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September 23, 2012

Sunday Morning Book Thread 09-23-2012: Wild West Edition [OregonMuse]
— Open Blogger

Good morning morons and moronettes and welcome to the too-wonderful-for-words Sunday Morning Book Thread. Now with tumblin' tumbleweeds.

Louis L'Amour

So here I am, in the latter half of my life, with middle age fast dwindling behind me in the rear-view mirror, an avid reader since boyhood, and I have never once read a book by Louis L'Amour. Sad, but true. "Oh, he's just one of those western writers", I used to think. I never was a big fan of westerns, anyway I always found other things to read.

My loss.

According to wikipedia, L'Amour led a varied and interesting life:

Louis Dearborn LaMoore was born in Jamestown, North Dakota, in 1908, the seventh child of Dr. Louis Charles LaMoore and Emily Dearborn LaMoore. He was of French ancestry through his father and Irish through his mother. Dr. LaMoore was a large-animal veterinarian, local politician and farm-equipment broker who had arrived in Dakota Territory in 1882.
Although the area around Jamestown was mostly farm land, cowboys and livestock often traveled through Jamestown on their way to or from ranches in Montana and the markets to the east. L'Amour played "Cowboys and Indians" in the family barn, which served as his father's veterinary hospital, and spent much of his free time at the local library reading, particularly G. A. Henty, a British author of historical boys' novels during the late nineteenth century. L'Amour once said, "[Henty's works] enabled me to go into school with a great deal of knowledge that even my teachers didn't have about wars and politics."
After a series of bank failures devastated the economy of the upper Midwest, Dr. LaMoore and Emily took to the road. Removing Louis and his adopted brother John from school, they headed south in the winter of 1923. Over the next seven or eight years, they skinned cattle in west Texas, baled hay in the Pecos Valley of New Mexico, worked in the mines of Arizona, California and Nevada, and in the saw mills and lumber camps of the Pacific Northwest. It was in colorful places like these that Louis met a wide variety of people, upon whom he later modeled the characters in his novels, many of them actual Old West personalities who had survived into the nineteen-twenties and -thirties.
Making his way as a mine assessment worker, professional boxer and merchant seaman, Louis traveled the country and the world, sometimes with his family, sometimes not. He visited all of the western states plus England, Japan, China, Borneo, the Dutch East Indies, Arabia, Egypt, and Panama, finally moving with his parents to Oklahoma in the early 1930s. There, he changed his name to Louis LÂ’Amour and settled down to try to make something of himself as a writer.

And this doesn't include his military service and his time spend in the merchant marine, both of which came later. That's quite a life.

L'Amour obviously was a real man. In order to do all the things he did, you would have to have almost as much testosterone as Rachel Maddow.

Also, his life was a very American life. I think when immigrants come to thie country, this is exactly the sort of thing they're looking for. Freedom to make your own way, freedom to excel, freedom to find your own place. They don't come here so Nanny Bloomberg can tell them how big a soft drink they're allowed to buy.

But, I digress.

Of course, it never crossed my tiny little mind that anyone with a life like Louis L'Amour's might have some interesting stories to tell.

So a few days ago, I talked to a friend of mine who owns every book LL ever wrote, and asked him for some recommendations. He basically said "all of them" and I had trouble getting him to narrow it down, but I finally forced him to cough up The Quick and The Dead and Sackett's Land as well as the several sequels in the Sackett series (is that great alliteration, or what?).

He also mentioned two that aren't westerns, The Walking Drum, set in 11th-century Europe, and Last of the Breed, a modern thriller. I started with Breed, and I have to say I'm very impressed. A very good story, interesting characters, and great action. Mrs. Muse checked out the audio-book version from the library and so we're reading it together.

I will probably start the Sackett series next.

Books by morons for morons

Long-time moron commenter "Mr. Wolf", who is a co-author over at www.blackfive.net and BigPeace, writes to say his first-time contribution to a 'real' book, has been published. Profiles in Patriotic Leadership is a book about (surprise!) leadership, and more precisely, military leadership. All the contributors to this book have extensive military backgrounds, and offer their insights from the lessons of the military and how they can be applied to civilian life:

The need for leadership has perhaps never been more important than it is today.
Leaders who come from a military career or have previously served in the military have a perspective on how to lead and how to be effective. In the military, when a person is given the responsibility to lead, he or she does exactly that Â– they lead.
Those serving under them can trust and believe in what they say. Their word is their bond.
Today we need such honestyÂ… we need such faith and trustÂ… more importantly we need our leaders to do the job required of them.

As always, book thread tips may be sent to aoshqbookthread@gmail.com

So what have you all been reading this week? Any other Western authors I should be looking at?

Posted by: Open Blogger at 07:00 AM | Comments (176)
Post contains 956 words, total size 6 kb.

1 first!!

Posted by: Butch at September 23, 2012 07:05 AM (4vRpc)

2 Suck it morons.

Posted by: Butch/Reggie Love at September 23, 2012 07:06 AM (4vRpc)

3 L'Amour's "Flint" is one of his best. Don't know why Selleck never adapted it.

Posted by: m at September 23, 2012 07:07 AM (HelfT)

4 But if LL's books are your first Westerns, then you've never read Lonesome Dove. How can any heterosexual consumer of the printed word admit to this?

Posted by: spongeworthy at September 23, 2012 07:08 AM (r5w1L)

5 I was introduced to Louis L'Amour when I was about 19 by another deckhand I worked with. Needless to say, I plowed through about every one I could get my hands on for the next year. You'll enjoy the Sackett series.

Posted by: Wyatt's Torch at September 23, 2012 07:08 AM (zxrQh)

6 I figured there'd be a Lonesome Dove comment early on.

Posted by: Captain Hate (more dagny and less curious) at September 23, 2012 07:09 AM (lLkZI)

7 We were playing Trivial Pursuit years ago and my sister got this question: "Who was the father of western philosophy." Her answer? "Louis L'Amour."

Posted by: natasha at September 23, 2012 07:12 AM (pyYXJ)

8 The Sackett books are very good as a group. The Walking Drum is probably my favorite of the others. I wish he had lived long enough to complete that tale - I believe he planned one or two more books. I don't think we'll ever see another like LL.

Posted by: Miller at September 23, 2012 07:13 AM (KQ+gH)

9 I've been reading The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus. It's about the first account I've read of what we would now call counter-insurgency warfare. The Romans, of course, approached the task with a dispassionate thoroughness: level any rebellious towns, massacre the fighting men, sell the women and children into slavery. Repeat as needed until there isn't any insurgency.

After reading Josephus it's hard to work up much sympathy for the rebels -- even though he admits it was Roman assholishness which provoked the whole uprising in the first place. The rebels devoted most of their time to massacring each other instead of fighting the Romans, and often chose suicide over surrender. They fought with all the strategic sense of a bunch of rabid ferrets.

As P.J. O'Rourke points out, what's depressing about this book is how little has changed in two thousand years.

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 23, 2012 07:14 AM (5/BcL)

10 For Western fiction, check out Terry C. Johnston. He was a gifted writer and really knew the history, the geography, and the fascinating details about life in the 1800s that made his stories ring true.

Posted by: Zeke at September 23, 2012 07:14 AM (1Amwa)

11 (I never read many Westerns, so I'm trying to hijack the thread.)

Posted by: Trimegistus at September 23, 2012 07:15 AM (5/BcL)

12 My dad was a big L'Amour fan and we all read nearly all of his books. When I moved out and started my own library, one of the first I bought was "Last of the Breed."
That's a good choice to start with.

Posted by: RoyalOil at September 23, 2012 07:16 AM (imtbm)

13 I read "No Easy Day" and "Fearless". The former needs no introduction, but is an excellent read. The latter tells the story of Navy SEAL Adam Brown who was killed in Afghanistan a year before the Bin Laden raid, and examines his life before and through his life in the Navy. It is an amazing story of a man who turned his life around but continued to battle his demons even during his years as a SEAL. He was a member of DevGru and was close friends with many of the men who killed Bin Laden and subsequently died in the infamous helicoptor crash.

Posted by: hobbes at September 23, 2012 07:17 AM (OEQY9)

Every merchant ship I was ever on had a batch of his books. A lot of people said they were all alike. I admit there were some similarities but they never seemed to bother me. I liked L'Amour's writing, and I liked his take on life even more. He wrote one once called "Bilge Water is Thicker Than Blood" and it really stuck with me.

Yes. You read L'Amour, you'll be better for it. He was a man's man and he wrote like it.

Posted by: mac at September 23, 2012 07:18 AM (Sl5Mb)

15 I do not know if this series was ever discussed in the past; I pop in and out of the book threads when I can. But, has the new, young teenage book series Michael Vey by Richard Paul Evans ever been reviewed or mentioned here? I was one of those "adults" who couldn't get enough of the Harry Potter series (which I never thought could be possible), and wondered if the Michael Vey series had the same lure to adults as well as children. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Posted by: for the kid in us at September 23, 2012 07:20 AM (LpQbZ)

16 oops forgot, Eric Blehm is the author of Fearless. Read it and be inspired.

