read a good western lately?

18 years ago

Interesting the interest in McCarthy and McMurtry vis a vis 'The Road'. It seems to me that writing and making films about the 'wild west' either takes on a romantic view or is ignored. I would add Elmore Leonard to the other two, his short story "3:10 to Yuma" was recently made into the best Western I have seen. I thought that McCarthy was still looking for a dream in his latest a place where real values count.What do you think?

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (8)

inkognito
Original Author
18 years ago
No? Okay then.
friedag
18 years ago
I haven't read a western lately, not since Guy Vanderhaeghe's The Last Crossing.

I've seen the older version of "3:10 to Yuma," the one with Glenn Ford and Van Heflin. I'd like to see the newer one if it has been released on DVD. I read the short story years ago and had forgotten it's by Elmore Leonard.

McMurtry...I love some of his books and stories but others don't do anything for me. McCarthy...I'm fascinated and repelled at the same time. I'll probably never get over Blood Meridian. I haven't read The Road and I'm not sure I will because I basically don't like post-apocalyptic or dystopian novels -- I get enough doom and gloom from other sources without purposefully inflicting it on myself by reading those sort of stories.
Related Discussions
Read Any Good Books Lately?
Q
Comments (6)
I just finished " Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures". Another Canadian book. Great stuff. I don't often enjoy medical type stories, but this is fantastic! I highly recommend it. I also just finally finished a one of the "Sandman" graphic novels by Neil Gaiman. I loved all of his other works that I'd read, but I'm not, nor have I ever been a "comic" person. I finally got into it, read it, and it's not so bad. I suspect they'll grow on me. Anyone have a Library Thing account?
...See More
Anyone read any good gardening books lately?
Q
Comments (4)
I absolutely love using the library's online features! With 3 small children, I either have to make an extra trip down to the library after they are put to bed which doesn't give me much time before the library closes or I have to try and keep them quiet in the upstairs adult section which doesn't usually work very well. Imagine VERY loud voices asking questions like "Why do they have so many computers up here?" "Why do we have to be so quiet?" "When is it time to go hoooome? *whine*" Once I realized how easy it is to do things online, I started using it all the time. I can renew our books online so that I don't have huge late fees. I can put things on hold at our library like popular DVDs or new releases. They are always on hold for someone so it's much easier to get my name on the hold list than it is to find it on the shelf. And of course, the interlibrary loan system is great! I've found so many books using that. Besides the ones I was looking for, I've also found some by using the features "nearby items on shelf" and "find more on these topics". They have a pretty nice setup. Our library also has an ongoing used book, magazine, and CD sale near the front desk. I once found a whole stack of gradening magazines like Garden Gate and Organic Gardening for 25 cents each! And you can check out magazines also. In fact, I just quick bumped over there and put the last 4 issues of Garden Gate on hold (from Waterford library). Oh, and Julie, if you do a search using the words "fine gardening" that magazine is available at Burlington library plus a few others so if you need some reading material this winter but don't want to shell out the money for a magazine that you only read part of, it can be transferred to the Racine library for you. There is also a series called "Fine gardening design guides" that seems to have been put out by the magazine along with a few separate books titled "The Best of Fine Gardening: Perennials", "The Best of Fine Gardening: Shrubs and Trees" and a few others. Does Sturtevant have a library or do you use Racine's? If the bookmobile comes out near you, you have the option of choosing where you want to pick up the items and can switch it to Bookmobile. It's funny, most of the libraries only seem to keep the last 2 years of issues but West Bend has copies of Fine Gardening going back to 1997! I wonder why? Perhaps they have more gardeners in that area or just most storage room. There's a new book by Melinda Myers titled "Month-by-month gardening in Wisconsin : what to do each month to have a beautiful garden all year". I'm going to have to put that on hold. I wonder if they have Birds and Bloom magazine. Well, I'm going to quit bouncing back and forth between websites and just send this before it gets any longer. Kimberly P.S. My library's SHARE program covers these areas: Dodge, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth and Washington Counties. But I'm sure there are similar programs for the other parts of...
...See More
Read anything good lately?
Q
Comments (18)
Vannie - I forgot to mention that I read Mudbound last year and really liked it. It was one of those books that stayed with me long after I finished it. Now for Middlesex - the title gives away the gist of the story. It is Calliope's story and I was hooked from the first chapter. Jeffrey Eugenides is a gifted and talented writer, IMHO. As Calliope gradually discovers why she is not like the other "girls" and becomes Cal, you feel "her" pain. I don't find these kinds of stories depressing, but rather uplifting due to the strength and fortitude that the main characters have to develop in order to cope with life. DS recommended it to me, otherwise I might have passed it by. It isn't just the story line that intrigued me in the end, but the writer's way with words that made the story so memorable.
...See More
Read any good books lately?
Q
Comments (41)
The most favorite read in our house is a series of books by Clive Cussler. Note that as his book career advanced, other authors entered his fold. In some of the later books, he has lent his name to the title and cover, when it may have been written by another author. Many of his subjects are on a grand scale affecting large geographical areas, sometimes the entire world. His tales could be classed as science fiction, however, his ideas hold the potential of real possibility, rather than 'pipe dreams'. A reoccurring theme in some of his stories involves his son borrowing one of his collector cars for a date and then he gets chased by some baddies and the pristine car gets beat up.
...See More
rosefolly
18 years ago
I'm not sure I will recommend The Road to anyone because it put me into a depression that I'm just starting to get over. It was so realistic (and I believe possible), that I began to think of it as true and humanity as doomed. The book haunted me. I had to work out for myself the possibility even if unlikelihood of human survival once the air clears of ash.

