Dream Whip

"Dream Whip" treats us to a paperback edition of Bill Brown's latest ramblings of modern American wanderlust. "Dream Whip" mixes short evocative stories with a romantic, almost eternal longing. Reminiscent of the work of Bill Bryson, David Sedaris or an episode of "This American Life," "Dream Whip"has the amazing ability to mix laugh-out-loud stories with goosebump-inducing spookiness.Here are anecdotes of small towns, landmarks and would-be landmarks, diners with good egg salad and a cast of unforgettable characters. Bill tells of St. Roch, the patron saint of lost causes, whose church is littered with discarded crutches and prosthetic limbs. He laments, "In Austin it was impossible to go on a simple errand without falling in love. Every time I mailed a letter or went to buy a loaf of bread, I'd end up with a broken heart.""Dream Whip" is vividly illustrated by Brown, whose hand-drawn landscapes are both simple and lonesomely elegant. With an eye for architecture and nature's malevolent motives, Bill's illustrations perfectly reflect his careful understanding and big-hearted, inevitably sad regard for life.