r/readwithme • u/IcebergSlim188 • 3d ago
Questionâ Who loves a good western? đ¤ any good recommendations is welcome đ¤đ
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u/Voodooo_Child_ 3d ago
I just finished All the Pretty Horses and it absolutely blew me away. Definitely, one of my new favorites.
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u/rolandofgilead41089 3d ago
I think I enjoyed The Crossing even more than ATPH; there are passages from that novel that are engrained in me now.
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u/CalicoCuts 3d ago
True Grit by Portis is amazing.
The Virginian by Wister
Edit: the books in your post are the BEST!
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u/IcebergSlim188 3d ago
I have True Grit next to my bed, ready to start, Iâve heard good things đ¤ Iâll check out The Virginian đ Thanks
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u/FlyingCarpetMonster 3d ago
I am just finishing up Butcher's Crossing and it's an interesting kind of Western. An Emersonian Western, if you will.
Also love Warlock by Oakley Hall.
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u/binley01 3d ago
The ox-bow incident. I highly suggest getting the library of America westerns collection. It has ox-bow + Shane, warlock, and the searchers.
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u/SnubLifeCrisis 3d ago
The Cowboy and The Cossack, Monte Walsh, and Blood Meridian.
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u/IcebergSlim188 3d ago
I got bloody Meridian..but my Mrs âborrowedâ it and I havenât seen it since đ
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u/rogerisreading 3d ago
I was going to recommend The Cowboy and the Cossack, but you beat me to it. An overlooked masterpiece.
And oldie but pretty damned good: Riders of the Purple Sage.
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u/Kingdavid3g 3d ago
Did you finish the series with Comanche Moon? The Indifferent Stars Above is sort of a western.
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u/IcebergSlim188 3d ago
I havenât started these ones yet..Iâm looking forward it đ¤ đ
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u/Kingdavid3g 3d ago
Oh wow! Start with Lonesome Dove. I honestly had no interest in reading a western. It ended up being my favorite book of all time.
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u/inyolonepine 3d ago
Joe Lansdale has written some banger of westerns (the man has also written some bangers in every genre under the sun). Check out Paradise Sky or The Thicket.
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u/Truckeejenkins 3d ago
Iâve never seen it listed, but Billy Gashade is a great book. Itâs not a textbook western, but it has a lot of the same elements.
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u/HereIAmGH 3d ago
Two others I really loved are: Angle of repose - not so much cowboys as the becoming of the west Little big man by Thomas Berger - 100% western. Larry McMurtry loved it. I loved it too. Itâs such a great tale with an awesome narrator
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u/ornery-fizz 3d ago
Louis LAmour the OG
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u/trustcircleofjerks 3d ago
Zane Grey would like to dispute that title.
Edit: OP, you should add Riders of the Purple Sage to your list.
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u/puckthepatriarchy- 3d ago
Western adjacent? A River Runs Through It by Norman MacLean. Itâs a semi-autobiographical exploration of family, fly fishing and western Montana life set at the beginning of the twentieth century in rural Montana-itâs not a gunfights and horse thieves western but does a breathtaking job of creating a vision of living in place that was probably gunfights and horse thieves a few years prior.
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u/Strict-Context-8502 3d ago
If you want something a little different, The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt is a fantastic western with dark humor. It's not your typical dusty gunslinger tale, more of a character-driven story about two hitman brothers on a job gone sideways. Really hard to put down once you're in it.
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u/Justinian_of_Rome 3d ago
Warlock by Oakley Hall. It's the only western I've ever read and it was definitely a slow-burn, but man, after it was finished I felt pretty damn epic. The movie is def worth watching after you finish the book,, too.
The whole reason I got interested in reading it is because apparently this one of the first "anti-westerns" or "revisionist westerns" and the dude that wrote Gravity's Rainbow was obsessed with it and started a "micro-cult" about it in college.
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u/telvanni-bug-musk 3d ago
Warlock - Oakley Hall
The Authentic Death of Hendry Jones - Charles Neider
yâwelcome
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u/Lopsided_Pain4744 2d ago
Either do the border trilogy first (life changing) or Lonesome Dove. Then comes Butchers Crossing.
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u/SixStringSapien 3d ago
True Grit
Also, if you like true stories, both Ridgeline and The Revenant by Michael Punke are excellent.
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u/tangcameo 3d ago
Canadian author Guy Vanderhaeghe wrote three westerns. The Englishmanâs Boy. The Last Crossing. A Good Man.
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u/Intelligent_Fix915 3d ago
Butchers crossing slaps great taste
Look into Elmore Leonard he is more known for crime novels but has written some great westerns: forty lashes less one, valdez is coming, the short story that got adapted into 3:10 to Yuma
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u/FarControl830 3d ago
Not reading for deep thought but the First Mountain Man series by William W Johnston are great for quick satisfying reads. Preacher is probably my favorite western character. Lonesome Dove os just a great novel though
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u/Piggymain 2d ago
How is the sisters brothers? I also love westerns and I'm thinking about reading it
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u/Intelligent_Bat949 2d ago
I just started God's Country by Percival Everett. It's a Western satire, think The Outlaw Josey Wales meets Blazing Saddles. It would be a departure from what you've been reading without straying all that far.
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u/ContributingHelper 2d ago
I'm not a Western reader, but seeing your selection, I'd like to hear what you enjoy about them.


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