I'm a big fan of the Larry McMurtry "Lonesome Dove" series of books.
Wondering if anyone has any good fiction book recommendations for the "Wild West". Can be about Native Americans, Cowboys, Texas Rangers, Frontiersmen etc.
I've read Blood Meridian too and quite enjoyed that (although a bit odd and abstract).
I'd love if anyone has any good books or authors for this sort of period in the US to recommend?
Thanks!!!
by Physical_Ad_5609
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Just finished True Grit – Charles Portis. I’m not huge on westerns and LOVED it.
If you haven’t done the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy, they aren’t as challenging as Blood Meridian.
Butcher’s Crossing by John Williams.
Butcher’s Crossing by John Edwards Williams and The Revenant by Michael Punke are two of my favorites.
Days Without End by Sebastian Barry. It’s beautifully written and depicts characters trying to find peace in violent times. There’s also a sequel, A Thousand Moons, which I haven’t read yet, but have on my TBR pile.
Whiskey When We’re Dry – John Larisen
The Thicket – Joe Lansdale
Both are pretty gritty and violent versions of the old west.
Louis L’Amour wrote a bunch of fun novels about the old west.
Don Coldsmith wrote an interesting series about the old west.
If you like Blood Meridian check out the Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy. It starts with *All the Pretty Horses.*
If you’re open to short stories about the American West try *Still Wild* edited by Larry McMurtry. The Annie Proulx story *Brokeback Mountain* is in there along with a bunch of other western writers
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
Also a great movie with Dustin Hoffman
A lot of good stuff has been mentioned already (True Grit, Butcher’s Crossing, The Revenant, The Border Trilogy). I’ll try to round out some of the “literary western” genre as you cited McCarthy and McMurtry.
The Border Trilogy has more depth than Blood Meridian. If you liked Lonesome Dove, remember that McMurtry wrote a lot of fiction, many of which are novels (and Lonesome Dove itself has multiple sequels).
In a similar (but maybe less mythic) vein are the Westerns of Ron Hansen. I’d recommend either Desperadoes or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford.
You might also want to try Oakely Hall (Bad Lands or Warlock).
Thomas DeWitt’s The Sisters Brothers is a really fun romp I’d highly recommend. Clyde Edgerton’s Redeye is even more of a sendup.
Thomas Savage’s The Power of the Dog is a nice read, but the movie is just as good.
E.L. Doctorow’s first novel, Welcome to Hard Times, is a short little Western with a particularly evil antagonist.
You might want to peak at William Vollman’s Seven Dreams series, but I haven’t been ambitious enough to get to them yet.
I’ve been meaning to get to Robert Coover’s Ghost Town, but I can’t speak to its quality yet. Coover is one of the great American postmodernists, so his take on a Western might be fun. Another odd take on the Western might be Ishmael Reed’s Yellow Back Radio Broke-Down.
There’s a trend of non-Western and/or non-male writers tackling Westerns, which can be a lot of fun. I liked Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills is Gold and Tea Ohbreat’s Inland. I have The Thousand Crimes of Ming Tsu by Tom Lin on my TBR pile. I didn’t like Anna North’s Outlawed, but tastes might vary.
Also on my TBR pile is Lonesome Animals by Bruce Holbert. I also recently started Doc by Maria Doria Russell (tells the story of Doc Holliday).
I’ve only ever heard good things about Smonk by Tom Franklin.
Finally, I read The Heart in Winter by Kevin Barry a couple of weeks back, and it’s such a natural fit for anybody who like McCarthy. I’d highly recommend this one.