The Next Best Book Club discussion

I love a good western and have all the Louis L'aMour
books written. I have read many other authors such as Grey,Kelton,Hackman,Dicksion,Compton and more. I am
curious to see if anyone else like westerns or am I alone? If you enjoy a good western, which book is your favorite?

I like westerns! I haven't read all that many, but I've been looking to expand on that, so I'm open to all suggestions! The first I read was Kiowa Trail by Louis L'Amour, which my grandfather recommended, and I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it. Any other books you recommend?

Jess, I am glad that you enjoyed Kiowa Trail and would be happy to recommend ANY Louis L'Amour book
as a good read and if you have not yet read, Sacketts Land,To the Far Blue Mountians, The warriors Path and Jubal, please try them.The first book takes place in 1599 (I think) not a true western but it is a great book and it leads up to some very good storylines for future books.
I could go on for hours about his books but I wont. If you enjoy these and want more suggestions, please feel free to contact me through Goodreads.

Someone must still read them, since they're still being printed! Personally I love the Louis L'amour westerns, and have quite a few of them(in paperback). Did you read The Walking Drum? Like the early Sackett stories, it's not a western per se, but I really enjoyed it.

I thought The Walking Drum was one of his best books and was looking forward to the 2nd book based around this character but sadly it never happened.
Since you enjoyed The Walking Drum, you might also enjoy The Jester, by James Patterson If you have read it I would be curious to hear what you thought of it.

As for the westerns being written these days, I do not find many that I enjoy reading.Especially the so called Adult westerns. When I started this topic I was hoping to find others like myself who enjoy a good western and could maybe suggest some good books.
and I still have high hopes to accomplish just that.

Elmore Leonard started his career writing westerns. I saw one in the library and took it home. It was good. It's called Hombre. I might read more of Leonard's westerns if I run across any.

Another great western author was Max Brand. He also wrote the Dr Kildare series, what a contrast!

Thanks A.B.R and Karen for reminding me of those two authors. I have read some books from both but had failed to continue with their writings.
Just now I visited Barnes and Noble's web site and have purchased for my Nook, Gunsights,Forty Lashes, Escape from Five Shadows and Last Stand at Saber River by Leonard
Also Stolen Stallion,False Rider and Silvertip by Brand.
I love my nook color.The book prices are reasonable which allows me to buy more books and they take up no space in my house. This can be a problem as both my wife and I read a lot and have different taste in materials.

I quickly scanned the above comments looking for some of my favorite books or new books I would also like. I am not positive the books I love the most would be considered Westerns, as they all feature a female main character. I'm thinking of A SUDDEN COUNTRY by Karen Fisher, or JUMP-OFF CREEK by Molly Gloss, or a new novel LITTLE CENTURY by Anne Keesey. All of these take place out West, in the past, the landscape (and the weather) are as expressive and as important as any other characters in the book, and simply put, life is hard, for men & women. I will try some of the Westerns mentioned above: anyone curious about the books I've mentioned, or can think of others from a woman's point of view?

Oh, just thought of one more, that I am enjoying now: The Orchardist, by Amanda Coplin. Takes place in central Washington state, around the turn of the last century.

Emily,Little Century is in my to read list and after reading your comments I looked up the three books you mentioned and they all sound interesting to me (That means that I will need to find them and read them)
As to women being the main character. I have read a lot of books with a strong female lead and books written by women authors and have found this to be true--If the story is good, that's all that is important. Thanks for the books

My husband has always loved Louis L'Amour. We travel a lot and he started sharing his collection of audio books like To the Far Blue Mountains. I'm afraid I have been hooked on these books!!! I'm basically a young adult and romance fan, so this was a surprise!

I too am hooked on audio books and have a nice collection growing,mostly Louis L'Amour and I believe my favorite would be Jubal.
These are great when you are on the road, I don't think I have turned my radio on in years.

I used to read a lot of western when I was younger. L'Amour was one of my favorite authors, and I especially liked the books about the Sackett clan. However, I can't remember the last time I read a western book. For some reason I stopped reading them, not sure why.

Read 'The Sisters Brothers ' by Patrick De Witt, short listed for the Booker Prize. My first western I admit. If you haven't read it yet it is a must.

Keep the suggestions coming, I say! This is great, I'm finding a lot of books that I would like to read.

No but this thread just introduced me to a genre I haven't tasted yet.

Reminds me of the popular PS3 viedogame Red Dead Redemption... it really deserves its own novel.

