingly ordinary true lives and stories become in his hands the extraordinary. A couple of examples of his beautiful writing -
"A river fits its vale as a seed its fruit, but to know the pit is not also to know the peach."
"...I admit Ive never been good at ha...more
"A river fits its vale as a seed its fruit, but to know the pit is not also to know the peach."
"...I admit Ive never been good at ha...more
Typical Heat-Moon book. A good read if you're into meeting personally quirky people in off-the-beaten-path places.
I think the book is better early on. The more it progresses, the more it seems to repeat itself - not the stories, but the overall theme. And the last section following the ICW down the East Coast seems like just a long float to nowhere. Only when he goes ashore does the author tell us about his usual assortment of interesting meet-ups.
By the way, I am not...more
I think the book is better early on. The more it progresses, the more it seems to repeat itself - not the stories, but the overall theme. And the last section following the ICW down the East Coast seems like just a long float to nowhere. Only when he goes ashore does the author tell us about his usual assortment of interesting meet-ups.
By the way, I am not...more
Excellent. Classic Heat Moon quoziness exploring the corners of the US that few others ever bother to report from. Few, if any, write with such a glint in their eye as he does. Each chapter is a new delight of oddity - full of colour, sounds, and smells. Most of the smells are great...
WLHM has a knack of writing about places in a way that makes me want to visit if not the exact same destinations, then at least an opolis in the right direction..just over there.. Great stuff. I don't know how long...more
WLHM has a knack of writing about places in a way that makes me want to visit if not the exact same destinations, then at least an opolis in the right direction..just over there.. Great stuff. I don't know how long...more
Marla
marked it as to-read
William Least Heat-Moon's books have been few and far between but always worth the wait. His travel writings are somewhat like Bill Bryson's--entertaining, enlightening and thoughtful. However, the reader reviewers on Amazon have not been entirely kind to this book. Like me, nearly every one of them has loved his previous books and looked forward to this one being another delight. The critical reviewers all tend to agree on what they don't like. Still, I'll have to judge for myself but I'll...more
William Least Heat-Moon mosies on his road to Quoz throughout this large volume. It captured my imagination. He rambles around the country meeting colorful characters and relates the history of the places he visits. I wish I shared his ease in getting people to open up.
In case you were wondering...Quoz - anything, anywhere, living or otherwise, connecting a human to existence and bringing an individual into the cosmos and integrating one with the immemorial, thereby making each l...more
In case you were wondering...Quoz - anything, anywhere, living or otherwise, connecting a human to existence and bringing an individual into the cosmos and integrating one with the immemorial, thereby making each l...more
This was a difficult book to mosey through. Perhaps the author got a dictionary of rare and obscure words as a gift and decided to see how many of them he could use in one book. He clearly delights in the English language, and that is a good quality in an author, but all things in moderation please!
I loved Blue Highways from cover-to-cover. Like that earlier work, Roads to Quaz: An American Mosey is a travelogue (although the author denies us and challenges us to learn what "...more
I loved Blue Highways from cover-to-cover. Like that earlier work, Roads to Quaz: An American Mosey is a travelogue (although the author denies us and challenges us to learn what "...more
i listened to about half the book. Sherman Howard, the reader, is the best book reader i've ever heard. couldn't believe that this wasn't His book. he could read the joy of cooking and i'd listen.
william least heat-moon however is too in love w/his wordsmithery to allow me to continue w/the book. every word in american dictionaries that start w/the letter Q is used. i suspect he'd moved on to the o.e.d. when i'd given up. and he isn't too fond of those believing in Christ.
william least heat-moon however is too in love w/his wordsmithery to allow me to continue w/the book. every word in american dictionaries that start w/the letter Q is used. i suspect he'd moved on to the o.e.d. when i'd given up. and he isn't too fond of those believing in Christ.
I liked this book much better than Blue Highways, though I still do think William runs on too much at times. Roads to Quoz made me laugh on page after page. In this book he has a wonderful sense of the small, touching, and sometimes silly--but often just human. We get enough of his meditation, but also some of his people-watching, which is the part I like best. his wife seems like no slouch either. I'm glad I took a risk on this book after reading the first travelogue.