Posted by: hobbes at September 23, 2012 07:20 AM (OEQY9)

17 Edgar Rice Burrough's Westerns had some of his best writing. He has a western background, and it showed in his writing. The Bandit of Hell's Bend (1926) The War Chief (1927) Apache Devil (1933) The Deputy Sheriff of Comanche County (1940) He also had a Western setting for The last part of the excellent Moon Maid (Part III -- the Red Hawk)

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 23, 2012 07:21 AM (u82oZ)

18 This is a great book, when I read it, it really changed my life.

http://tinyurl.com/9qg6z9h

Or this one. Did you know that socialism is basically like one big camping trip?

http://tinyurl.com/8qspshy

Posted by: Moochelle Obama at September 23, 2012 07:21 AM (/YJYi)

19 Michael Vey amazon "trailer." http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htAYihr-U2g&feature=player_embedded the main character has TouretteÂ’s syndrome

Posted by: for the kid in us at September 23, 2012 07:22 AM (LpQbZ)

20 David Drake's The Far Side of the Stars, the third book in the LT Leary series. The first three are in the Baen Free Library. Woot!

Also, Baen is running a game at www.planetbaen.com where you earn free e-books (up to $6) for playing (1 book every 5 levels and 1 for every 5 "alliances" you join). I'm on level 13 and I've earned 4 free books in the last three weeks.

Check it out if you like Sci-Fi and don't like paying for it.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at September 23, 2012 07:25 AM (rqlRk)

21 Wish I could remember the author, or the title, but an enjoyable western read of my from way back. It starts off with Pancho Villa's raid on Brownsville, NM. The story of a solider there and the old man scout for the army that mentors him as they chase Villa thru Mexico with Pershing. Not historically accurate, but a fun read.

Posted by: Paladin at September 23, 2012 07:30 AM (MI4/O)

22 I've been reading The Jewish War by Flavius Josephus Keep in mind that Josephus was a traitor who worked for the Romans. It's no surprise that his portrayal of the Hebrews is less than sympathetic. Doesn't help that there isn't much else in the way of original sources either. Last Of The Breed is frickin' awesome. Needs to be made into a great action film. Best part is when the KGB tries to use racial resentment in their interrogation of Joe Mack by saying that the land was taken from the Indians. Mack comes back with the fact that its STILL his country. Awesome.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at September 23, 2012 07:30 AM (c2oll)

23 One of the interesting things about Josephus, besides giving historical evidence for Jesus, is the fact that it high lights the role of Vespasian, who was the military commander in that era, and subsequently possibly the only good emperor in that bunch,

Posted by: archie goodwin at September 23, 2012 07:33 AM (ctjsq)

24 I read Batman. I'm the Joker.

Posted by: Sherriff Joe Biden at September 23, 2012 07:34 AM (Gk8Gr)

What, no Zane Grey fans here? Yeah, the prose is pretty purple, but he told some great tales. Try Boulder Dam, or Riders of the Purple Sage, or Western Union.

Also, Donald Hamilton (wrote the Matt Helm books ) Wrote some decent Westerns. Try Smoky Valley, or The Two-shoot Gun.

Lonesome Dove was good, but badly needed editing...Holy Crow was it long!

Can't beat Louis L'amour! Try The Haunted Mesa for a creepy tale. Flint is one of his best. Also Comstock Lode and Bendigo Shafter.

Posted by: Harry at September 23, 2012 07:34 AM (G9al/)

26 I'm working on The Fall of Berlin 1945 right now. The Rape of Nanking just came in the mail yesterday, so I've got some uplifting reading to look forward to.

I also think I've given up on The Wheel of Time. I've been at the end of book 4 for about 2 months and have no desire to pick it up.

Posted by: Adam at September 23, 2012 07:34 AM (/YJYi)

27 Was in Jamestown ND for a couple of days several months ago and he, along with fellow native Peggy Lee, are the towns pride and joy L'Amour read all the books in the town library there when he was a kid and there's even a plaque Plus, there's a painting of him in the state capital in Bismarck

Posted by: TexasJew at September 23, 2012 07:36 AM (lD8ju)

28 I read Threat Assessments and then dream of Huma ....mmmmmmmmmmmmm

Posted by: Hillary Clinton at September 23, 2012 07:37 AM (Gk8Gr)

29 Read a few of LAmour's western novels but really liked The Last of the Breed. It is a survival story set in Siberia so it is a little different.

Posted by: snowcrash at September 23, 2012 07:37 AM (I30qo)

30 Trimegistus,

Josephus was a hard read for me. One of the things about ancient books is that they reek of personality. Since there weren't printing presses the authors didn't homogenize their works for a mass audience so their own uhh psychology I guess is the word I'm looking for is on every page. My impression of Josephus is that he was a real prick.

The Jewish War is depressingly familiar. The Romans evidently regarded the Jews as the moslems of their day (and Islam hadn't been invented yet). The hidden weapons caches and the suicide attacks and the random acts of terrorism are all there. All they were lacking was RDX.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living.... at September 23, 2012 07:38 AM (BF5Y9)

31 Best part is when the KGB tries to use racial resentment in their interrogation of Joe Mack by saying that the land was taken from the Indians. Mack comes back with the fact that its STILL his country. Awesome.

I know, I just read this part last night.

Zametev: "They took your land from you."
Mack: "As we took it from others."

And actually, this is a point that gets conveniently forgotten when Native American activists, who have absorbed the victimology of the left, complain about having had their land stolen from them.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 07:41 AM (C4mFS)

32 Finished The Collapse of Complex Societies (198

by Joseph Tainter. Very thought provoking. He was optimistic in 1988, saying that collapse was far off as we had a strong USA, USSR, Europe and Japan. As long as there were stong elements of an interlocking world -- no problems. His main conclusion was that civiilizations collapse when society / results / progress takes more and more effort yet yields less. DIminishing returns. Gulp.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 23, 2012 07:41 AM (u82oZ)

I certainly didn't read that OCA, did you?

*itches cooties*

Posted by: Nancy 'Gash' Pelosi at September 23, 2012 07:43 AM (Gk8Gr)

34 Well that's true of Sullust on the Jugurthan War, who clearly favored Marius, the historical novelist Steven Saylor, who sort of takes up for Sulla, in 'Roman Blood'
having him basically voice the notion that he did all the tactical work, that Marius
took credit for.

Posted by: archie goodwin at September 23, 2012 07:43 AM (ctjsq)

35 Just downloaded a couple of free Henty books from Kindle. They look very interesting.

Posted by: Polliwogette, Teahada hobbit who wants some R&R at September 23, 2012 07:45 AM (4IADQ)

36 Just downloaded a couple of free Henty books from Kindle. They look very interesting.

Henty used to be very big in homeschool circles, don't know if he still is. I think it's cool that L'Amour was a big fan of Henty, too.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 07:48 AM (C4mFS)

37 I also think I've given up on The Wheel of Time. I've been at the end of book 4 for about 2 months and have no desire to pick it up. Posted by: Adam at September 23, 2012 11:34 AM (/YJYi) ======= sad to hear this switch to Sword of Truth series? a fictional fantasy series that actually tears apart liberalism - if you hang with it to the end - and look back - it's amazing how many liberal memes he touches on.

Posted by: for the kid in us at September 23, 2012 07:48 AM (LpQbZ)

Two books in the air (on the nightstand):

Solzhenitsyn, Apricot Jam (short stories).

Coulson, Market Education (history, economics, public policy).

Posted by: Malcolm Kirkpatrick at September 23, 2012 07:48 AM (w089f)

39 I will probably start the Sackett series next.

The Sackett series has a running theme in addition to "rugged individualism" which holds the Indians (Native American type) were doomed from the first landing of Europeans because they couldn't make metal -- they had to trade for it.

One of the stories I highly recommend reading is "Fifty-Four Forty or Fight" by Emerson Hough, which is actually a "romance", but has more history packed into it than anything I've read.

Follow that up with "The Story of the Outlaw", also by Emerson Hough.

The Sackett series combined with the two I mention will give you a whole new perspective on how this country got like it is. (I don't mean anything good or bad by that)

Posted by: jwb7605 at September 23, 2012 07:49 AM (Qxe/p)

40 I would often skip class in high school and go to the library where they had many LL books. I read all of them eventually and the Sacketts series was probably the best of them.
I noticed that many of LL's other books often used the same plot even though they were about different characters. But it took reading quite a few of the them to see the patterns.
And, just to clear things up, I graduated and went on to earn 2 BBAs. In case anyone was wondering.

Posted by: CozMark at September 23, 2012 07:50 AM (P0AbR)

41 35 Just downloaded a couple of free Henty books from Kindle. They look very interesting. Posted by: Polliwogette, Teahada hobbit who wants some R&R at September 23, 2012 11:45 AM (4IADQ) Henty or Hentai? Because if that was an autocorrect error the description as "interesting" takes on a whole new meaning.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at September 23, 2012 07:50 AM (c2oll)

42
Jeff Weimer @ 20:

Also, Baen is running a game at www.planetbaen.com where you earn free e-books (up to $6) for playing (1 book every 5 levels and 1 for every 5 "alliances" you join). I'm on level 13 and I've earned 4 free books in the last three weeks.

I'm still trying to decide how to spend my second free e-book coupon. The first went to Heinlein's "Citizen of the Galaxy"....a book I first read as a kid. I'm leaning toward "Footfall", or perhaps "Lucifer's Hammer" for the second, and well on my way to a third.

