Anyone else still reading louis lamour, I know he has sold millions of books but has he been forgotten about? what about Western novels in general I know I often pick up an old western from my fathers book shelf.
Anyone else still reading louis lamour, I know he has sold millions of books but has he been forgotten about? what about Western novels in general I know I often pick up an old western from my fathers book shelf.
Welcome to the lit-net, ForKnowledge!
I haven't read a Western novel in well over a decade, and never a Louis Lamour book, but I work in a library, and those things just fly off the shelves. I would guess they're some of the most frequently circulated books in the library. Of course, I do live in the Western US, in a ranching community, so that may aid the popularity, but I see them checked out by a great variety of people. Perhaps I should see what all the fuss is about.
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Really? How come I didnt know that...Originally Posted by Jean-Baptiste
They dont really fly off ours we have the few regulars who read them Id say there certain days when about 8 will go out.and those things just fly off the shelves. I would guess they're some of the most frequently circulated books in the library. Of course, I do live in the Western US, in a ranching community, so that may aid the popularity, but I see them checked out by a great variety of people. Perhaps I should see what all the fuss is about.
Dont think Ive ever read Louis Lamour but Ive always been more of a bower, and Grey fan anyway.
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I read Owen Wister's the Virginian back in the day but found it tough slogging thru. Never got a sense the Virginian had a personality that a shot of caffene would have brought to life.
My father had many Zane Grey books (50 some odd years ago--long gone) but I have never been able to get past page 2. Ironically I'm a huge fan of DC Comics Jonah Hex series and the TV shows Have Gun Will Travel and Rawhide. Have read couple of Louis Lamour short stories and they entertained but not enough to get me collecting. A weakness of me is that I tend to collect by author until I've exhausted them which serves to narrow my range of authors read. I have some Zane Grey Western digests from the 70s which I dip into now and then but they serve as a memorial to my father's passing which is why I collect Zane Grey's King of the Royal Mounted Sunday strips from the 30s and 40s. Helps me feel connected to him.(Actually own the first Sunday and have it in a frame from Feb 35).(Have close to 200 out of approx 1000.)
In the 30s, next to the Romance magazines, westerns were the highest selling pulp magazines.
I've read a lot of Larry McMurty's books...Lonesome Dove, Streets of Laredo, and maybe 2-3 others. I've read some of Lamour's books, but my favorites were books that he wrote that weren't Western genre. He writes about things he did when he was a sailor in the merchant marines.
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Similar to mtpspur, I love John Ford, John Wayne, Sam Peckinpah, Sergio Leone, Clint Eastwood, and the likes.
Loved Jonah Hex as a teenager never got into the newer mini-series stuff that came out later though was a regular Hex reader of earlier longer running series published in the 80s, very dark and grim.
Haven't touched a western novel in ages. Though I sometimes have an urge to pick up Lamour, Brand, or Grey. I've heard Leonard's wrote some great ones.
The reason, frankly I don't know the good from the bad, the innovative from the hack.
saw a louis lamour at work today.. Thought HA! thats who they meant
My mission in life is to make YOU smile
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"The time has come," the Walrus said,"To talk of many things:
Forum Rules- You know you want to read 'em
|Litnet Challange status = 5/260
|currently reading
I bought a Louis Lamour book because it was on sale and Jimmy Buffett mentions him in a few songs. Haven't opened it yet, perhaps I'll dig it out.
Do, or do not. There is no try. - Yoda
I've read about three Louis Lamour books. His writing style is good, but not something I would do cartwheels over.
Though I do love his use of imagery.
I love westerns, and I think louis L'Amour's books are great, definitely a kind of literature in their own right. I don't think L'Amour was a great novellist, in fact his stories are all really similiar and he doesn't so much delve into the motivation of his characters and questions of faite and faith, but he is a wonderful story-teller, which is all he said he ever wanted to be. If you haven't read one of his books, or any Western for that matter, and you want an enjoyable, easy read, pick a L'Amour. Walter Van Tilburg Clark wrote several excellent westerns that are also very good pieces of literature, among them are The Ox-Bow Incident and Track of The Cat, which uses interesting dream sequences and allegory.
In these days, old man, no one thinks in terms of human beings. Governments don't, so why should we? They talk of the people, the proletariat, and I talk of the mugs. It's the same thing. They have their five year plan and I have mine.-Harry Lime, The Third Man novella by Graham Greene
To Steig -- