Product Description

As he crisscrosses America -- driving in search of the present, the past, and himself -- Larry McMurtry shares his fascination with this nation's great trails and the culture that has developed around them.

Ever since he was a boy growing up in Texas only a mile from Highway 281, Larry McMurtry has felt the pull of the road. His town was thoroughly landlocked, making the highway his "river, its hidden reaches a mystery and an enticement.I began my life beside it and I want to drift down the entire length of it before I end this book."

In Roads, McMurtry embarks on a cross-country trip where his route is also his destination. As he drives, McMurtry reminisces about the places he's seen, the people he's met, and the books he's read, including more than 3,000 books about travel. He explains why watching episodes of The Mary Tyler Moore Show might be the best way to find joie de vivre in Minnesota; the scenic differences between Route 35 and I-801; which vigilantes lived in Montana and which hailed from Idaho; and the history of Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, and Custer that still haunts Route 2 today.

As it makes its way from South Florida to North Dakota, from eastern Long Island to Oregon, Roads is travel writing at its best.Amazon.com Review
You couldn't find a blunter or more accurate title for Larry McMurtry'sthird work of nonfiction. Roads is indeed an automotive odyssey, inwhich the author traverses America on one highway after another. As such,the book has a long and honorable pedigree, stretching back to Tocqueville by way of Kerouac, andmany readers will compare it to William Least Heat-Moon's bucolic ramble,Blue Highways. That,however, would be a mistake. The last thing McMurtry has in mind is aleisurely tour of small-town America--he's interested in the interstatesthemselves, "the great roads, the major migration routes that carryAmericans long distances quickly." No wonder the speedometer seldom dipsbelow 65 mph throughout the entire narrative. McMurtry is a man on themove, and even his meditative moments fly by in the linguistic equivalentof fourth gear.

Actually, there may be another reason the author is reluctant to apply thebrakes: his distaste for various towns, villages, counties, and entirestates. Planning a trip to the Texas hill country? McMurtry notes that "thesoil is too stoney to farm or ranch, the hills are just sort of forestedspeed bumps, and the people, mostly of stern Teutonic stock, aresuspicious, tightfisted, unfriendly, and mean." Missouri is "a place to getthrough as rapidly as possible," Ohio and Georgia "really aren't pleasant,"and woe to the traveler who lingers in the one-horse towns of the West,"where it's not even wise to roll down one's windows--if you avoid gettingmurdered you might still breathe in some deadly desert germ."

This crankiness does have an undeniable comic appeal. Yet Roadsturns out to be a sentimental journey after all, in the course of whichMcMurtry hopes to resurrect some of the élan vital he lost in thewake of his 1991 heart surgery. Driving, like reading itself, just mayprompt some remembrance of things past:

As I prepared to drive those same overfamiliar roads again it occurred tome that my effort was obliquely Proustian, a retracing of mypast that is analogous to the many rereadings I've done in the last fewyears, always of books I read before the surgery. In these rereadings andredrivings I'm searching, not for lost time, but for lost feelings, for theelements of my old personality that are still unaccounted for. I'm notanguished about these absentees, just curious and somewhat wistful.

Customer Reviews (49)

Nomad with a mission
This book was my entertainment on a recent trip to Northern Cal and Southern AZ during Thanksgiving week (in 2004).Mr. McMurty has a slightly different motivation for road excursions than most.He focuses on things most of us overlook or tire of, e.g., the open vistas driving through the Great Plains.

AN EXCELLENT READ IF YOU TAKE IF FOR WHAT IT IS.Do read the author's forward before starting this work.
What an odd little book McMurty came up with this time!When I first spotted this one at the library I hadvisions of a short version of Blue Highways: A Journey into America by William Least-Heat Moon or one of the other fantastic travel adventures or road trip books that have become available over the past fifty or so years.Well, I must say that this one was a bit different in many ways.It should be noted here that I am a big fan of McMurty and consider him one of the best fiction writers living today.Anyway, my expectations were a bit high in some ways; or at least unrealistic as it turned out.