Man, I love Baen! The free library is fantastic, (I've filled my kindle with just about every book they offer), and with the free books I earn playing 'Planet Baen', I'm happier than a pig in shit.

Posted by: Barky O'Bumbles at September 23, 2012 07:50 AM (L7hol)

43 Did LL write a Western ghost story? I seem to recall reading one long ago. Hopi Indians were in it, I think.

Posted by: eman at September 23, 2012 07:51 AM (Wp4rQ)

44 switch to Sword of Truth series?

a fictional fantasy series that actually tears apart liberalism - if you hang with it to the end - and look back - it's amazing how many liberal memes he touches on.

Posted by: for the kid in us at September 23, 2012 11:48 AM (LpQbZ)

I'll definitely look into it.

Posted by: Adam at September 23, 2012 07:52 AM (/YJYi)

45 I read most of my grandma's LL collection when I was kid. Great stuff. Anybody here read Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian"? Supposed to be some great book or something.

Posted by: purple at September 23, 2012 07:52 AM (UCHOa)

46 The problem with Marius and Sulla was that there was no lesser evil there. They were both assholes (Marius maybe marginally more so, but not enough to make a difference).

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living.... at September 23, 2012 07:52 AM (BF5Y9)

47 Over the past couple of years, I have been reading classics that in some cases I was supposed to have read in my youth (e.g. Brave New World, Jane Eyre, etc.). When I was in High School, some kids, but not me, were reading "The Catcher in the Rye." There are numerous references to it in films, etc. So I just finished it.

It's an amusing yarn. But I really don't think that it is appropriate for the High School student. I also fail to understand its popularity.

Posted by: Bart who lurks with SMOD 2012 and is Master of his domain at September 23, 2012 07:53 AM (he2LC)

48 Max Brand wrote excellent westerns. C.J. Box is no slouch either.

Posted by: Jupiter Jones at September 23, 2012 07:53 AM (0IBP9)

49 Elmer Kelton has some pretty good westerns, which is not surprising since he's lived in West Texas for most of his life.

Posted by: Retired Spook at September 23, 2012 07:54 AM (cgPPn)

50 Cormac McCarthy...the Border Trilogy is overrated, but "Blood Meridian" is stunning.

Posted by: q at September 23, 2012 07:55 AM (UP3wT)

51 Yay a book thread! The only LL book I've read is The Walking Drum and I remember is being very good. Currently, I'm reading Love Comes Softly by Janette Oke, I didn't like thus boom at first but it's kind of grown on me. Also, Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins, Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb, Childhood's End by Arthur Clarke (recommended by Bill Whittle on his Stratophere Lounge show) and a little Bible and Shakespeare when I can squeeze 'em in.

Posted by: Sinalco at September 23, 2012 07:56 AM (fdnD9)

52 Thanks to all who've recommended "Last of the Breed". I just bought the Kindle version from Amazon...only five bucks.

And just like that...it's on my Kindle. Time to read!

Posted by: Sticky Wicket at September 23, 2012 07:56 AM (L7hol)

53 The Last of the Breed is the only LL book I've ever read, but it was indeed impressive.

Made me want to stock up on bear fat and carry a knife everywhere.

Posted by: SARDiver at September 23, 2012 07:56 AM (4z9HR)

54 I don't think I can continue reading this story. From 1955 by Milton Lesser called "The Dictator."

This is the third paragraph. Sorry, all stop. Advance no further.

'Dorcas Sinclair met Ellaby at the pneumo-station. She was too big and strapping for a woman, but otherwise not unattractive with her lusterless hair, slightly thick-featured face, small sagging bosom and heavy-calved legs.'

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SMuD) at September 23, 2012 07:57 AM (k9TQr)

55 Also, Baen is running a game at www.planetbaen.com where you earn free e-books (up to $6) for playing (1 book every 5 levels and 1 for every 5 "alliances" you join). I'm on level 13 and I've earned 4 free books in the last three weeks. Wow, thanks for the tip.

Posted by: for the kid in us at September 23, 2012 07:57 AM (LpQbZ)

56 My first phase of reading, 2nd grade thru 6th grade was history, but a good bit of my second phase in early adolescence was fictional westerns with Luke Short/Zane Grey/L. L'Amore figuring prominently. The best "Westerns"[movement] I have read are actual histories by Allan Eckert, narrative history written in novel style and often mistaken for historical fiction. The periods his "Winning of America" series covers are pre-Colonial French-Indian War thru the Black Hawk War (in which Lincoln was in a militia) in six books, as well as his "Court Martial of Daniel Boone" and "That Dark and Bloody River". Truly a brilliant writer, deceased last year, after a prolific writing career in several genres.

Posted by: Your Inner Voice at September 23, 2012 08:00 AM (guGTL)

57 Posted by: Barky O'Bumbles @42:

I'm trying to gather up all the Posleen books I haven't read yet because they're not in the free library. I'm also waiting for the official ($6) version of Bujold's Captain Vorpatril's Alliance or Weber's At All Costs.

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at September 23, 2012 08:03 AM (rqlRk)

58 Not a book but- Saw "DREDD" yesterday. Excellent action movie. And the best use of 3D that I've ever seen. Definitely go to the best, biggest 3D screen you can. Set up and storyline established very quickly. Characters of heroes/villains established through their action- just the way I like it. Caveats: Very violent - more like a 80's/early 90's movie in this regard. Example: (minor spoiler) ---the plot revolves around a drug which slows the time perception of user to 1% of normal---the slo-mo shootout/drug bust is everything you hoped/feared it would be and more. Bravura film-making---(minor spoiler over) If you want an anti-hero who gives long self-introspective speeches and who doubts himself and his job, who hates his society and hopes it collapses into an anarchic pile of crap.... .....sorry libtards this ain't that movie! Go see "The Master" instead. Those of you who read 2000AD comics will be happy with the result i'm sure.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 23, 2012 08:04 AM (G9qZk)

59 Myers Myers Myers wrote about the Alamo and Tombstone. Entertaining non-fiction.

Posted by: NaCly Dog at September 23, 2012 08:04 AM (u82oZ)

@Trimegeistus, etal. Re: Josephus. You might try "Jerusalem's Traitor" by Desmond Seward. Well written with a good run down of the times and alot easier than reading Josephus in the original (much of which is free on the Kindle.)

My own impression is that Josephus was either an opportunist or a man of extreme common sense.

Posted by: Libra at September 23, 2012 08:05 AM (kd8U8)

61 @26, re Wheel of Wasted Time OK, here's the rest. Cardboard characters, now become iconic, continue to permute all over the landscape. A resolution is hinted at in maybe 9000 more pages. Femdom enthusiasts kneel at the (booted!) feet of Aes Sedai. Bad boys Matt gets foxy. Rand al Thor discovers Dune's "weirding way". A veritable pantheon of dei ex machinae frolic. There's something for everybody.

Posted by: phunctor at September 23, 2012 08:05 AM (EwQm5)

43:

That was "The Californios". The 'Other Side' element comes out of nowhere and is very effective.

Posted by: Mr Natural at September 23, 2012 08:05 AM (a/xeI)

63 Also, his history of Tecumseh, one of the most amazing people ever to stride across this mortal sod, "A Sorrow In Our Hearts" is a MUST READ.

Posted by: Your Inner Voice at September 23, 2012 08:06 AM (guGTL)

64 Did LL write a Western ghost story?

I think that would be The Haunted Mesa.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 08:07 AM (C4mFS)

65 ok, so maybe not.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 08:07 AM (C4mFS)

66 'Dorcas Sinclair met Ellaby at the pneumo-station. She was too big and
strapping for a woman, but otherwise not unattractive with her
lusterless hair, slightly thick-featured face, small sagging bosom and
heavy-calved legs.'

Hillary Clinton, is that you?

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 08:11 AM (C4mFS)

67 I read pretty much everything LL wrote while stationed in Az in the 80's. In the 90's I would occasionally find something by him I hadn't read yet and just last week while going through the Kindle store, I found one book I didn't have called the High Graders. His books survived all my moves around the world as well as Hurricane Andrew in 92.

Posted by: Bill R. at September 23, 2012 08:11 AM (QnRSM)

68 Zane Grey and Louis L'Amour - 2 of my fave authors. Bee reading them since I was 10. I re-read the Sackett series every 3 years or so. L'Amour also wrote some great short stories. For Zane Grey - Riders of the Purple Sage is great.

Posted by: marinemom at September 23, 2012 08:12 AM (OKtOV)

They aren't western shoot-em-ups, but J. Frank Dobie wrote fantastic books about Texas, the Southwest and it's Spanish influences.

Coronado's Children is a book of short stories about Lost Mines and Buried Treasure in the Southwest.

Also, Elton Miles wrote a great book of stories entitled, Stray Tales of the Big Bend, with stores is spirit-guarded treasure, etc.

Posted by: Meremortal at September 23, 2012 08:13 AM (1Y+hH)

70 Did LL write a Western ghost story? I think that would be The Haunted Mesa. Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 12:07 PM (C4mFS) That's the book I read long ago, and yeah, not a ghost story.

