Tagged: western

Book Review / Books and Reading

Cries from the Earth by Terry C. Johnston

My wife’s family is from the Camas Prairie, a beautiful region in North Central Idaho that includes communities like Grangeville, Cottonwood, and Winchester. That same area is the setting for Terry C. Johnston’s Cries from the Earth: The Outbreak of the Nez Perce War and the Battle of White Bird Canyon June 17, 1877. I purchased Johnston’s fictionalized account of the beginning of the Nez Perce war mostly because of its setting, and I hoped the history would come alive because of my familiarity with the area. Unfortunately, the...

Cowboy Hat and Rope

Books and Reading

Wild Wild West Reviews for January, February, and March

It’s time for a link-up of reviews of western books for the Wild Wild West Challenge. It’s March already and I didn’t think to make link posts for January and February reviews. If you did read a western for the Wild Wild West 2018 Challenge in January or February, then you can link to your reviews below, along with any books you review in March. Going forward I’ll try to do better at providing linkups at the beginning of each month so you can link to your reviews...

The Drifter by William W. Johnstone

Book Review / Books and Reading

The Drifter (The Last Gunfighter Book 1) by William W. Johnstone

The Drifter by William W. Johnstone is exactly what I look for in a western, which made it a perfect book to begin the 2018 Wild Wild West Reading Challenge. There was plenty of gun-fighting action, a fair share of humor, and even a bit of romance. I had picked up the Kindle edition of The Drifter at a bargain price without knowing much about the story or the author, so I had moderate expectations about how good it was going to be. After finishing it, though, I’d have...

The Montanans edited by Bill Pronzini

Books and Reading

Deal Me In Story #3: Buffalo Horns by Arthur Winfield Knight

Card Drawn: Q♠ Anthology: The Montanans, edited by Bill Pronzini and Martin H. Greenberg Story: “Buffalo Horns,” by Arthur Winfield Knight, 1991 For the first western short story of the Deal Me In Challenge, “Buffalo Horns” was a bit unusual. The story takes place in 1929 in Hardin, Montana. Not exactly the heart of the West. But that’s the point of this story, I guess. It’s a wistful look back at a time gone by, more of a vignette than a story. It’s beautiful in its own way, but...

Books and Reading

The 2018 Reading Challenge Season Has Begun

I had so much fun with my first year of reading challenges that I can’t wait for next year. I still have several challenges to finish for 2017, but I’m already planning for 2018. Last December I summarized all of my challenges in one post and tracked them all on one page. This year I still plan on tracking them on one page, but I’m going to write separate posts about each of the challenges, and right now I’m already up to nine challenges, not including the Les...

The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser

Book Review / Books and Reading

The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser

I had thought of this country as the big range, but now, I told myself, I would rename it the violent land. That was it, a violent, savage land. It had changed me since I had come into it. The Violent Land by Wayne D. Overholser is a classic of western fiction, but it would be a mistake to limit its value to a single genre. Part adventure, part romance, part Bildungsroman, Overholser’s award-winning novel is outstanding in every respect. The plot is tight, the characters are believable and...

Monument Valley

Books and Reading

Wild Wild West Reading Challenge 2018

As I was looking at my TBR pile I noticed I have quite a few unread westerns. I started looking around for a reading challenge that focused on the American West, but I came up empty. I checked three lists of 2017 challenges from Feed Your Fiction, Girlxoxo, and Xxertz, and aside from a few choose-your-own-genre challenges, I didn’t see any that were specifically aimed at reading westerns. So, I thought, why not create my own challenge for next year? Thus, the Wild Wild West 2018 Reading Challenge...

Lonesome Dove

Book Review / Books and Reading

Classics Club Book #10: Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry

He had known several men who blew their heads off, and he had pondered it much. It seemed to him it was probably because they could not take enough happiness just from the sky and the moon to carry them over the low feelings that came to all men. Lonesome Dove has been on my to-be-read list for over twenty years. A classic western and a Pulitzer prize winner, I’ve started it at least three times. I’ve even successfully avoided watching the Lonesome Dove TV miniseries all these years...