My father is a big fan of Westerns, so much so that I think he has probably read every single book in the genre. I read all his Louis L'Amour books when I was a kid.

It was fun to re-read The Lonesome Gods a number of years ago when I moved to Los Angeles as it is set in LA back when it was all ranches and wild horses and the local Native Americans still went to the Tar Pits (now redundantly called the "La Brea Tar Pits" (La Brea means "the tar")) to get tar for various uses -- how it all has changed. Lonesome Gods is probably my favorite L'Amour book, thought the Sackett books were a lot of fun too.

I know my father also enjoyed Zane Grey's books as well as a few other authors in the genre. I think the Western (book, tv, movie) maybe got oversaturated for a while, but it's been a while now and it would be nice to see a popular revival of this much neglected genre.

Westerns were my first experience with genre fiction. I was a big fan of Zane Grey, as well as Louis L'Amour and Max Brand.

Just this week I picked up a new book, The Cowboy and the Cossack. Amazon has come out with a new edition as part of their "Book Lust" series to revive books that have been out of print. I started reading it and so far it's great! A cattle drive with Montana cowboys and Russian Cossacks across Siberia. It's reminding me about what I first loved about Westerns and also that great literature is found in genre fiction as easily as anywhere else.

Bruce, I'd recommend Annie Proulx's Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Not along the lines of your typical Westerns, but very interesting stories set in the West.

Here's a resource for you: the author members of Women Writing the West. Pay particular attention to those who finaled for or won the WILLA award in past years. I think you'll find lots of good reading here:

http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/

When I started this thread I was just curious as to whether or not anyone else enjoyed a good western and what their favorite book was.
I have been very happy with the results and have gotten some very good recommendations for future reads.
I thank you all and am hoping to continue hearing from you and look forward to getting more book ideas.
Most of all I hope that we are helping someone who has never read any westerns, find a good book to get started in this genre.

4 months and no one has mentioned the great Larry McMurtry! Shocking! Thank you Bruce for the thread. Enjoy the wild, wild West...

Jasmine, I had forgotten about Larry McMurtry.
Thanks for the reminder,although I must admit that I only really enjoyed Lonesome Dove and I kinda liked Comanche Moon maybe a little. I tried some of his other
books but they were not to my liking. Oh Well.
Do you have a particular book of his that you really enjoyed?

Yes, Lonesome Dove is fabulous, and I really liked the first in that series, Dead Man's Walk. [I should disclose that I loved all the books in the series]. I also like his Berrybender series - I've only read the first two, but it's a different approach into the West, following an eccentric and wealthy family [don't those two always go together?] into an ill-fated expedition.

Let me give you two recommendations of recent Westerns. The first is "Wide Open" by Larry Bjornson. Is a good story about Abilene, KS and Wild Bill Hickock. The other is Albert of Adelaide. A most unusual style of book set in Australia with the main characters being animals.

Highly enjoyed both books.

Jasmine wrote: "Yes, Lonesome Dove is fabulous, and I really liked the first in that series, Dead Man's Walk. [I should disclose that I loved all the books in the series]. I also like his Berrybender series - I'v..."

Jasmine, I have not read any of the Berrybender books YET, but I looked them up and they do sound interesting. Thank you for bringing them to my attention.

Blaine wrote: "Let me give you two recommendations of recent Westerns. The first is "Wide Open" by Larry Bjornson. Is a good story about Abilene, KS and Wild Bill Hickock. The other is Albert of Adelaide. A most ..."

Blaine,
I looked both books up and am looking forward to reading them . Albert sounds like a fun read
Thanks for the titles.

Beth wrote: "Here's a resource for you: the author members of Women Writing the West. Pay particular attention to those who finaled for or won the WILLA award in past years. I think you'll find lots of good re..."

Beth,
Thanks for the link. You were correct, I did find alot of good reading there.

Scout wrote: "Bruce, I'd recommend Annie Proulx's Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Not along the lines of your typical Westerns, but very interesting stories set in the West."

Scout,
Thanks for the suggestion, I love stories set in the west. I will be sure to give it a try.

I'm interested to know what you think about these stories.

Scout wrote: "I'm interested to know what you think about these stories."

Scout,
After the first of the year I am planning to start reading some of the books that have been suggested.
When I finish with the Wyoming Stories,I would enjoy visiting with you and discussing these stories.

Great. Happy reading!