Posted by: eman at September 23, 2012 08:13 AM (Wp4rQ)

71 I was a sci-fi geek from the start of my reading "career" (my first was 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, in the 5th grade) some 50 years ago. I wouldn't touch a western novel with a 10 ft pole. Until one day, when I was desperate for a good read (I think I was ill, hadn't read what I would call a "good" sci-fi in a few years anyways: and I'd plain got tired of the sword & sorcery, of the dystopian and the general "we're all doomed" bs crap), and picked up a Sackett book. I was sooooo hooked, that I plowed through all L'Amour's stuff. Twice. And a third time (for some of 'em). ...he told a hell'a good story. And his own life was a pretty good story, too.

Posted by: davisbr at September 23, 2012 08:14 AM (n8/WV)

J.T.Edson was my fav Western writer in high school. Max Brand and LL were the other western authors I had read.

Edson's books were perhaps simpler in plot, but were more action packed. Many of his books had a core set of characters - kind of like the Sackett series - set in Texas and were fun to read.

Posted by: Saxon at September 23, 2012 08:16 AM (WDySP)

73 I am re-reading Evelyn Waugh right now. Brideshead Revisited is a great one. Love Among the Ruins is also fantastic. He also wrote some very entertaining essays.

Posted by: marinemom at September 23, 2012 08:18 AM (OKtOV)

74 And actually, this is a point that gets conveniently forgotten when Native American activists, who have absorbed the victimology of the left, complain about having had their land stolen from them. Was stuck in a waiting room yesterday and read the worst article in August 2012 National Geographic on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The author is a moron named Alexandra Fuller. IMO there Indian Reservations are a perfect example of what happens to men when they become wards of the state. Alcoholism, physical abuse, child abuse, poverty, and fetal alcohol syndrome are rampant. Poverty rate is 49%, life expectancy is only 66 years of age, infant mortality is 18 death per hundred thousand compared to only 6.8 for the rest of the United States. Liver disease deaths per hundred thou is 121 as compared to 9.7 for the rest of the US. Suicide is 37 per 100,000 compared to 10.9 for the rest of the US. Alcohol is not sold on the rez, but they get it any how. They get all their health care from the fed govt. It is the perfect nanny state. Yet the author believes that the horrifying way of life on Wounded Knee Indian Reservation is the direct result of a massacre a hundred years ago where 145 native americans were killed. She states "Partly because time is not linear for the Oglala Lakota but rather is expressed in circular endlessness and beginnings, and partly because many can recite the members of family tree, branch after branch, twig after twig, vines and incidental outgrowths included, it does not seem to me too big a historical step to go from the bodies piled in the snow at Wounded Knee in 1890 to the body of Dusti Rose Jumping Eagle lying in shiny mannequin perfection in an open coffin in a teepee in Billy Mills Hall in the town of Pine Ridge in early July 2011, a scarf draped over her neck to conceal the manner of her suicide." One sentence. Amazing it made it past an editor. But the sentiments expressed are repugnant. See, Dusti hung herself at 15 because she was raped and her alcoholic community was not going to do anything about it. But it is really all about the white man. She hung herself, according to the author, because 145 native americans died in a battle over 100 years ago. Later on, she interviews a woman who sold pot and was a drunk, and says she was raped by a drunk relative when she was 6 and again at age 19. The ascribe these criminal acts to the feelings of worthlessness of the men, who then rape the women and the children. They later deliver a birthday cake to another relative who was raped by yet another drunk relative on the rez who fled to a women's shelter in town. T At this time they talk about her selling pot to "allow her people to heal from oppression and to tap into a creative, contemplative frame of mind." See, substance abuse is not the problem, the white man is. The day before a native american from the rez had shot and killed a cop and wounded another. He himself was shot and killed. She claims his shooting was racists and then wishes "we made the boundaries around the rez impenetrable. Keep the Indians in, keep the crackers out." The white man is racist. Pathetic

Posted by: Thunderb at September 23, 2012 08:18 AM (Dnbau)

75 #66, OregonMuse. LOL. does sound like her don't it?

Posted by: Anna Puma (+SMuD) at September 23, 2012 08:21 AM (k9TQr)

76 Louis L'Amour also wrote "Fair Blows the Wind", a 17th Century historical novel. It was very good as well. Most of his stuff is formulaic, but still very good. Good guy beats the bad guy and gets the gold, or girl and gold, or is lucky not to get the girl. She is too narrow between the eyes, like a bad horse.

Awesome books.

Posted by: MAJ O at September 23, 2012 08:22 AM (TwbSE)

77 Cormac McCarthy - The Road.

Posted by: marinemom at September 23, 2012 08:22 AM (OKtOV)

78 The Sacketts series is a must read. After those I highly recommend Comstock Lode, The Lonesome Gods, Flint, The Californios, Silver Canyon, and the Bowdire short story collections. But in reality, everything from L'amour is a good read.

Posted by: teebone at September 23, 2012 08:23 AM (YtLSL)

79 Alan LeMay wrote at least a couple of my favorite western books, The Searchers and The Unforgiven (not to be confused with the Clint Eastwood movie). Elmer Kelton wrote 150 or so westerns set mostly in West Texas and my dad and aunt, both in their 80s, are big fans of his. I only read The Good Old Boys, which was made into a tv movie that was excellent and it was funny as hell.

Posted by: huerfano at September 23, 2012 08:24 AM (bAGA/)

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 12:07 PM (C4mFS)

The Californios (IIRC) is a western but has indians from another dimension in it. Where the main character travels to get the gold, the indians take one of the bad guys over and when he crosses back, he is a very old man.

Posted by: Bill R. at September 23, 2012 08:26 AM (QnRSM)

81 Was stuck in a waiting room yesterday and read the worst article in August 2012 National Geographic on Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in South Dakota. The author is a moron named Alexandra Fuller.

This is pretty much par for the course for National Geographic magazine, which is written and edited by a bunch of leftist twats. I think few people know this.

Posted by: OregonMuse at September 23, 2012 08:27 AM (C4mFS)

82 Finished reading "Trout Fishing in America" by Richard Brautigan I can recommend it- if you don't need a coherent storyline to sustain your interest. TFIA is a humorous absurdist collage of what seems to be reminiscence and fantasy in the form of very short chapters built around the phrase "trout fishing in America". This is pretty hard stuff to pull off as a writer and the third quarter of the book gets a bit twee when he seems to run out of gas and relies on some of the hippieish tropes of the time. Anywho... It was good enough that i decided to try another of his books and got what is supposed to be his best- "Sombrero Fallout" So far, so good though I'm only about halfway through. He definitely matured as a writer. The heart of the book is the story of a break-up and contains some very good, insightful stuff. The story appears to be semi-autobiographical (though who knows). Brautigan is one of those authors who's "fame" pretty much died along with him. A good, not great, writer in the American eccentric tradition. He does his thing and you either go along with it or not.

Posted by: naturalfake at September 23, 2012 08:27 AM (G9qZk)

83 Have you read any Stephen Hunter? The Swaggers--father and son. James Michener 's book on the History of Texas (published 1985) was surprisingly good. The Prize by Daniel Yergin-stories of greed and more. The Fall of the Roman Empire by Peter Heather has some applicable lessons. God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield is a great historical documentary that really surprised me. Cheers to all from South America---rld

Posted by: rld at September 23, 2012 08:27 AM (kVHyq)

84 I think I've read just about every L'Amour western, courtesy of my dad. Regret having to get rid of my half of the collection (paperback, not valuable except expensive tp replace) with moving and small apartments. Loved the Sackett series especially.

Posted by: Polliwogette, Teahada hobbit who wants some R&R at September 23, 2012 08:28 AM (4IADQ)

85 Nice post, O'Muse, and great idea about the L'amour stories. I've read more books than I can remember, but never L'amour. Hard to believe. I think I'll wander over to Kindle and rectify that situation.

Posted by: Blacksheep at September 23, 2012 08:29 AM (nvV9F)

86 The one L'Amour book I recommend is Down the Long Hills.

Posted by: bugle boy at September 23, 2012 08:31 AM (cdYUQ)

87 Am reading Comstock Lode on Kindle right now. It's on Kindle so I can read it anywhere although I have it in paperback too. At the same time, I bought Bendigo Shafter as it is also a long read and a good one.

Posted by: Bill R. at September 23, 2012 08:32 AM (QnRSM)

88 Oh---I forgot about Louis L'Amour! Hadn't read any of his books until '89 when I was laid up for a few months. I read pretty much all the stuff in our small local library (town pop about 250 @the time). L'Amour I had previously scorned as not worthy of my interest. Boy was I mistaken. The man can spin a yarn for sure.