Other western books I have read and enjoyed in the past couple of years are Wallace Stegnar's Angle of Repose and collections of Dorothy Johnson's excellent western short stories. I have mentioned here before that she is one of my favorite writers. I prefer her short stories to her novels, BTW.

Rosefolly
norar_il
18 years ago
I happen to be reading a really good one right now. "Outlaw" by Warren Kiefer. It's fiction: an old man telling his story about living in the west, making money and losing money, the people he knew, etc. I'm about 1/4 of the way through and so far I highly recommend it.
thyrkas
18 years ago
Oh - forgot all about Angle of Repose! Loved it! Somehow it wasn't sorted into the "westerns" file in my brain, but it certainly is one.

DH and I listened to the audio book of "Riders of the Purple Sage" by Zane Grey. Very enjoyable, and it shed some light on the history of the times re: Mormonism.

Many years ago I read a collection of short stories by Annie Proulx called "Close Range: Wyoming Stories". Proulx wrote about very rough and difficult landscapes, both human and geographic, in those short stories. "Brokeback Mountain" came from there, I believe.
inkognito
Original Author
18 years ago
Imagine a vast continent that has been civilized or made to resemble the old place at least along the East coast. The extent of that continent that goes West is inconceivable, open, and it is into this area that pours people, raw, naive, exploiting, hard working, tricky/tricked. Wow, a writers paradise. Thanks thyrkas I had forgotten Annie Proulx. Zane Grey and Jim Thompson deserve a reread.
laceyvail 6A, WV
18 years ago
Not sure if this qualifies as a western, though it's certainly set in the west. Many years ago (early 60s) I read and loved Broken Arrow by Eliot Arnold, about the friendship between Cochise and a white man (based on fact). Also, A. B. Guthrie's The Big Sky, The Way West, and These Thousand Hills are also very good.
inkognito
Original Author
18 years ago
Although the linked review is about Westerns in the movies it does offer an interesting perspective on the genre that may also apply to books

Here is a link that might be useful: westerns

read a good western lately?

Comments (8)

inkognito
Original Author

friedag

Related Discussions

rosefolly

norar_il

thyrkas

inkognito
Original Author

laceyvail 6A, WV

inkognito
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

read a good western lately?

Comments (8)

inkognitoOriginal Author

friedag

Related Discussions

rosefolly

norar_il

thyrkas

inkognitoOriginal Author

laceyvail 6A, WV

inkognitoOriginal Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

inkognito
Original Author

inkognito
Original Author

inkognito
Original Author