Let me make it quite clear though.While the book was not exactly what I thought it was going to be, it never the less delighted me and I enjoyed ever page.McMurtry's smooth prose and astute observations are as present here as they are in any of his work. After I made the adjustment in my mind (something I should have done upon reading the forward by the author), I learned much from this work and simply enjoyed it.

Unlike so many travel books which explore the back roads, hollows and seldom seen areas of our country, the author has taken a number of road trips using major highways; the roads of commerce; the roads you take when you want to get some where fast.Highways such as 70, 80, 90, 5, 25, 35, 75 and others; the sort of roads I avoid like large cities when I travel for pleasure.No, these roads are uninteresting places for the most part, filled with fast food joints, strip malls and gas stations at each major exit.Unfortunately, throughout the years of putting thousands of miles on the road, I have been fortunate (our unfortunate, depending on your perspective), to have traveled many, if not most of the same roads the author traveled.

In this work you will not find little conversations with colorful geezers, odd characters and unique locals.Nor will you find neat descriptions of beautiful vistas appearing around each bend in the road.No, what the author has given us is his mental ramblings, thoughts as they occur and a neat perspective of American life, both past and present.

As he travels, McMurtry gives us brief history lessons about the area he travels through; a bit of how we got to where we are today.I felt that one of the most valuable aspects of this read was the authors take and comments concerning different literary characters and authors who lived or do live in the areas he travels through.There are some pretty obscure authors and works that the author discusses and to be honest, I filled quite a number of pages in my "book journal," under the section I use to track books our authors I intend to read someday.

As many here have pointed out, much of this work could probably have been written right from the author's book store without even leaving his driveway.I wonder about this though.I know that during many of my own driving trips that I have been able to do some of my best "thinking" while mindlessly dodging trucks and furry critters crossing the road.Driving for me, as with many and most certainly Larry McMurtry, is sort of a Zen like state where thoughts flow.The difference between this author and people like myself is that the author of Lonesome Dove and its ilk, is able to articulate his thoughts in a way most of us can only dream of.I honestly feel that McMurtry had to write this book while traveling.Setting in front of a computer typing away is no where near being on the open road when it comes to having a good quality think time.

This is an excellent read if you approach it for what it is and don't expect a typical road trip work.

On the other hand, give the first couple of chapters in the book a try.If you like it read on; if you don't like it, return it to the library or give it away and find a different book to read.Personally, I plan to give this a second read on down the line.

Don Blankenship
The Ozarks

Expansive, erudite, and personal
Without pretense, lofty philosophical purposes, or political agendas, Larry McMurtry hops in a car and drives through the highways of our country, providing a running dialogue with the reader. Geographical descriptions interrupted by interjections of travel challenges play a secondary role to references of other writers, books, and life's experiences, making Roads a semi-autobiographical account of a bookman/writer's life. Like many of his fiction works, McMurtry's life has been a journey down the road of book collecting, reading, writing, speaking, and the entertainment industry.

His enviable career and obvious dedication to excellence, as demonstrated by several bestselling books, as well as his vast book store in Archer City, show Larry McMurtry to be one of the most interesting and productive writers of our time. Few writers working today can boast (which he never does) of successful fiction, non-fiction, and screenplays, not to mention an unparalleled knowledge of books and literature.

This particular book is an enjoyable, relaxing read filled with factual anecdotes, literary and historical references, and a multitude of opinions on cities, regions, and the countryside. Unlike his works of fiction that seem to avoid any kind of judgment on human behavior, while insisting on great story-telling for their value, this book has no real story yet is not afraid of taking a few sentences to offer judgment of past or current events. In a way, this makes for a refreshing read and offers the opportunity to wade in the world McMurtry is presenting.

His consistently smooth prose, erudite perceptions of people and other writers, and his ability to capture the essence of the moment, blend well with descriptions of the land and a pictorial vision of the road. Get out a map and travel with Mr. McMurtry down the road of life and its joys as you read this fine collection of essays. Aside from the personal meanderings that may or may not have interest to a wide audience, this book is no more and no less than it purports: a book of highway journeys through the United States.