I had never really considered reading Westerns ... they just didn't hold any appeal to me. But I loved watching Westerns at the movie theater or on TV when I was a kid.

Anyway, a few years ago I picked up True Grit by Charles Portis. Wonderful book!

Then I read Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer winning Lonesome Dove - extraordinary!

I've since also read some of Annie Proulx's works, and an Ivan Doig book. Last year I read The Sisters Brothers and Doc (this latter got 5-stars from me).

I loved Doc - it would make a good movie too. I've read lots of Louis L'amour too, but can't remember the titles of some of them. Jubal Sackett was my favourite. Lonesome Dove was an incredible book, and I also read all the prequels and the sequel - they were disappointing compared to the original. I didn't like The Sisters Brothers much, but enjoyed True Grit. That's about all the Westerns I've read.

I recently finished Doc and really enjoyed it. Not so when it came to Annie Proulx's Close Range,Wyoming Stories, I didn't care for her writing style.
This past month I have found some of the Lone Ranger books I read when I was a boy and after rereading them I
must admit that when I grow up I want to be the Lone Ranger.I still found them to be very enjoyable and hard to put down.I remember when we moved to Nebraska and my mom found a library in the nearest town. I could not believe someone would just let me borrow books and they had so many to choose from it made my mom laugh to see my brother and myself running from shelf to shelf looking at all the books.in case nobody has figured it out yet I LOVE TO READ

Does Sci-fi with western themes count?

Well, I've read one Louis L'Amour in the past five years. I'll love to read more westerns if anyone can recommend them.

I've never been able to get into Westerns in any form. The closest I ever got was watching Firefly.

As a Texan, I'm always curious to see how we're being portrayed in the media. So if I see an romance eBook with a Texan I'll usually buy it to see how we come off in the book.

Chang, check out the many books listed in this posting
I think you could find something here that will be enjoyable. I myself am a HUGE Louis L'Amour fan and would suggest any of his books.
If you would be so kind, Please list a few Sci-fi books with a western theme. I would like to check them out
to see if I would enjoy them.
Bruce

My husband used to love Westerns-Louis L'Amour; Jack Ballas and William Johnstone especially

My favourite western has to be Shaneby Jack Schaefer. Surprised no one has mentioned it yet.

@Bruce

Okay, Sci-fi Westerms:

Iron West
a steampunk adventure set in the old Wild West; graphic novel

Daisy Kutter
This is my favorite. Steampunk. Graphic Novel.

And of course, I'm working my way through the old Barsoom novels. Unlike most, I actually liked the John Carter movie.

edit: I can't believe I forgot Stephen King's Dark Tower, series.

And if you want horror-westerns, how about Scott Snyder's American Vampire graphic novels?

I too am working my way through the Barsoom novels,I found a collection of them and read one every once in awhile-very enjoyable. I too thought the movie was very good.
I also have read the Dark Tower series twice and enjoyed it just as much the second time. I will check out the others you mentioned, I have yet to read any graphic novels but am always willing to try.
Thanks for the suggestions

Brenda wrote: "My favourite western has to be Shaneby Jack Schaefer. Surprised no one has mentioned it yet."
I was forced to read Shane in the 6th grade and did not like it BUT I thought the movie was very good.I was more into The Lone Ranger and Hardy Boys. I might try it again because I have found that some books I was "forced" to read, are actually very good now that I am older. Thanks for the reminder

Having wrote a Western myself I wondered this very question. After I wrote it I found it would probably connect more to the horror genre since its a Western horror then it would as a Western simply because I felt Westerns aren't as popular these days.

I have of course now been looking for good westerns to read. I've read Pronto and Riding the Rap by Elmore Leonard and have a few more westerns to-read on my list on GR. I believe having wrote a western I have an even bigger appreciation for them even despite being a huge fan of Westerns and The Wild West.

Always love to reread Bend of the Snake, The Man From Laramie, The Searchers.

I just started reading A Good Man by Guy Vanderhaeghe and am enjoying it so far. Takes place in 1876 shortly after Custer's defeat at Little Bighorn.

Westerns are one of those genres that tend to go un-noticed compared to the popular genres like Horror, Fantasy, Literary Fiction, Romance and YA just to name a few.

I don't read Westerns...but I confess, The Last of the Breed by Louis L'amour is really wonderful. Great action.

My local library had 'True Grit' as their October and November book of the month. They also had small workshops and public speakings on it there and at the local museum.