Book Riot's Read Harder Challenge discussion

In general I'm not drawn to westerns, but I've found some that seem fun in my poking around. Ones I'm considering include River of Teeth (alternate history, about hippo wranglers), Vengeance Road (young adult), Topaz (which could also work the romance by or about a person of color), Six-Gun Snow White (a western retelling of the fairy tale) and The Gunslinger (a space western and the first Dark Tower books).

And, as many people have already mentioned, I would also be interested in westerns from a Native American perspective as well, if anyone comes across good ones.

I think I'll read Little House on the Prairie. About a family who move to the West to farm. That counts. I read Brokeback Mountain this year for the challenge - short stories by a woman - and it was great. I also read The Englishman's Boy - a massacre that happened in the Canadian west near the border with the US - Cyprus Hill Massacre. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cypress... Part of the story is also is about making early Western films.

Will Bluebird, Bluebird satisfy this? I'm reading for the mystery challenge and may use it for this to double dip.

Candace wrote: "Will Bluebird, Bluebird satisfy this? I'm reading for the mystery challenge and may use it for this to double dip."

I feel like this would be a stretch....

I'm thinking pretty much anything by Ivan Doig!

What exactly defines a western? I have a handful of romances with cowboys on the cover already on my shelf!

Edit: Goodreads genre explanation says "Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, but there are also a number of works about Western-type characters in contemporary settings.

Westerns often stress the harshness of the wilderness and frequently set the action in an arid, desolate landscape."

Hi Guys, was wondering American Wolf
A True Story of Survival and Obsession in the West
By: Nate Blakeslee would be of for this category

Jenica wrote: "I'm thinking Vengeance Road for this one. It's a YA Western that I've heard good things about."

I second this! And the companion volume, Retribution Rails would be great too!

I am going to go with The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford and/or The Sisters Brothers.

Oh YAY! I've been wanting to listen to "True Grit" on audio because Donna Tartt reads it. Glad to see it fits into this category!

True Grit sounds good. Also I think a book by Sherman Alexie would work.

I like books that define a region and the West is one of my favorites, particularly novels of the New West. There is some disagreement about which states constitute the West, but if you can figure that out look for book lists from individual states. This Montana list is good: https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/9...

My sister-in-law suggested Half Broke Horses. Has anyone read this and could say whether or not it would fit this prompt? Thanks!

I’ve gone back and forth and have been searching, but I think I’m going to read Brokeback Mountain. Thanks to all who mentioned it in this thread.

By dictionary definition Westerns are set in the old American west. Half- Broke Horses or anything I have ever read or heard of from Sherman Alexie are not Westerns.

http://www.findmeanauthor.com/western...

I have just finished At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier which I think would suit this task. So my search continues.

Rachel wrote: "Stina wrote: "Rachel wrote: "People have literally been begging for years for a Western to make it onto a challenge list (at least in my other challenge group, where we vote on prompts to make the ..."

I highly recommend The Widow Nash. It's women-centered Western and has some psychological thriller elements. It was one of my favorite books this year.

Does anyone have any other recommendations for feminist Westerns or something like The Widow Nash?

Monica wrote: "I'm looking at My Ántonia.

I read News of the World in 2017. It's an excellent choice for this task."

Ooh, great suggestion! This has been on my TBR list for a while - this is a great excuse to put it at the top of the pile! :)

From Book Riot: https://bookriot.com/2016/05/16/100-m...

I have My Antonia by Willa Cather on my bookshelf, but I’m also quite interested in The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt, which I can access at my library.

Typically speaking, if I'm reading a western, it's an historical romance. I'm going to try really hard to not read historical romance for this, as it's definitely a comfort zone for me.

My list of possible options for this category right now is: Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee, The Hell Bent Kid, Lonesome Dove, My Antonia, Riders of the Purple Sage, True Grit, and The Son.

Aaaaa I can read Brokeback Mountain for this challenge!!?? yes!! I've been looking for something like this!!

I think you can double-dip with a Craig Johnson Walt Longmire series mystery. Set in Wyoming, they are a contemporary Western.

I'm planning to read either True Grit or The Unforgiven

Theresa wrote: "I want to try Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West as a nonfiction western, but I'm afraid that may be too difficult emotionally, so I have [book:My Án..."

I had a great time reading My Antonia along with a few others in the series,The Song of the Lark was my favorite in the group

I thought I read a post by someone wanting to do the challenge with all comics/graphic novels, but s/he was having trouble finding a western comic. I can't find that post now, so maybe I was dreaming. But if I wasn't and someone is looking for a western comic, I just came across this one which looks rather intriguing. The Smell of Starving Boys

Jennifer wrote: "A couple books that have been recommended to me for this category: River of Teeth, an alternate history western, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, which I believ..."

I read River of Teeth and I absolutely loved it, so thanks for bringing it to my attention! Even though it's not set in the traditional west (it's literally in the Mississippi, not west of it), it has an old-west cowboy type of feel to it, just with hippos instead of horses and cattle. It was totally delightful, and it would definitely work as a one sitting book for the double dippers as well.

Pretty Deadly is a comic that I think would also work as a Western. Based on some previous comments, it sounds like The Gunslinger might be considered a Western, which would be great for me since my boyfriend gave me that book for my birthday and I was hoping to find a spot to work it into this challenge.

Amy wrote: "Rachel wrote: "Stina wrote: "Rachel wrote: "People have literally been begging for years for a Western to make it onto a challenge list (at least in my other challenge group, where we vote on promp..."