I continue to enjoy his non-fiction works more than his fiction, but certainly benefit from both. Those new to the world of Larry McMurtry might prefer alternating between both as a way to gain from great story-telling as well as the perceptions of a well-traveled bookman.

One of the Worst, Most Pointless Books Ever Written
The title says it all.This book represents an unethical fleecing of the reader.I read it, yes, and by the time I finished, I was burning up with indignation.McMurtry has permanently lost all credibility with me.Yes, he succeeded in getting the dollars out of my pocket this one time, (and I hope he chokes on them), but it will never happen again.Caveat emptor.It is junk.I love books and treasure mine, but I tossed this one without a backward glance.It is the proverbial outhouse paper-source. Even if it is available at $0.01, it is overpriced.

Enough said.

A Book Rich with Reflection and Introspection
This book is rich with personal reflection and introspection, as well as valuable insights about the roads travelled and its various destinations and passing points.McMurtry, the author of Lonesome Dove and other novels, recounts his travels on a number of roads that criss-cross the country in various ways.He gives us the ups and downs of the roads, and let's us in on what they have meant for him during his prolific life as a novelist and screenwriter.There is much personal revelation about his childhood and his father, and a lot of reflection and insight about the peoples and places covered by his travels.He is brutally honest in his views on peoples and places he does not like, which, for me, was unexpected but somewhat refreshing in that other travel books can sugar coat local character and place deficiencies.There are travel books written by individuals in search of adventure, or the unique, or the interesting angle.McMurtry's book takes another route, and brings his writer's/novelist's perceptions into play for the benenfit of the reader.Here and there the book takes the tone of a protracted traffic report, or the grumblings of a grumpy, frustrated driver, but overall the book is a literary work, worthy of more than a test drive. ... Read more

Product Description

Pulitzer Prize-winning Larry McMurtry writes like no one else about the American frontier. In Somebody's Darling, the frontier lies farther west, in Hollywood, where his subject is the strange world of the movies -- those who make them and those who play in them.

Somebody's Darling is the story of the fortunes of Jill Peel. Jill is brilliant, talented, and disciplined, and one of the best female directors in Tinseltown, or anywhere else. She's got it all together, except where the men in her life are concerned: Joe Percy and Owen Oarson. Joe is a womanizing, aging screenwriter, cheerfully cynical about life, love, and art and the pursuit of all three. But he'd rather be left alone with the young, oversexed wives of studio moguls. Owen is an ex-Texas football player and tractor salesman turned studio climber and sexual athlete. He'll climb from bed to bed in pursuit of his starry goal: to be a movie producer. Between the two of them and a cast of Hollywood's most unforgettable eccentrics, Jill Peel tries to create some movie magic.

Full of all the grit and warmth of his best work, Somebody's Darling is Larry McMurtry's deft and raunchy romp behind the scenes of America's own unique Babel: Hollywood. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Entertaining, humorous, and a little seedy
Using first person, an unusual perspective for McMurtry, Somebody's Darling traces the development of three people through the lens of the film industry replete with its glories, disappointments, and mostly confusions. Because making a film is so complex including securing actors, dealing with their personalities, wading through the swamps of writers, producers, directors, and finally critics, it makes sense to write a book that seems awash with people, their unpredictable reactions to events, and mostly their poor decisions.

Unlike many books about film-making, Somebody's Darling avoids the gossipy soap-opera scene or the inevitable demonstration of every technical aspect that exists in the industry. Instead, the book uses an appropriate balance of realism mixed with the oft quirky and odd personalities that seem to accompany people in the arts. Nobody presented is perfect, but nobody (with maybe one exception) is all bad. This gives the reader a healthy look at the many challenges presented in relationships that develop in the work place and how to juggle the constant demands of work and play.

Yet, even though a plot such as this would normally be filled with tragedy and sadness, somehow McMurtry finds the comedy amidst the bleakness of the lives presented. The constant flow of human energy has an embracing quality that lends itself to sympathy with many of the characters and a deep appreciation for Jill, the main character in the book.

