Wednesday's Game: Genre- Westerns

[Carci]

Time to add a new game.  Someone had suggested one every 2 weeks so we have a longer time to expand on the current theme.

I thought it would be fun to think about different Genres.  And for starters I chose Westerns.

I don't read them often but have read several that are most memorable.

I'll start with Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry.

It had a story and cast of characters that I came to love during the book and an ending that I hated and still remember vividly... no spoilers there.  My brother claims it as his favorite book of all time.

Maybe the Western you think of was set in cowboy days or maybe it's in current time but we've all read a few over the years.

[Mandy Muffin]

I have read any number of westerns over the years, but not so much lately.  However, my records show I read this book, "The Bride Wore Spurs," last year.  It may have been a Kindle free selection.  It has good reviews and is a decent read.  http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B007RPWY7S/ref=pd_lpo_k2_dp_sr_1?p...

[rapa]

THE TIME IT NEVER RAINED by Elmer Kelton

The late Elmer Kelton didn't write Westerns.  He wrote fine novels set in the West! His readers meet flesh-and-blood people of an earlier time, in stories that grab and hold you from the first to the last page.  This novel was inspired by actual events, when the longest and most servere drought in living memory pressed ranchers and farmers to the outer limits of courage and endurance.

[Joanne]

All the Walt Longmire novels, by Craig Johnson.

[officerripley]

I agree with Joanne on the Longmire series; in fact that's the only "western" books I've ever liked; find reading about the so-called "good ol' days" when women and other minorities had even fewer options than they do now: depresses and irritates the heck outa me, ugh!  A *few* western *movies*--a*very* few, Open Range being the only one I can think of rite now--I like (prob becuz they show women and the other minorities having it better than they really did, lol).  I know there may have been a few women back then who had it good becuz they were in control of their own lives but they were exceptions.

[Mandy Muffin]

I was in the 10 grade in high school when a teacher introduced me to the works of a author named Clay Fisher.  You may remember the classic movie starring Clark Gable called "The Tall Men."  I find that this was a pseudonym for prolific writer of westerns named Henry Wilson Allen who used at least a couple of pen names.  I probably read about 10-12 of the books, as the the teacher lent some of them to me.  I was about 14 at the time and cowboys and Indians were all the rage in the 1950s.  Here is the story of the western writer that I called Clay Fisher.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Wilson_Allen

[Carci]

One of the Westerns I loved and still remember to this day is One Thousand White Women.  It was based on an actual proposal to our president at the time to send train loads of women from eastern jails, mental institutions, etc. out west to marry into Indian tribes to assimilate them into our culture. 

It was a wonderful book, following the fate of one such train full of women. It was full of romance & adventure and left you with a deep appreciation of the Indian culture.  Maybe I'll read it again. :)

[rapa]

THE SON  by Phillipp Meyer (published 2013) .  This is an epic saga of the settling of Texas from 1849-1977.  Lots of savage scenes between cowboys and Indians.  Probably learned more about scalping than I needed to know!

[Ioruach]

In my misspent youth (no, not really) I often read Westerns.  I especially liked Zane Grey. But in recent years the only ones I have read are those written by Robert B. Parker in his later years.  Resolution, Brimstone and Appaloosa were three of them.  And, yes, I liked all of them.  Parker created some very colorful characters in these books.

[CaliforniaNow]

The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing - Marilyn Durham

much better than the movie

[Carci]

These Is My Words, the diary of Sarah Agnes Prine, 1881-1901, Arizona Territories by Nancy E. Turner

"A moving, exciting, and heartfelt American saga inspired by the author's own family memoirs, these words belong to Sarah Prine, a woman of spirit and fire who forges a full and remarkable existence in a harsh, unfamiliar frontier. Scrupulously recording her steps down the path Providence has set her upon - from child to determined young adult to loving mother - she shares the turbulent events, both joyous and tragic, that molded her, and recalls the enduring love with cavalry officer Captain Jack Elliot that gave her strength and purpose. 

Rich in authentic everyday details and alive with truly unforgettable characters, These Is My Words brilliantly brings a vanished world to breathtaking life again."

[rapa]

Loved that book, CARCI!!!!!!!!!!

[Carci]

Me too... One of those books I still remember and a read it several years ago.   :)