I second The Widow Nash!

Rachel wrote: "People have literally been begging for years for a Western to make it onto a challenge list (at least in my other challenge group, where we vote on prompts to make the list), and I've been dreading..."

I completely feel you. I was really dreading this too once I saw it on the challenge, but I guess we all have to branch out and do something we don't really want to at some point haha. My best friend's mom did send me this website, which helped a lot: http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/ Book catalog is here: http://www.womenwritingthewest.org/pd...

I'll be reading The Silver Baron's Wife. It sounds like a great time, actually. There were a few others that intrigued me as well as I looked through the catalog. Hope it helps!

Leslie Ann wrote: "My advice for Lonesome Dove is to hang in until at least the Hat Creek Outfit hits the trail for Montana - about 1/4 of the way into the book."

True. There's a lot of good character work in the opening pages, but it wasn't until they headed to Montana that the book started to become one of my all-time favorites. I'm so happy to see that others are going to try it for this challenge.

Jennifer wrote: "A couple books that have been recommended to me for this category: River of Teeth, an alternate history western, and The Collected Works of Billy the Kid, which I believ..."

The Collected Works of Billy the Kid is really really good, I wasn't expecting to like it as much as I did based on the style and subject matter, but it was fascinating to read.

So I'm personally not super hype about the whole Western genre, and I started looking for some less than typical titles so that I could stomach this task. Namely I started looking for Westerns with female leads and found one that is not a traditional American Western, it actually takes place in Australia, but it's inspired by the story of Jessie Hickman.

The Untold by Courtney Collins is the title and I'm hoping it lives up to the hype of its summary!

For anyone not into the more traditional Westerns, there have been several "Weird Westerns" published in the past few years:
Silver on the Road
Wake of Vultures
The Six-Gun Tarot
Karen Memory
The Half-Made World
Vermilion
Walk on Earth a Stranger
Revenge and the Wild
The Arrivals
Haints Stay

And some graphic novels:
East of West, Vol. 1: The Promise
The Sixth Gun, Vol. 1: Cold Dead Fingers
Copperhead, Vol. 1

This isn't a genre I'm drawn to, but The Sisters Brothers sounds interesting enough for me to give a shot. I'll probably be doing the audiobook version.

I'm not a fan of westerns either, but here are my picks:
(part of series), , . All these feature female POV.

Blood Meridian, or the Evening Redness in the West
A bit of a rough read, but might be worth the effort!

Erika wrote: "This isn't a genre I'm drawn to, but The Sisters Brothers sounds interesting enough for me to give a shot. I'll probably be doing the audiobook version."
I listened to the audio and really enjoyed it.

Sam wrote: "So I'm personally not super hype about the whole Western genre, and I started looking for some less than typical titles so that I could stomach this task. Namely I started looking for Westerns with..."

The Western is a genre of various arts which tell stories set primarily in the later half of the 19th century in the American Old West, often centering on the life of a nomadic cowboy or gunfighter armed with a revolver and a rifle who rides a horse.

Rebecca wrote: "I'm planning to read the The Sisters Brothers which I have heard described as a western. I got it with one of those ebook bargain sales years ago."

I've had it on my Kindle forever for the same reason. Bonus - the movie version comes out this year!

Robin wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm wondering if there are any good westerns written by Native American authors?

I'm not aware of any, but I'd love to read one if someone can suggest one! I've never been interest..."

It would be worth considering Sherman Alexie. One of his books is called Indian Killer, or The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven. They're both in modern settings, but they do take place in the west. I'm not sure if they count? Worth reading at some point even if they don't!

Courtney wrote: "I think you can double-dip with a Craig Johnson Walt Longmire series mystery. Set in Wyoming, they are a contemporary Western."

I loved and just finished the Longmire Netflix series, so I decided to read The Cold Dish. This is the first book in the Walt Longmire series. I decided to push myself and not double-dip so I'll use this as my western.

Jenna wrote: "Robin wrote: "Stephen wrote: "I'm wondering if there are any good westerns written by Native American authors?

I'm not aware of any, but I'd love to read one if someone can suggest one! I've never..."

I am a huge Alexie fan. He writes great books, but they are not westerns by the dictionary definition.

Brooke wrote: "For anyone not into the more traditional Westerns, there have been several "Weird Westerns" published in the past few years:"

Thanks for sharing your list, Brooke! Weird Westerns are definitely more to my taste!! I have Wake of Vultures & The Six-Gun Tarot on my list of possible choices ... I came across Six-Gun Snow White last night while browsing the library. They all look so interesting! I'm going to have a hard time choosing!

I was looking through my books - I had forgotten Little Big Man - by Thomas Berger. Great comic/satiric Western.

The Round House I am going to go with The Round House. I think Louise Erdrich's books would work for this category. Yes?

This is a harder challenge for me, though not as tricky as the romances. Would "The Journey" by Anne Cameron count though?

I'm considering trying Perma Red for this prompt...

It's by a Native American author, it's a WoC protagonist, and it takes place in Montana. But, it's set in the 1940s. (It also ticks some boxes on the Popsugar prompts if anyone is doing those.)

Thoughts?

I've been watching MASH reruns in the evenings recently, and Col. Potter is such a big fan of Zane Grey that I looked up his books for this one. I'm going to read Riders of the Purple Sage.

I highly recommend Butcher's Crossing by John Williams.