Posted by: rld at September 23, 2012 08:32 AM (kVHyq)

89 Josephus was a hard read for me. One of the things about ancient books is that they reek of personality. Since there weren't printing presses the authors didn't homogenize their works for a mass audience so their own uhh psychology I guess is the word I'm looking for is on every page. My impression of Josephus is that he was a real prick. The Jewish War is depressingly familiar. The Romans evidently regarded the Jews as the moslems of their day (and Islam hadn't been invented yet). The hidden weapons caches and the suicide attacks and the random acts of terrorism are all there. All they were lacking was RDX. Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living.... at September 23, 2012 11:38 AM (BF5Y9) That's the best part of Josephus. He's *PROUD* of being the biggest asshole prick in historical writings. Like his leadership of the siege of Jotapata. As the Romans take the town, he convinces the leaders to form a suicide pact, with the winner killing the others (suicide was a Jewish sin). He then cheats in the lottery and surrenders to the Romans. He then plays a prophet and calls Vespasian an emperor and god to get a good job working for him.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 23, 2012 08:33 AM (rzSn3)

90 I have a coworker whose dad has read every western novel his town library. How does he know this? He initials every book he reads in a very light pencil(in a secret location known only to himself and his daughters). The old guy requires 2 or 3 new books a week to satisfy his western habit. My friend said her sisters really have to scramble to find something their father hasn't read yet. She says it's really amusing to listen to them discuss their increasingly desperate search for new reading material.

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 08:35 AM (M/TDA)

Yeah, Haunted Mesa isn't a ghost story.

It's more of a parellel universe/mild sci-fi story. Hints of the Other Side pop up in some of his other novels, including Jubal Sackett.

George Washington Ogden wrote a few good Westerns as well. He's not well known, but one of my great uncles was his stepson, and gave me some of his books.

I REALLY hate to recommend anything by James Michner, but the middle part of Centennial is pretty good. Skip everything up to the beginning of Lame Beaver's tale, and quit whenever you get tired of it. (It REALLY drags after the big blizzard on the ranch.)

Michner is another author (like Stephen King) that badly needs/needed an editor that has/had big brass balls and would be able to tell them to cut out about all the crapo and stick to the tale.

Posted by: Harry at September 23, 2012 08:37 AM (G9al/)

92 Ironically, I think you can trust a lot of Josephus' accuracy. He had reason to play up the importance and danger of the revolt, both to boost his importance as a historian and Vespasian's and Titus' credit as those that defeated it. And there were plenty of Romans around who would know if he made too much stuff up. Given that most ancient historians were recording things far outside their own lifetime, you have to credit any first person account you can find. In all of the thousand years of Roman History there aren't more than a half dozen first person accounts surviving.

Posted by: Oldcat at September 23, 2012 08:40 AM (rzSn3)

93 Reading Cloud Atlas right now---really interesting, really confusing and I have no idea where it is going; each story/part is so completely different and sucks you right in until it abruptly ends...will report back when it is finished. In non-fiction queue-Napoleon, French Revolution, Rise and Fall of Third Reich, happy stuff.

Posted by: goldilocks at September 23, 2012 08:40 AM (S9fCf)

94 I love me some Louis L'Amour. The big benefit he had is that he'd spend time with the old time cowboys, the guys who knew and drank with the big names and lived that life. He rode a horse over all the trails, he went where he wrote about.
Loren Estleman writes great westerns, too, especially his Page Murdock series. I like some of the other big writers, but they don't really measure up overall.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 08:43 AM (r4wIV)

95 I have a coworker whose dad has read every western novel his town library. How does he know this? He initials every book he reads in a very light pencil(in a secret location known only to himself and his daughters). The old guy requires 2 or 3 new books a week to satisfy his western habit. My friend said her sisters really have to scramble to find something their father hasn't read yet. She says it's really amusing to listen to them discuss their increasingly desperate search for new reading material.

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 12:35 PM (M/TDA)

She has my sympathy. My dad wanted me to get him a book every time I went to the library, and I did, until he started complaining that I got him books he'd already read. I finally told him to go get his own books. Much easier on me.

Posted by: huerfano at September 23, 2012 08:47 AM (bAGA/)

96 20 Posted by: Jeff Weimer at September 23, 2012 11:25 AM (rqlRk) That's really cool Jeff. I just signed up. Do you want me to join your alliance?

Posted by: BornLib at September 23, 2012 08:54 AM (zpNwC)

97 re: Josephus

The problem is that he is not a likable rogue, he is just a prick. Partying with Fraser's Flashman would be a lot of fun, Josephus not so much. Plutarch or Appian, or even Livy I think would make for a pleasant evening of dinner, wine and conversation. Josephus? I'm pretty sure at some point I would feel the need to brain him with a table leg.

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living.... at September 23, 2012 08:56 AM (BF5Y9)

98 Walking Drum was interesting from a historical viewpoint but it wasn't very good. High Lonesome and Passin' Through are good L'Amour picks, so is Flint and Conagher.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 09:02 AM (r4wIV)

99 Have read ALL of LL writings..including the poetry, This one will stay in your head forever...Rose of memory

I turned the leaves of an ancient book
A book that was faded and worn -
And there 'tween the leaves I found a rose,
A tiny rose, and a thorn.

Where are the lips that kissed that rose
And the hands so soft and white,
That gave to me that rose of love,
The love we pledged that night?

Long since those days have passed away,
And we have drifted apart,
The blood red rose has faded now-
But the thorn rests deep in my heart.

A quote from one of his characters kept me alive several times..."there is NOTHING that can stop a man who knows he is right..and keeps on coming"

More recently , I just finished "Country of the Bad Wolfes" by James Carlos Blake. Highly Recommend!

Posted by: jeff talbut at September 23, 2012 09:04 AM (V5auc)

100 Comstock Lode is a good book, its really big but worth reading, even if it has a bit of a Hamlet feel to it. Billy Gashade by Loren Estleman is like a primer on frontier history and lore, I recommend it highly. Everyone is in it, practically.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 09:06 AM (r4wIV)

101 I second those who have said The Walking Drum was LL's best work. I mourned when he died at least partly because now I'll never know what happened when Kerbouchard went to Hind.

The best of the Sackett books is The Sackett Brand. Tell Sackett against the Lazy A might have been a fair fight if Tell wasn't injured, but now Sacketts are coming in from all over, and the Lazy A doesn't have near enough men. Hell, the 7th Cav might not be enough. Great book displaying the ethos of the individual that built this country, but also the bonds that bind this legendary family together. Sackett in trouble? Other Sacketts are coming. No fanfare, no questions asked, just here we come, don't kill 'em all afore we get there. It's bread into the clan to such a degree that a Sackett could no more not respond in that situation than he could decide to stop breathing for a couple of days. Great, great book.

For a different type of western, I can recommend the late Tony Hillerman's work. Contemporary westerns where the protagonists are Indian lawmen. Hillerman was an expert on the culture, and he writes with loving respect for the world that these men inhabit as it coexists alongside, sometimes uneasily, modern American culture. Highly recommended.

Posted by: Weirddave at September 23, 2012 09:07 AM (aH+zP)

102 "So what have you all been reading this week? Any other Western authors I should be looking at?" Try Elmore Leonard's early Western novels. There is also a great anthology of all his Western short stories (including "Three-Ten to Yuma") published in 2004.

Posted by: CWalker at September 23, 2012 09:07 AM (b4R2z)

103

westerns - Clarence Mulford's Hopalong Cassidy Series. Very good. Very matter of fact in the violence. Very matter of fact about people dying in many ways. First story I read was about the cowboys from Bar 20 (?) in town at one bar and one of the younger cowboys is killed by another set of ranchhands at another bar. So they surround the other bar and massacre the entire set of ranchhands and the bar owner. Hopalong Cassidy, the hero in the series shoots all their horses in the corral, so none of the cowboys can escape.

Like I said, matter of fact about violence, killing and dying.

I think LL wrote a few of these under his own name after Mulford passed on?

Posted by: rd at September 23, 2012 09:07 AM (9sUlj)

104 PS: LL's descriptions of life on/of the sea from "Smoke from this Altar" etal...come closest to the actual experience of long journeys in small boats that I have ever read.

Posted by: jeff talbut at September 23, 2012 09:08 AM (V5auc)

105 by: CozMark at September 23, 2012 11:50 AM (P0AbR) Ha! I used to skip class to read, too. Anyhow last week I finished up jan siegal's "prospero's children" and "the dragon charmer," which were I really enjoyed. Now I'm reading "the blade itself" by joe Abercrombie. It seems like its going to have some amount of graphic torture ( one of the main characters works for the inquisition) but it's humourous so that's okay so far. If it walks too far down that road I'm going to have to stop reading it, though as I can never get that stuff out of my head. So far, though I like it.

Posted by: Elizabethe mostly lurks iPhone edition at September 23, 2012 09:09 AM (Gl70v)

106 Yeah, Elmore Leonard did good stuff in his early western books. Hombre was a pretty good read too.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 09:12 AM (r4wIV)

107 I haven't read all the comments yet. I read a L'Amour book years ago a friend on a construction site loaned me. Can't remember the name, maybe a moron can help, it was in the southwest and was about the different kiva's he found and investigated. It was very interesting.

Posted by: Infidel at September 23, 2012 09:16 AM (k7biU)

108 Is the movie "Hombre" based on the book or is it its own thing? 'cause I really like the movie.

"How you planning on gettin' back down that hill?"

Posted by: the guy that moves pianos for a living.... at September 23, 2012 09:17 AM (BF5Y9)

109 That's it, Ithink it was Haunted Mesa. I'll have to go look.

Posted by: Infidel at September 23, 2012 09:21 AM (k7biU)

110 Elmore Leonard is the author that brought my kids and their grandfather together. Dad love his western stuff and all 5 of my boys love his other stuff. They read the western stuff, because of things like Get Shorty and Rum Punch and had something to talk to grandpa about.