The concept of the book is creative and interesting, but the use of first person which would normally cause a connection to the narrator, actually resulted in quite a bit of disdain for the people's reactions. In addition, the extensive use of dialog should have caused an understanding and sympathy with many of the people, but instead, it gave a disjunct quality to the story. When that element melds with excessive low standard behavior from most of the characters, the result is a book that seems rather seedy in a humorous way and lacks in purpose. It is difficult to recommend a book that is missing redeeming qualities in the people and instead focuses on constant human failings.

Still, it is a fun read by an important American author about an industry most people know very little about. Not one of his best, but certainly valuable for its new perspective.

Uneventful
The concept of the book(s) itself was good. I enjoyed reading into more than one character's life during the same period in time. However, I found the whole book, uneventful, and boring. I feel the author did not fulfill the female character's 'realness' in her narration. It's a male author's version of a females thoughts, feelings, and conversations. And with that, the female character's chapter is not compelling, insightful, nor does it have a bit of true emotion. I was very disappointed in the end.

Threw It Away
After "Duane's Depressed," a really good book, I read "Leaving Cheyenne," a pretty good book but then I bought this one.The characters are so unsympathetic that I cared not a hoot what happened to any of them.I didn't even finish this book.

A great example of McMurtry's diversity
In a novel about one of Larry McMurtry's most lovable female characters, McMurtry shows the literary diversity that has caused some critics to claim that he has the best male insight into the female world of any modern American novelist.The novel develops the stories of memorable but minor characters from All My Friends and Moving On into an insightful look at late 1970s Hollywood, and McMurtry's creative literary strategy shows that he is a master of characterization. ... Read more

Product Description
In perhaps his finest contemporary novel since Terms of Endearment, Larry McMurtry, with his miraculously sure touch at creating instantly recognizable women characters and his equally miraculous sharp eye for the absurdities of everyday life in the modern West, writes about two women, old friends, who set off on an adventure -- with unpredictable and sometimes hilarious results.

As Loop Group opens, we meet Maggie, whose three grown-up daughters have arrived at her Hollywood home to try and make her see sense about her busy life, a life that intersects with lots of interesting -- all right, bizarre -- people. Her daughters push her into having a few second thoughts about it, and these are reinforced when her best friend, Connie, seeks an escape from her own world of complex and difficult relationships with men. Maggie conceives the idea of driving to visit her Aunt Cooney's ranch near Electric City, Texas, and the two women prepare for the trip by buying a .38 Special revolver (which leads to unexpected trouble along the way). This road trip will end by changing their lives.

Alternately hilariously funny and profoundly sad -- even tragic -- Loop Group is a major Larry McMurtry novel and a joy to read. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (39)

Larry McMurtry Didn't Write This Book
Or at least I hope not. This book is boring, and I couldn't care less about what happens to the characters. They aren't likeable, they aren't interesting, and I hope I never hear from them again. I kept waiting for the "good parts" and they never came. Total waste of precious reading time. This calls for a new adage: "Don't judge a book by it's author".

Waste of time and energy
Thanks to all who reviewed this book! I suspected it was a waste of time after the first audio tape and your reviews saved me a lot of time!

Like Being Repeatedly Hit in the Face with a Bed Pan?
Then you'll LOVE this crap!

It's official, kids:Larry McMurtry done lost his mind.Or perhaps has had a lobotomy.Because I'm sure as death and taxes that this is NOT the same guy who wrote the uncompromising, compelling and heart-wrenching Lonesome Dove series (in point of fact, the only Westerns I've ever whole-heartedly loved).Actually, I think the explanation might be that he lost a drunken bet with his agent.Or owed money to the mob?Surely he's not just mindlessly bent on the destruction of the American novel and his reputation as a whole.Surely.

Other reviews have summed up the awfulness pretty well, but I'll add this:If I wanted to watch two boring old women smoke pot, talk about nothing and drink vodka, I'd pay more visits to my Aunt Lucille and her "special friend", "Aunt" Casey, in Ft. Lauderdale.By the end of the book, you'll wish you could at least wrest some of the drugs and booze from the characters' gnarled old fingers for sheer relief.

