My grandfather introduced me to Westerns at a young age—he always had a Louis L’Amour or a Zane Grey in hand. I also grew up watching Westerns with my father, especially the classics with John Wayne, or Lee Marvin, James Garner, or Clint Eastwood. There’s just something about stories dealing with good vs. evil that pulls me into the genre. Besides, we all could use a hero/heroine these days. All of my books are heavy on action adventure, mainly because I enjoy keeping myself and the reader entertained. As Elmore Leonard wrote in his 10 rules for writing, “Skip the boring parts.” I hope you enjoy exploring these great books!
This is one of those classic books you remember for a long
time after reading. Great characters and a great story. I especially enjoyed
Mattie Ross and Rooster Cogburn’s interactions, and appreciated the young female
protagonist. Mattie is one of the
bravest kids I’ve ever run across in literature.
There is no knowing what lies in a man's heart. On a trip to buy ponies, Frank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street for a horse, $150 cash, and two Californian gold pieces. Ross's unusually mature and single-minded fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie travels to claim his body, and finds that the authorities are doing nothing to find Chaney. Then she hears of Rooster - a man, she's told, who has grit - and convinces him to join her in a quest into dark, dangerous Indian territory to hunt Chaney down…
After all the hubbub surrounding the movie with Tom Hanks, I was curious to read the source material. The book doesn’t disappoint, and, I thought, was better than the film (although the film was good, too.) Yet again, a female protagonist (hmmm… I sense a theme here ☺) the wild, former Kiowa captive Johanna, and her mentor, Captain Kidd, the traveling news reader. My heart was in my throat as I traveled with the two of them through 1870 Texas, and cheered for them both as they fulfilled their character arcs.
In the aftermath of the Civil War, an aging itinerant news reader agrees to transport a young captive of the Kiowa back to her people in this exquisitely rendered, morally complex, multilayered novel of historical fiction from the author of Enemy Women that explores the boundaries of family, responsibility, honor, and trust. In the wake of the Civil War, Captain Jefferson Kyle Kidd travels through northern Texas, giving live readings from newspapers to paying audiences hungry for news of the world. An elderly widower who has lived through three wars and fought in two of them, the captain enjoys his…
Benghazi! A New History of the Fiasco that Pushed America and its World to the Brink
by
Ethan Chorin,
Benghazi: A New History is a look back at the enigmatic 2012 attack on the US mission in Benghazi, Libya, its long-tail causes, and devastating (and largely unexamined) consequences for US domestic politics and foreign policy. It contains information not found elsewhere, and is backed up by 40 pages of…
I love me some Elmore Leonard, and 3:10 to Yuma was no exception. Although a short story, it’s a classic Western in the sense that it’s good vs. evil, and of course, there’s a shootout. A deputy marshal escorts a train robber/fugitive (another Kidd, this time Jimmy) who is headed to Tucson to be tried for his crimes. I love the dialogue and the fact that it takes place in a small town named “Contention.” Leonard was indeed a master storyteller.
The New York Times-bestselling Grand Master of suspense deftly displays the other side of his genius, with seven classic western tales of destiny and fatal decision . . . and trust as essential to survival as it is hard-earned.
Trust was rare and precious in the wide-open towns that sprung up like weeds on America's frontier—with hustlers and hucksters arriving in droves by horse, coach, wagon, and rail, and gunmen working both sides of the law, all too eager to end a man's life with a well-placed bullet. In these classic tales that span more than five decades—including the first…
What can you say about this fabulous story that hasn’t been
said? You can’t beat cattle drives, Texas Rangers, strong women, and a wagon-load
of action and adventure. I only wish I could read it for the first time again!
The miniseries was great, and introduced so many of us to Larry McMurtry’s
enduring story, but the book has nuances and scenes that can’t be duplicated on
screen. A must-read!
Larry McMurtry's Pulitzer Prize winning novel is a powerful, triumphant portrayal of the American West as it really was. From Texas to Montana, it follows cowboys on a grueling cattle drive through the wilderness.
It begins in the office of The Hat Creek Cattle Company of the Rio Grande. It ends as a journey into the heart of every adventurer who ever lived . . .
More than a love story, more than an adventure, Lonesome Dove is an epic: a monumental novel which embraces the spirit of the last defiant wilderness of America.
"I'm Nicky. Your little sister." With these words from a stranger, Hilda's quiet existence in a marshland cottage with her rescue cats is turned upside down. She resolves to find out the truth about her parents' marriage, her father's secret life and her mother's untimely death.
Although it’s non-fiction, if you want to get a sense of what the Native American population endured during the settlement of the Old West, this is the book to read. Heartbreaking, yes, but this shameful era in America’s history deserves to be told. Brown does so with finesse, focusing on specific tribes including the Navajo Nation, the Sioux, the Utes, the Apache, and the Kiowas, among others. Definitely a must-read if you’re interested in the history of the Old West.
The American West, 1860-1890: years of broken promises, disillusionment, war and massacre.
Beginning with the Long Walk of the Navajos and ending with the massacre of Sioux at Wounded Knee, this extraordinary book tells how the American Indians lost their land, lives and liberty to white settlers pushing westward. Woven into a an engrossing saga of cruelty, treachery and violence are the fascinating stories of such legendary figures as Sitting Bull, Cochise, Crazy Horse and Geronimo.
First published in 1970, Dee Brown's brutal and compelling narrative changed the way people thought about the original inhabitants of America, and focused attention…
Retribution: They took everything. Now she wants revenge. Claire Whitcomb's gunning for the men who destroyed her life—and won't settle for anything less than retribution.Gunslinger: On her way to start a new life in tough-as-nails Tombstone, Claire meets Isabella, an actress and a railroad magnate’s mistress. When Isabella’s security man is killed, Claire’s hired to take his place and finds that Isabella is a target—making Claire one too… Legend: In the aftermath of the gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Claire accepts a job transporting a convicted murderer to prison. The only catch? She and Harry, a hotheaded bounty hunter, need to bring him in alive. Will the convict’s gang kill Claire and Harry to rescue their leader, or can the two gunfighters bring the outlaw to justice?
Ferry to Cooperation Island
by
Carol Newman Cronin,
James Malloy is a ferry captain--or used to be, until he was unceremoniously fired and replaced by a "girl" named Courtney Farris. Now, instead of piloting Brenton Island’s daily lifeline to the glitzy docks of Newport, Rhode Island, James spends his days beached, bitter, and bored.
It's 1943, and World War II has gripped the nation, including the Stilwell family in Jacksonville, Alabama. Rationing, bomb drills, patriotism, and a changing South barrage their way of life. Neighboring Fort McClellan has brought the world to their doorstep in the form of young soldiers from all over the…