Posted by: marinemom at September 23, 2012 09:24 AM (OKtOV)

111 Down the Long Hills was an LL I had my youngest boy read when he was about 10 years old. It can be hard to find books for boys that encourage independence and responsibility, and that don't insist that girls are smarter and more competent than boys. I highly recommend.

Posted by: VKI at September 23, 2012 09:25 AM (TKoA3)

112 Yes, the movie Hombre is pretty close to the book. They've made several Elmore Leonard westerns into movies (3:10 to Yuma, twice - the old one is better, Last Stand at Saber River, Hombre{/i}, The Tall T (which I haven't read)).

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 09:27 AM (r4wIV)

113 And then there's The Broken Italics Tag, my favorite.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 09:28 AM (r4wIV)

114 Down the Long Hill is one of my favorites, Comstock Lode is an excellent read by LL too.

Posted by: connielu at September 23, 2012 09:29 AM (i0aCV)

115 It can be hard to find books for boys that encourage independence and responsibility, and that don't insist that girls are smarter and more competent than boys.Posted by: VKI at September 23, 2012 01:25 PM (TKoA3) Oh so true. So many books are written just for girls. Boys really get left out. And when you have voracious readers, it is interesting trying to keep them supplied with books. We read alot of science fiction, westerns and the classics. Tale of Two Cities and the Prisoner of Zenda are 2 favorites.

Posted by: marinemom at September 23, 2012 09:30 AM (OKtOV)

116 I'm surprised that no one has mentioned that the land descriptions in his books are accurate. The rivers, springs and hills are really there. He used to hike and camp in the areas he was writing about. I have all of his books including the non-westerns. Night over the Solomans is a bunch of short stories set in the Pacific during WW2.

Posted by: Gus at September 23, 2012 09:36 AM (cakcr)

117 He died before I got to town, but everyone says he was a real dick. Plans for his museum were quickly shelved. It's a hole in the ground filled with concrete. His wife is still around, battling it out with gas companies about drilling on her ranch. His fiction is innocuous. I enjoyed Last of the Breed more than most others I read.

Posted by: Jordan at September 23, 2012 09:37 AM (RSG1I)

118 I cut my teeth on LL's books. My dad would bring home a sack full of paperbacks everytime he came back from sea duty.

Posted by: digitalbrownshirt at September 23, 2012 09:45 AM (eHwT1)

119 You want Westerns? Elmore Leonard is your man.

Posted by: Malagate at September 23, 2012 09:46 AM (VXKWS)

120 May I suggest viewing the made for TV movie Conagher. It starred Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross and was based on a LL story. Great tale about a lonely widow who ties messages to tumbleweeds and the independent but equally lonely cowboy who keeps popping up in her life. Really wonderful .

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 09:47 AM (M/TDA)

121 Kudo's Gus!...When I was in my teens a friend from Texas and I actually picked some places to hike and backpack throughout the West.just to see if that was true. Yep

Posted by: jeff talbut at September 23, 2012 09:49 AM (V5auc)

122 I can't remember when I first picked up a Louis L'Amour book but I do know that I've read everyone of them I own at least three times in the last forty years and each time I reread them I get more out of them.

The books have many recurrent themes, redemption of flawed men and women through selfless acts of courage, the importance of the community and the power of law and justice.

In one book he talks about the Civil War veterans that decimated the James gang in Northfield Minnesota and how because they were armed and knew how to use weapons they protected ther community. Blackstone's Commentaries are a frequently referenced as are a number of what used to be called Western liberal classics.

Over and over again L'Amour talks about the importance of books and how lonely men in loney places would devour them and self educate themselves and it's because he knew that from first hand experience.

Lastly, in almost every case his characters either are seeking to (eventually) settle down with a family and build a community or, in the case of the Sacketts are part of an extended family no matter where they are that look out for one another.

What's great to me is that these are all just a part of the story he is telling, there's no self concious attempt at literary meaning like say John Irving and his precious wrestlers, bears and Viennese misfits thta all must make their mandatory appearance in each of his tomes.

Posted by: whatmeworry? at September 23, 2012 09:49 AM (Q3WfW)

123 One you've read one of LL's westerns, and The Sacketts is a good place to start, you too will read every one of them he wrote.

Posted by: truth fairy at September 23, 2012 09:57 AM (ue2Nm)

124 You MUST read Shalako. Must.

Posted by: D. Smith at September 23, 2012 10:13 AM (R6s86)

125 You have never read LL? You are so lucky. You get to read all those books. I loved every single one. His short stories are great as well. Another good author, Robert A. Heinlein. Most of his are science fiction.

Posted by: Joel at September 23, 2012 10:19 AM (sf1nc)

126 Old g. A. Henty novels are free for kindle and are exellent reads. I have to believe lamour wad exposed to this author as a child,

Posted by: rumcrook at September 23, 2012 10:20 AM (nhIFl)

127 Yesterday's anniversary of Nathan Hale's death inspired me to read Joseph Addison's "Cato".

Posted by: derit at September 23, 2012 10:22 AM (I88Jc)

128

Two "westerns" I enjoyed while younger, and they are definitely written for the ladies: "Jubilee Trail" and "Calico Palace" both by Gwen Bristow. I think Jubliee Trail is the more interesting book: the tale of a well-brought-up New York girl who marries a man who runs a trade between New York and California. Of course she has no real idea of what she is getting into. Calico Palace is about a young woman who finds herself abandoned by her husband in the 1849 gold rush and who makes her way in San Francisco. IIRC, there was just a touch of foreshadowing of the 1906 earthquake at the end of the book.

As to what I'm reading now: I finished "The Obamas" and learned that BHO is narcissistic and thin-skinned with mommy issues out the yin-yang which is how he is completely dominated by Michelle and Valerie Jarrett. The man is psychologically unsuited to be -- I'd say "dog-catcher" but we all know where that would end up.

I am reading Andrew McCarthy's latest little book on the Arab Spring. I think it might be called "Arab Spring" but I'm far to lazy to walk into the next room and turn on my kindle.

I haven't touched The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich in a couple of weeks but I usually read that when I donate platelets - two hours with absolutely no way to do anything else - and I haven't been in a while.

Posted by: Tonestaple at September 23, 2012 10:29 AM (gvVlx)

129 he talks about the Civil War veterans that decimated the James gang in Northfield Minnesota and how because they were armed and knew how to use weapons they protected ther community.

I'm glad you brought that up. LL tore Morley Safer a new one on 60Min in 1976 on this subject, also introducing the idea that people left the eastern cities for the wild frontier because...it was safer. Impressed the hell out of me at the time, and changed everything in the guns/crime debate.

Reagan gave him the Medal of Freedom in 1984. He deserved it.

_______________________
Reminds me of an interview with Joseph Heller, who I hope to hell never wrote a western. Asked who were the smartest people he was ever around, he said it was the officers of the Army Air Forces. Astounded, the reporter reminded him that he wrote Catch-22. Heller deadpanned, "You do realize that was a work of fiction, don't you?"

Posted by: comatus at September 23, 2012 10:42 AM (qaVK+)

130

Thanks, Morons. I'm now inclined to read some LL on my next vacation, if not sooner.

As someone who grew up in a state where cowboy culture predominates, I confess I've never read LL, ZG or any other western writer. As close as I've come is an article in a historical journal recounting my GGF's hair-raising encounter with indians along the Missouri about 10 years before Little Big Horn.

Posted by: Nash Rambler at September 23, 2012 10:45 AM (LZ7QO)

131 He was also a nice man as evidenced by this story. My niece and I did genealogy together and because we have Sackett ancestry she wrote him and asked if he had that ancestry also. He kindly wrote back and told her "no, he got the name from one of the inscriptions on the El Morro national monument, and was so intrigued by the cavalry passing through he borrowed that name to use." That is when I read my first book, although my mother who was raised in Oklahoma had read every book numerous times. She loved the cowboy stories.

Posted by: Ruth H at September 23, 2012 10:53 AM (KLwh4)

132

Funny about LL. The only novel of his I've ever read was "The Haunted Mesa", which is essentially a science fiction tale. But I did read another one, and I'm sure you guys know what I'm talking about, which is sort of an autobiography, but he talks about all the books he read when he was growing up and in the Merchant Marine.

Couple of things I remember from that book. He had a theory that there was at least 2, maybe more major pre-historic civilizations that we are un-aware of. His other theory was that elephants in N. America (Mastadons?) lasted a lot longer into modern history than has been supposed. Possibly until the early 1500's when the Spanish may have come across the last of them.

Posted by: HH at September 23, 2012 11:00 AM (v+ExF)

133
They may not exactly be westerns, but the Library of America has public all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books in a two-volume edition (without, unfortunately, Garth Williams' illustrations). It's good to see a classic like that in such a handsome edition.

BTW, I did read "Lonesome Dove", but it didn't knock me out. So sue me.