Writing is there but plot and characters are not...
Larry McMurtry used to be my favorite author.But he really lost me with the first book in his Berrybender series--one of the very few books I could not get through the first few chapters.When I started Loop Group, my first thought was here is the McMurtry I've been missing--the author of such wonderful fiction as Terms of Endearment, Evening Star, Lonesome Dove, etc.But the longer I read, the more I realized that the writing style is present, but the plot and characters are not.

Maggie Clary runs a loop group, an assorted bunch of dysfunctional employees who go to the sets of movies to record sound effects.This group of misfits is as whiney as they get.Clary also has three married daughters (also whiners) who are in varying stages of marital discord.Then her best friend Connie is jealous of anyone else in Clary's life.And she is also a whiner.Clary is the glue that normally keeps this whole bunch together, but Clary is suffering despair as of late over a hysterectomy she had a year ago.Maggie and Connie have lived their entire lives in Hollywood, and they've pretty much seen or done it all (marriages, drugs, alcohol, affairs, designer clothes, psychiatrists, and hobnobbing with filmdom's movers and shakers).Now in their early 60s, their better days seem behind them.So Clary and Connie plan a trip to Electric City, Texas to visit an aunt that Clary hasn't seen in years.One of Clary's daughters says this isn't going to be "Thelma & Louise II?."Nope, it isn't even close.The trip itself is pretty dismal and uneventful, as is much of the book.

I really wanted to like Loop Group.I was hoping that Maggie Clary was going to be another Aurora Greenway.But by the end of the book, I realized that I really had very little sympathy or affection for any of the characters.

I still enjoy McMurtry, but I've come to like his nonfiction books much more these days.

Fun read but oddly disturbing
As I continue my goal to read everything by Larry McMurtry, I am continually entranced by his story-telling and his event based characterizations. The idea that our personal ethos is partially formed by the events that occur in our lives, finds fruition in much of McMurtry's books with Loop Group being no exception. The prose and dialogue are smooth, well-delivered, and imaginative without being fanciful. While some writers would spend many pages describing the locations or the process of raising chickens or creating sound loops for the film industry, McMurtry only gives a peripheral glance at these details, instead choosing to deal with the people and their reactions to the various situations. This makes for a page-turning book without a lot of extraneous decoration.

Using absurdity and humor, Loop Group has the potential to be a fun romp through travels, a little sex, family challenges, and mostly quirky people. With an abundance of characters, Loop Group briefly alludes to drug usage, murder, therapy, sibling rivalry, adultery, growing up, fears, joys, and aging. The women are quick to cry, laugh, and are transparent in their opinions about their families and life in general. Obviously, McMurtry has a deep respect for women, motherhood, and the many choices people make in their own personal journey.

But overall I felt let down by this book. As the characters would flirt with something positive in their lives, something would happen that would shoot holes in their joy. Regardless of the attempt to be realistic, it somehow left me with a bad taste in my mouth and disappointed by the overall purpose of the book. The events in and of themselves make for great stories, but when put together, they seem incongruent and rather meaningless. I think had the book ended a little earlier without the dark events of the last 50 pages, with at least a hint of discovered love or family growth or personal triumph, it would have lifted this book to another level. The strange inheritance of a jewel just didn't make up for the string of negative circumstances.

On the whole, as I concluded the book, I was a little disturbed by the reactions of the people, and found myself wishing for something different. Perhaps the biggest criticism is that I felt a little apathetic in general. Certainly not McMurtry's best, but there are som fun stories guaranteed to put a smile on your face. ... Read more

Product Description
A trio of powerful novels by the Pulitzer Prize-winning author features The Last Picture Show, Leaving Cheyenne, and the award-winning Lonesome Dove. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

a book to escape in
I enjoyed this book as an escape.However, be aware that the third novel in the book is pornographic.You may want to consider paying extra to buy Lonesome Dove all by itself.It's a good book.One of the best novels ever written.It's just that for some reason McMurtry got his start in writing by writing about sex.I can't stomach it even though I read a lot.

