Western Novels

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Don't forget Donald Hamilton, (creator of the wonderful Matt Helm spy/detective thrillers), who also wrote six or seven WESTERNS.

My favorites of his westerns are The Two Shoot Gun, Smoky Valley and The Big Country, which was made into a movie.
Apache

[tch65721]

The Virginian by Owen Wister

The Virginian, both the character and the book, are considered to be first of their kind. The character is seen as the first real cowboy character that has set the standard for the cowboy character stereotype. The book is seen as one of the first great western novels about cowboys.

I think it is in the public domain and was the basis for a popular TV show.

Shane by Jack Schaefer.
Also a classic movie true to the book.

[Rich_D]

Lonesome Gods, Bendigo Shafter and Reilly's Luck are a couple of my favorite Louis L'Amour novels, I read a few of William Johnstone's novels, particularly the Smoke Jensen and Preacher/Mountain man novels, they're pretty good too. As mentioned, the Longmire series is great.

[ZodWallop]

Originally Posted by Rich_D

...I read a few of William Johnstone's novels...

I've avoided his books because most of them weren't written by Johnstone and the ghosts sign nondisclosure agreements.

In a similar situation, author Ralph Compton died. The publisher decided to continue the Compton brand, but the actual authors are credited on the cover.

[drofgnal]

I've never read a western which is odd as my favorite genre is historical fiction. In fact my historical fiction reading for US history is pretty abysmal. Some civil war era stuff mostly. I've had 'From Sea to Shining Sea' by Thom on my TBR list for quite some time which surely will have western elements in it. I'll have to make this the year I break out of my mold of Euro/medieval or WW2 historical fiction and read the above book and maybe a western as well. (Even though I've lived in the east my whole life, I was after all born in Flagstaff.

[Dr. Drib]

Don't forget the "Powder Valley Western" series by Peter Field [Brett Halliday].

Apparently, there are 63 books in the series, but I only have 10 of them.

I read these back when I was about 12 or 13 years old and loved them.

Check out this link for more of his great Westerns, and his many pseudonyms (and other Westerns):

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/davis-dresser/

And if you like detective fiction, then check out his Mike Shayne series.

[John F]

And maybe News of the World by Paulette Jiles. There is also a movie.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Don't forget the "Powder Valley Western" series by Peter Field [Brett Halliday].

Apparently, there are 63 books in the series, but I only have 10 of them.

I read these back when I was about 12 or 13 years old and loved them.

Check out this link for more of his great Westerns, and his many pseudonyms (and other Westerns):

https://www.fantasticfiction.com/d/davis-dresser/

And if you like detective fiction, then check out his Mike Shayne series.

I also read them, and most are probably out of print and not available as eBooks.
Apache

[Dr. Drib]

Originally Posted by Apache

I also read them, and most are probably out of print and not available as eBooks.
Apache

The ones I got (for free) were from those Open Road Media freebies back in 2016 (I think that was the year).

Do you remember that? I must have picked up over 300 free ebooks.

I think our OP isn't really looking for ebooks, so any second-hand bookstore with tons of paperbacks might have some of them.

[Apache]

Yep, and I got the same 10.
Apache

[readthinksurvive]

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[Busybee09]

You can try Butcher's Crossing by John Williams. This is definitely one of the best ones i have read.

[BenBanned]

Making a list of all these books and taking it with me to the used bookstore.
Great to see how many people enjoy western stories.
Just finished Louis L'amour "Down the Long Hills" and just started my first Zane Grey "Cabin Gulch".
Enjoying all the variety in what I was told was a stale and "corny" genre.

[jackm8]

I really don't like Western movies at all. I try to watch one or two, but there's always something in them that I find boring, and I end up barely forcing myself through them, and then I abandon the genre.

I haven't read a lot of Western novels, but my experience with them is complete opposite. I loved reading all Karl May Winnetou novels, some children's Buffalo Bill stories, while my all-time favourite is Riders of the Purple Sage by Zane Grey. I found a battered copy of it in my grandpa's closet. I had no idea what it was, or who Zane Grey was, but it captured me completely, and it remains to this day, one of my fondest reading experiences. Weird as it sounds, I haven't read a lot from him since.

As for nonfiction, there's Time-Life's The Old West series. Lovely art and details. There's plenty of them digitised on archive.org available to borrow, but they really need to be held to be appreciated. I never went through all off them. I have Gold diggers or The Forty-Niners as they're called in English at home, and there should be Gunslingers and Indians in the family somewhere. At the back of my mind, there's a plan to collect them all sometime. They're really not that expensive on ebay, but I keep putting it off, just like Zane Grey.

[drofgnal]

There are some real good western movies. The Man who Shot Liberty Valance, Cowboys, and How the West was Won. area few of my favorites that come to mind. For a comedic romp, I always like Cheyenne Social Club.