Posted by: Brown Line at September 23, 2012 11:03 AM (x+BZq)

134 I started reading L'Amour when I'd finished all the little romances in the school library, followed by Ian Flemming's Bond, when I was about 14. (The skinny Harlequins at that time usually ended with a breathless kiss and a proposal.) So I read all the Westerns in the library including a few Zane Gray. L'Amour was definitely a romantic and my favorite. He implied quite a lot. Being a *girl* I liked the one, Ride the River?, with the Sackett girl as the main character. Being *Norwegian* I liked the one where the lady fleeing to America after killing someone compares the Western mountains to the ones in Norway. The widow tying poetry to tumble weeds caught my imagination like nothing else. I LOVED Last of the Breed... though when I read it a second time not too long ago I got to the end and thought... WTF? he skipped the show-down! I hadn't noticed that the first time. I'd originally read it when there was still a Soviet Union. I keep all Louis L'Amour books when I get them. I've probably read almost all of them, but not The Walking Drum, I don't think. And I read them all when I was a teenager. I also baby-sat for a while for someone who had no television and nothing to read but a wall of Louis L'Amour books and nothing to listen to but a Nancy Sinatra LP. I read a lot of Sackett stories and listened to a lot of These Boots are Made for Walking on that job.

Posted by: Synova at September 23, 2012 11:11 AM (7/PU+)

135 92 Re first person accounts of the ancient world. Anyone who hasn't read The Anabasis by Xenophon and has any curiosity about the ancient Greek world should pick it up. His account of leading the Ten Thousand is endlessly fascinating. Many lessons to be learned including what real leadership is.

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 11:20 AM (M/TDA)

136 134 If you haven't seen it yet, then you'll love the movie Conagher that I mentioned up bread.

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 11:22 AM (M/TDA)

137 "Good guy beats the bad guy and gets the gold, or girl and gold, or is lucky not to get the girl. She is too narrow between the eyes, like a bad horse." LOL! He has a few female outright villains, too. They always come to a very bad end.

Posted by: Synova at September 23, 2012 11:24 AM (7/PU+)

138 Obama is a stuttering clusterf*ck of a miserable failure.

Posted by: steevy at September 23, 2012 11:34 AM (6o4Fb)

139 For my two cents worth, L'Amour's "Education of a Wandering Man", his his biography, is his best work. He crafted an amazing life.

Posted by: longrunningfool at September 23, 2012 11:42 AM (ECaoJ)

140 136 - I posted before reading the other comments, so I recognized the story as the same one when I did. I like cowboy movies based on L'Amour books and I can usually recognize which one it is, but they're still not the same thing. I'm not sure I want the people in my head replaced by actors. Well, unless it's Tom Selleck. ;-)

Posted by: Synova at September 23, 2012 11:45 AM (7/PU+)

141

Posted by: longrunningfool at September 23, 2012 03:42 PM (ECaoJ)

Aha! That's the book I couldn't remember the name of.

Thanks.

Posted by: HH at September 23, 2012 12:19 PM (v+ExF)

142 LL fans - and I am one - will almost certainly also like the Cossack tales of Harold Lamb, a man far greater than the pulps he wrote for. Bison Books, an imprint of one of the Plains states universities, is reissuing Lamb's works: see http://www.amazon.com/Wolf-Steppes-Complete-Cossack-Adventures/dp/0803280483/. And I hope I can be forgiven for mentioning my late father's work, Claymore: a story of Texas, at http://www.amazon.com/dp/B008EM0I4E, which may also suit LL fans. And of course Kelton is the ultimate Western novelist.

Posted by: Markham S. Pyle at September 23, 2012 12:19 PM (EBei6)

143 I just got back from a joint chamber orchestra performance/poetry reading. The orchestra was performing three different interpretations of spring (Vivaldi, Mendelssohn, and someone else) and the poems were supposedly inspired by those pieces. The poets were, for the most part, terrible or completely off topic. Then there was a Howard Stern of English composition at the end who took it upon himself to read "the violins clashed/through the motherfucking hall" and later "her pussy was like the bearded face of God." ????? I hate poets.

Posted by: Yoshi, Aggrieved Victim of the White Man at September 23, 2012 12:21 PM (csi6Y)

144 My old man had a complete LL collection. Read 'em many times. LOVED the description of ConagherÂ… "He's not a gunfighter, he's the kind the gunfighters leave alone."

Posted by: JohnInOhio at September 23, 2012 12:40 PM (BxfK8)

145 Once you start with the Sacketts, you'll notice that there are other families tangled in: the Trelawneys ran to girls the way Sacketts ran to boys, and they lived in the same communities in Tennessee, so you can see the inevitability of that... lol

But there are also the Talons, who raised some mighty respectable folks, themselves. Milo Talon appears more than once, and his mother Em Talon, long a widow, is equally proud of having been born a Sackett. I seem to recall that Milo was one of the kin who went to help Tell against the Lazy A, as was the unreasonably wealthy lowlander Parmalee Sackett.

The entire legend of the Sacketts and their effect on history starts pretty much right after the New World is discovered. You start looking for asides in unrelated stories that mention a Sackett, or a Talon, or events described in another book, even if the actual story is lost to the time period when the reference is made. Oftentimes, you'll find them. I think it was a game L'Amour played with his readers.

To other mentions: yes, he wrote Hopalong Cassidy stories. He also wrote screenplays, but never, AFAIK, for one of his own books.

One of the main attractions of L'Amour's primary characters is that they are all what Heinlein called "the competent man." They have all their basic survival skills down: they can all ride, shoot, hunt, stalk, cook, sew, and clean whatever needs cleaning as well as repair what needs fixing. They can do a little rough first aid, they can sail and navigate, they are never lost and they are endlessly patient when dealing with circumstances beyond their control.

They are all strategic thinkers: Em Talon lived in a big house in a large clearing. The clearing was created by her husband cutting down the trees for the lumber to make the house. The boulders he found he positioned carefully, and painted on them the number of yards from the house they were...as if it was a firing range. Which it was, especially when the Indians attacked. Which happened with some frequency, till they learned that it was pointless. The family kept the clearing cleared, so no one could sneak up on them. Basic competence on the part of Mr Talon that kept his wife and sons alive after he died.

My favorite L'Amour novel is HONDO, and the movie, starring and produced by John Wayne, is a terrific adaptation, even though they used a collie (a Weatherwax collie?) to play Sam, who was not a collie. It was just on AMC yesterday.

Other favorites: WALKING DRUM, REILLY'S LUCK, SITKA, CHANCE, and THE FIRST FAST DRAW.

Posted by: Leonie Alemann at September 23, 2012 12:57 PM (ixKn7)

146 Gosh I hate the auto correct on IPad. If you're not paying attention the damn thing can change a word faster than you can blink. Thus " up thread" becomes " up bread".

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 01:03 PM (M/TDA)

147 Elmer Kelton

Posted by: Sphynx at September 23, 2012 01:23 PM (v4Yb0)

148 Funny thing about combat; bad leaders don't last too long. (one way or another)

I read Louis in the USN. When you enjoy reading and you've read all the books you've got, you'll read just about anything for a break.

Westerns are/were real popular on board. (I'm not sure why) So that's what was available and lying around loose.

I thought they'd be like western movies but there was depth of characters, descriptions of scenes that put you there smelling the blood and the horse shit and action that wasn't cartoonish or overdone.

Hmm. I think I may take up reading him again. Thanks for the reminder.

Posted by: Jcw46 at September 23, 2012 01:27 PM (Vh0f5)

149 I seem to recall that Milo was one of the kin who went to help Tell against the Lazy A, as was the unreasonably wealthy lowlander Parmalee Sackett.

Posted by: Leonie Alemann at September 23, 2012 04:57 PM (ixKn7)

I love what Parmalee did to (for? yea) the co-owner of the Lazy A (not the one who started the feud).

Posted by: Weirddave at September 23, 2012 01:30 PM (aH+zP)

150 P.S. re: the autocorrect folks are always talking about

There's no way to turn that feature off?

Seems kinda silly to me for anyone to leave a p.i.t.a. feature like that on when you've got one located between and behind your eyes that should function well enough.

Me. I've never owned a so called smartphone and probably never will.

Unless they're part of a tablet. I want a tablet but can't justify it. YET.

Posted by: Jcw46 at September 23, 2012 01:30 PM (Vh0f5)

151 Last of the Breed is one of his best IMO. The Walking Drum was disappointing, but another of his around the same era- Fair Blows the Wind- was much better.

Posted by: Long-time Commenter, First-time Reader at September 23, 2012 01:31 PM (v5lxX)

152 If you're interested in Westerns, I can recommend Glenden Swarthout's <b>The Shootest</b> and Larry McMurtry's <b>Lonesome Dove</b>.

Posted by: Lawrence Person at September 23, 2012 01:41 PM (6G2Mm)

153 much as I liked the Sacketts, Shalako was the first L.L. I read and 35 yrs later, remains the best. Good enough to re-read several times

Posted by: Shirley at September 23, 2012 02:36 PM (IJAVg)

154 I read some J.T. Edson books - modern Westerns, maybe you'd call them. There were always gorgeous ginger Amazons and some sultry Latina vixens getting into half-naked cat fights. If I recall, the guns had all the good dialogue.

I also read a western by... Zane Grey's son, maybe? It was called "Lassiter's Luck" and it was pretty good.

Currently reading Udolpho and The Italian by Ann Ward Radcliffe, written in the late the 1700s. Free! Kindle! Yay!