Lonesome Dove
Lonesome Dove is one of the best books I have ever read.It has drama, action, love and everything that makes a good book good.The story begins with the author describing the characters and the story, and you really can connect with the characters.The main character is Gus McCrae, an ex Texas Ranger who is very lazy, and loves to drink.Despite this, he is an excellent ranger and his name is known all throughout America.The other main character is Call.He is a hard working, stubborn man who doesn't like ot talk alot.The story goes on from there.I recomend this book for advanced readers, who want a spellbinding story.

Outstanding, exciting & entertaining account of early Texas
I have read "Dead Man's Walk", "Comanche Moon","Lonesome Dove" and am now starting "Streets of Larado". My only disappointment is that the books don't contain a map depicting the locations of the major events. I wish the author could post one, so I can track the events and better relate to the actual locations. I loved the books- I grew up in West Texas and can identify with much of the landscape descriptions.

Loved reading three of McMurtry's novels at one whack-
Larry McMurtry has an easy-going, though smart, style, that I identify with deeply. He doesn't try to pummel you with big words and confusing sentences. He writes like it feels.

THREE WINNERS
THE LAST PICTURE SHOWwas set in a town about a hundred miles from where I live. Like all Texas towns, after the Korean War, television killed the down town area along with the picture shows. Larry was able to capture the smell of hot pop corn and hot bodies pressed against one another. Back before that war, young men had little more on their minds than how they could earn enough money after football pratice so they could take the beauty queen out - and sometimes, the football coach's wife. When the retard was killed by a fast truck, an era ended.If you are in Archer City, visit Larry's rare book store. You can pick up bargains for $5 to $1,000 ... Read more

Product Description
A tale of Calamity Jane's bittersweet ride to London with Buffalo Bill Cody's Wild West show, as the real Wild West fades ever further into the past. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (18)

Interesting read but not factually accurate
Once again Larry McMurtry spins a tale of the Wild West.The characters in Buffalo Girls are well-illustrated, with interesting character sketches about their appearances, thoughts, foibles, and quirks.The story is poignant, describing the adventures of a rag-tag bunch of the last of dying breed:those who settled the West.There is a sense of sadness about this book, which reflects the characters' own melancholy.I felt that McMurtry used his creative license well, especially in the "letters to Jane" approach, but towards the end of the story the historical bent is completely off-track.While much of Calamity's life is lost to history, it is known that she married and did have a daughter.This is completely ignored in the book.I will give him credit, though--McMurty knows how to end a story!Worthy of your time and consideration, especially if it leads you to read the excellent Lonesome Dove.

Poor Condition
This book was described as being in "good condition". That wasn't the case when I received it. I'd say it was in poor condition as the book was coming apart at the spine.

sad and lovely
One of my favourite books, and my favourite LM novel. No matter how often I revisit it, it always gets a tear.

buffalo girls
enjoyed this book because I like stories of the old west.Others may find it boring.Not half as good as lonesome dove.

A Wonderful Journey With Legends Of The West
This review refers to the Audio Cassette Book (Unabridged,Simon and Schuster)Edition of "Buffalo Girls" by Larry McMurtry and read by Betty Buckley. Reviews are mixed together. This audio book has the ISBN of :0671727818.

I found "Buffalo Girls" to be a most enjoyable listen. Although it wasn't exactly what I was expecting, I loved the characters and hated to leave them when the book was finished. I liked it enough though, that somewhere down the line, I will listen to it again.