Years have passed since I first encountered Mr. Least Heat-Moon in Blue Highways. What a treat to have him as a contemporary during my time on the planet. I enjoyed reading his books over the years and hope there are more to come. Roads to Quoz relates shorter travels than did Blue Highways, but still is full of detail on the topics of concern. Many more books please, or at least one or two more good ones before you retire.
Chuckell
added it
With maybe 50 pages to go, I am giving up on this book. Listen, there may be some people who don't already know, bone deep, that Americans as a people have taken a criminally disdainful approach to preserving our nation's natural beauties and bounties. But the thing is, no one who doesn't already feel that way is ever going to pick up a book titled Roads to Quoz anyway--they're all too busy snow-mobiling and off-roading. So my feeling is that I don't need to be reminded, at least once every othe...more
Anyone who knows me knows I suffer from chronic wanderlust. It helps that I have a man in my life who is a fellow sufferer, so I don't know if reading these kinds of books helps or hurts. All I do know is my travel bucket list has grown tenfold now. My father has recommended Heat-Moon's books for some time and I can see why. There is a great mixture of history, humor, and and quirky characters that make this a wonderful read. Not only do I want to travel the ICW (google it), but I would love to ...more
Maggie
is currently reading it
I read 49 pages of this and then returned it to the library. Then I decided to try again -- again after a book club discussion -- but I'm skipping around. Reading the Northeast section because I lived there and climbed some of the mountains there that are included in this book. Not fond of this author's constant intrusion of self into the stories.
I loved this book!!! It is pretty long and I enjoyed taking my time reading it. I good a kick out of the humor and I've told many people about it.
The point of the book is the value of paying attention to the people you meet in your travels and finding a way to truly remember the places you've been. Also those places you remember are changing fast. I leave it to the reader to mosey through the book, I leave only this quote.
"Gus Kubitzki held that life is a cosmic b...more
The point of the book is the value of paying attention to the people you meet in your travels and finding a way to truly remember the places you've been. Also those places you remember are changing fast. I leave it to the reader to mosey through the book, I leave only this quote.
"Gus Kubitzki held that life is a cosmic b...more
Really 4.5 stars I enjoyed this book so much -- William Least Heat Moon has always seemed like someone I'd like to have a beer (or 2) with. His writing style is so lyrical -- it's like reading poetry. It's a great travel book, a wonderful journey story, and a fascinating look at small towns in the US.
I read Blue Highways and it was one of my all time favorites. But I had trouble finishing this one. In fact, I skipped parts of a couple of the chapters. While I enjoyed the offbeat nature of Blue Highways, the focus here was just too weird, and I liberal as I am, I grew tired of his sometime patronizing liberal slants
I read only the last section, "Down an Old Waterway," pp. 497-562, which tells of a journey down the Intracoastal Waterway, because we will have a journey on that waterway in late April, going in the opposite direction, from Jacksonville, FL to Charleston, SC.
The problem with William Least Heat-Moon's books are that they are really big - he must take years to write them - and they move so slowly that you really have to slog your way through them. Quite often it's really not worth the effort.
This is a fun book about a guy and his wife (or girlfriend, hard to say)driving around the country on back roads. He is a bit of a lefty commie but he is still an interesting writer sharing his adventures.
'Americas greatest chronicler of blue highways has returned' says the dust jacket.
He has and he has some excellent stories, beautifully told. But one has to wade through a lot of dross to savor them.
He has and he has some excellent stories, beautifully told. But one has to wade through a lot of dross to savor them.
I bought this book for my mother and borrowed it back over Christmas. Wonderfully fantastic, and I think I'd like to meet this author, who shares my love for useless information. Quoztastic!
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From wikipedia:
William Least Heat-Moon, byname of William Trogdon is an American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry. He is the author of a bestselling trilogy of topographical U.S. travel writing.
His pen name came from his father saying, "I call myself Heat Moon, your elder brother is Little Heat Moon. You, coming last, therefore, are Least."...more
More about William Least Heat-Moon...
William Least Heat-Moon, byname of William Trogdon is an American travel writer of English, Irish and Osage Nation ancestry. He is the author of a bestselling trilogy of topographical U.S. travel writing.
His pen name came from his father saying, "I call myself Heat Moon, your elder brother is Little Heat Moon. You, coming last, therefore, are Least."...more
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