Posted by: Gem at September 23, 2012 02:48 PM (zw+pb)

155 "Hondo" was the other LL book I've read, but it didn't stick with me the way "The Walking Drum" did. I really appreciated finding this thread this morning. It saved me from a boring sermon. In addition to the other books I'm trying to read, I'm listening to "Game of Thrones" on my commute. Roy Dotrice reads the books and he is the master. He doesn't read them so much as perform them. Incredible.

Posted by: sinalco at September 23, 2012 03:00 PM (zDJDu)

156 Also, I love the post image. Cowboys are HOT.

Posted by: sinalco at September 23, 2012 03:00 PM (zDJDu)

157 Someone earlier posted about the places that L Amour described really being there, this I can attest to. In Lonely On The Mountaintop, he describes driving a herd of cattle following a travoi trail between the Pembina Hills and the Turtle Mountains in northern North Dakota. It is a very short mention and could easily been left out, but he included it and that trail ran parallel on the north side of the road than ran past my parent's farm. My great uncle told me that when snow blocked the road back in the 1920's, they would go off the road and the wheels of the Model Ts would fit exactly into the ruts created by the travoi and they would then set the throttle and the car would motor on like a train on a track.

Posted by: Thresherman at September 23, 2012 03:06 PM (Vbcjo)

158 It's "Western", but not "cowboy", and it is one of the most fascinating books I've ever read! (It was even on the required reading list at law school.) "The Cheyenne Way: Conflict and Case Law in Primitive Jurisprudence" by Llewellyn and Hoebel. (Sorry, no formatting.) Another Natice American book you shouldn't miss is "Black Elk Speaks", by John G. Neihardt.

Posted by: Thorvald at September 23, 2012 03:07 PM (1V6Pv)

159

My favorites are THE EMPTY LAND (L'Amour's only "town tamer" Western in my recollection) and THE DAYBREAKERS, the first and best Sackett novel. L'Amour disowned his Hopalong Cassidy novels (written under the pseudonym "Tex Burns") but I like them, especially the first one reprinted in the 1990s, with L'Amour's name on them, THE RUSTLERS OF WEST FORK.

L'Amour also got his own chapter in Jim Powell's THE TRIUMPH OF LIBERTY. That's something Obama will never, ever get, even if the book goes through a hundred reprintings and revised updates.

Posted by: Bilwick at September 23, 2012 03:28 PM (E3sHO)

160 I once read that when LL started to write he began by establishing the characters and by the third chapter there was a shoot out at the gulch. His books didn't sell well. Then on the advice of an editor he began his books at the third chapter and filled in the characters later and the rest is history. Now some moron will tell me that was Zane Gray.

Posted by: Tmitsss at September 23, 2012 04:07 PM (jtc5O)

161 I really enjoyed LL's "Sackett" series and all of his Western fiction but lately I've been hooked on Bernard Cornwell's "Sharpe's" series. He chronicles the rise of former private Richard Sharpe through the officer ranks of the British Army during the Peninsula Campaign of the Napoleonic Wars. This was the time of the Thin Red Line, when Britain truly was Great. As the son of a US Army maverick in the 50's and 60's, I could relate to much of the story line. British TV did an excellent job serializing several of the books in the 90's, starring Sean Bean as Richard Sharpe

Posted by: Morbius at September 23, 2012 04:07 PM (1aenQ)

162 The Sharpe series is 90% brilliant and 10% "I need to pay for my new car."
They may not exactly be westerns, but the Library of America has public all of Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" books in a two-volume edition (without, unfortunately, Garth Williams' illustrations).
L'Amour always said he didn't write "Westerns" he wrote frontier history fiction. No different than fiction about the Roman empire, just set in the old west. Like Little House (some of his books were about that same time period.
And Echo Sackett was quite a little lady, I loved Ride the River.
If you haven't read Shane, do so. Now. Its even better than the movie, its probably the best Western ever written.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 04:13 PM (r4wIV)

163 I recommend Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series. Amazing 20-books but really, one, long novel. I''m reading Rex Stout's Nero Wolfe now. Love it's wit and language play.

Posted by: Scotsfury at September 23, 2012 04:19 PM (W08yv)

164 And yes, read Education of a Wandering Man. Its hard to believe any one man can have lived that much.

Posted by: Christopher Taylor at September 23, 2012 04:21 PM (r4wIV)

165 161 Cornwell's Saxon Chronicles are stupendous. Love them. It will be a sad day for me when he finishes that saga. BTW..anyone interested in some lighthearted mysteries should pick up Spencer Quinn's Chet and Bernie detective stories. So cute. Chet the dog is the narrator.

Posted by: Tuna at September 23, 2012 04:47 PM (M/TDA)

166 The only Louis L'Amour book I ever read was 'Education of a Wandering Man'. I thought it was awesome. If you want motivation to read more books in general, this book will give it to you.

Posted by: OceanusRex at September 23, 2012 04:48 PM (yAI5q)

167 I recommend Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander series. Amazing 20-books but really, one, long novel. Loved the first couple, really great, then . . . Zzzzzzzzzz

Posted by: Shirley at September 23, 2012 04:51 PM (IJAVg)

168 Posted by: BornLib at September 23, 2012 12:54 PM (zpNwC)

Sorry it took so long to reply. I've been working in the yard and watching football.

I'm "Darth Lumbergh" on Planet Baen. Feel free to join me, I'll send you plenty of stuff!

Posted by: Jeff Weimer at September 23, 2012 05:12 PM (rqlRk)

169 The Sackett series was the first series I read. My uncle bought them for me when I was in 5th grade. I can look over at my bookshelf and see them still sitting there, pages well thumbed and covers slowly disintegrating. It's a great series. The various movies based on his books were okay, but there really is no substitute for the book.

Posted by: Sanschill at September 23, 2012 06:20 PM (dtRKW)

170 Haha! I picked up my copy of Daybreakers and got to the part about a woman, narrow between the eyes, like a mean horse. But I think I like Ty and Orrin's Ma the best. Sitting on the porch on a rocker with a pipe. Her boy comes home to explain that he killed a man, she asks if the dead man was "looking at you when you fetched him." and was satisfied with, "Right in the eye." Told her boy to take their best horse and go west and to "Ride with the law, Tye, never against it."

Posted by: Synova at September 23, 2012 07:23 PM (7/PU+)

171 Yes, Haunted Mesa is SF, very interesting. Hondo, the basis for that classic John Wayne oater, is even better.

If you want to try Westerns, start with Elmore Leonard -- Hombre (the basis for the Paul Newman film), and his short stories like "3:10 to Yuma" (yes, the basis for those two films). The other two authors are Jack Schaefer -- Shane and a short story called "Sergeant Houck" spring to mind; and Michigan author Loren D. Estleman. Like Elmore Leonard, he writes hard-boiled modern crime stories, but branches out into the Western with a top-notch series about Paige Murdock, a deputy U.S. marshal who gets sent on some strange missions by a judge in Montana.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 24, 2012 05:10 AM (exvgC)

172 162 . . . If you haven't read Shane, do so. Now. Its even better than the movie, its probably the best Western ever written.
*
*
"Perhaps you have something to say about soda pop. Or pigs."

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 24, 2012 05:12 AM (exvgC)

173 Try the walking drum - Excellent! The life of a salesman in medieval days

Posted by: Mitch Rapp at September 24, 2012 06:19 AM (4waNb)

174 145 . . . One of the main attractions of L'Amour's primary characters is that they are all what Heinlein called "the competent man." They have all their basic survival skills down: they can all ride, shoot, hunt, stalk, cook, sew, and clean whatever needs cleaning as well as repair what needs fixing. They can do a little rough first aid, they can sail and navigate, they are never lost and they are endlessly patient when dealing with circumstances beyond their control.
*
*
That's it. L'Amour's work reminds me of Heinlein's in several important ways. Heinlein was working with created worlds, L'Amour with one in the past, but the character of the "competent man" is there in both.

Posted by: Wolfus Aurelius at September 24, 2012 06:49 AM (exvgC)

175 Two authors that truly knew the west. Owen Wister who was famous for "The Virginian" and BM Bower who wrote a series of books based on the Flying U ranch in Montana. My father, uncles and grandfathers grew up on farms and ranches in th ewest and swor that the authors knew what they were talking about.

Posted by: daryl at September 24, 2012 11:00 AM (CnZnC)

176 It may not be a hat-and-horse Western, but "Sometimes a Great Notion" by Ken Kesey (of "Cuckoo's Nest" and Merry Pranksters fame) is, in my humble opinion, THE Great American Novel. Set in 1960 or '61, it's the story of a family of loggers in the Oregon woods who defy the union and townsfolk by continuing to work despite a strike. It's a difficult read the first time, as it skips from first-person Hank to first-person Lee to the unnamed narrator, etc., but I'll off a tip: watch for ellipses ("...") and/or italics... you'll catch on. It takes place in the fall-winter, so it's a perfect fit for the rainy nights to come. I've read it nearly every fall since '75 when a high-school classmate gave me a copy (Mike Leroy, wherever you are - thank you). It's worth the effort - it's THAT good.

Posted by: Josh Rothman at September 24, 2012 11:09 AM (BErvj)

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