This novel interweaves famous historical figures, places and events with stories of great friendships and life at a time when the Wild West was becoming a bit more civilized. Calamity Jane, more subdued in her mid-life years, writes letters to her daughter Jane about her colorful life, pals and travels. Her friend Dora DuFran runs a brothel, but always has a room ready and waiting for her beloved Calamity. Their friendship is long and true. They consider themselves, probably the last of the "Buffalo Girls". Calamity also reminisces of her love for Wild Bill(dead for sometime now), adventures with traveling buddies, Jim Ragg (who's love for hunting beaver is his main focus on life),Bartle Bone and "No Ears" an old Indian with great foresight. Now all in their older years(and Calamity on a long drinking binge), they join up with Buffalo Bill Cody, Annie Oakley and Sitting Bull, and head to England on a great ship to perform in Cody's Wild West Show, the last great adventure of their lives.

I have always enjoyed stories of the Wild West and the legends that lived it. Calamity has been one of my favorites, and there have been so many different interpertations of this woman who defied the expectations of womanhood in the 19th century. Most recently I have come to love the Calamity on "Deadwood", and have a feeling, that that Jane comes closest to the real deal. If you have seen it , you know she is not exactly glorified. So when I first started listening to Betty Buckley, she seemed too feminine and too sweet to be Jane. I also was expecting a more adventurous storline. But I have to say, considering the fact the this Jane is older, maybe a litttle tired, and more reflective of life, that Miss Buckley was an excellent choice. And the storyline as well was one more of the love between these friends, and the strong bonds developed over the years.There are also some great touches of humor sure to bring a smile. As other have said, the ending is totally unexpected, but this is afterall a novel, and you wouldn't want it to be totally predictable.

There are 8 cassettes with a total running time of 12 hours to get completely involved with the characters and McMurtry takes you on a wonderfully descriptive trip back in time. The quality and sound is excellent, and I loved the Western folk songs and the lonesome cowboy harmonica playing at the end of each side.

So I would say if you are looking for an action-adventure packed type of Western, you should probably pass this one by. But if you love tales of these legendary, bigger then life figures, and want a new take on them, this book is perfect.

Saddle Up with Calamity Jane once more, Happy Trails, and enjoy the read....Laurie ... Read more

Product Description
This is nonfiction commentary. Purchase includes a free trial membership in the publisher's book club where you can select from more than a million books without charge. Chapters: Books by Larry Mcmurtry, Novels by Larry Mcmurtry, Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, Comanche Moon, Dead Man's Walk, Horseman, Pass By, Sacagawea's Nickname, Sin Killer, Folly and Glory, the Wandering Hill, by Sorrow's River. Source: Wikipedia. Free updates online. Not illustrated. Excerpt:Sacagawea's Nickname: Essays on the American West is a collection of essays by the American writer Larry McMurtry . It was published in 2001 by New York Review Books , and consists chiefly of articles and book reviews that had appeared in the publishing house's affiliated magazine The New York Review of Books between 1997 and 2001. The book was generally well-received by reviewers.McMurtry dedicated the book to Barbara Epstein , editor of the NYRB.Contents 1. The West Without Chili 2. Inventing the West 3. Chopping Down the Sacred Tree 4. A Heroine of the Prairies 5. Zuni 6. Cookie Pioneers 7. Powell of the Colorado 8. Pulpmaster 9. Janet Lewis 10. The American Epic 11. Sacagawea's Nickname 12. Old MiseryA hyperlinked version of this chapter is at By Sorrow's River is a 2003 novel by Larry McMurtry . It is the third, both in chronological and publishing order, of The Berrybender Narratives . Set in the year 1833, it recounts the Berrybenders' journey south through the Great Plains to Bent's Fort on the Arkansas River.The theme of random and senseless death, often present in McMurtry's western fiction, is particularly powerful in this book; several characters die due to their own poor judgement or that of others.A hyperlinked version of this chapter is at Comanche Moon Comanche Moon is a 1997 western novel by Larry McMurtry . It is the fourth and final book published in the Lonesome Dove series series , but the second instalment in terms the chronology of the narrative.Plot introduction In this bri... ... Read more

Product Description
Larry McMurtry's award winning novels have redefined not only the literature of the west, but also the essential myths with which the west is associated. Readers were initiated into the world of the modern cowboy with McMurtry's first novel Horseman Pass By. Nearly 35 years later McMurtry revisits his hometown project with his latest update on the characters who populated The Last Picture Show and Texasville in his most recent novel Duane's Depressed. This Critical Companion examines all 22 of McMurtry's works. By considering individual literary elements and overall construction of the novels, this analysis probes how McMurtry has given contemporary relevance to traditional elements of the Western story. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Part memoir, part meditation on post-modern culture, writing, sense of place, loss of place
Here is Larry McMurtry's take on modern life as he reads the collected essays of Walter Benjamin at the local Dairy Queen in rural Texas.The point: he examines the 'reproduction in the mechanical age' around him, namely, the Dairy Queen itself, the loss of gathering places to tell stories face to face where orality once ruled over typography; the local legends and arguments that held the locals in argument for decades, for example, why would a rancher milk his cow first and then blow his own head off?To save the Misses extra work? To keep the cow content?Hmm...you could argue the matter for years, and the men of McMurtry's father's generation did just that.He recounts stories from his youth, his grandparent's move to a Texas where there was still "Indian Activity."He recounts his early love of reading; his realization he'd make a lousy cowboy but maybe a good author to write about cowboys; about becoming academically enlightened at Rice U., then publishing his first novel before completing his doctoral dissertation--what do you think he did next: complete the dissertation or write a second novel.It's a meandering memoir that befits a man with many roots and tributaries, who tries to write about life as it is lived, and while he may have strong political views, it's obvious he isn't dumb enough to inject them into his novels.A novelist/bookseller, his stock includes 300,000 volumes.I wonder if he sells on Amazon.If you want to sit back and read someone who's intelligent and writes intelligently, you could do a lot worse.

Intelligent memoir
I have never read McMurtry's well-known novels, but now I will.His essays on growing up in the west, the struggles of the pioneers, the discovery of literature, the tantilizing world of books and bookselling, the importance of storytelling--all mesmerized me.I felt sad when the book ended, and I am now going to read it through a second time!This work is very intellgient--but not intimidating or pretentious.If you like the world of books or the world of cattle ranching, there is something here for you. ... Read more

Product Description
What has the western of literature and film contributed toAmerican culture? Richard Etulain, the leading cultural historian ofthe West, answers that question by tracing four distinct storytellingtraditions and exploring the indelible images each has left in thepublic's mind over the past 125 years. Our images of cowboys, lawmen,outlaws, and Indians come from a collage of sources, including BuffaloBill, Frederick Jackson Turner, Calamity Jane, Mary Hallock Foote,Geronimo, Mourning Dove, Owen Wister, Zane Grey, Walter Noble Burns,John Ford, Louis L'Amour, Wallace Stegner, Patricia Nelson Limerick,Leslie Marmon Silko, and Larry McMurtry.

Etulain begins with the dominant image conveyed in Wild West showsand dime novels of the late nineteenth century - the West as a place ofadventure and danger. In the early twentieth century stories by womenand Indians appeared, but they were soon overlooked and notrediscovered until the 1970s. The period from the 1920s to the 1950srepresents the classic era of western movies and novels - of cavalrycharges to save the day and heroes in white hats. But since the 1960sa counter story has emerged, one of ambiguity and complexity thatoften turned upside down our notions about what really mattered in howwe look at the West.

Etulain carefully explores why stories of the frontier and AmericanWest still rival those of the American Civil War as the country's mostpopular tales, and he shows how narratives that persisted relativelyunchanged for a century have moved in notable new directions since the1960s. ... Read more

Product Description
Part One Of Two Parts

Patsy, young and beautiful, takes the easy road. With Jim, her shiftless husband, she drifts through the West, from one rodeo and honky-tonk to another. She and Jim are looking for something, neither knows exactly what.

Patsy moves through affairs of the heart like Sherman through Georgia--there's Pete, the rodeo clown; Hank, the graduate student; and others too numerous to remember.

Jim looks for fulfillment on the bulls he rides, closing his eyes to the real world. For the two of them, life seems always receding around the next bend, the next turn of the road.

"Funny and believable characters to care about. Vintage McMurtry." (B-O-T Editorial Review Board) ... Read more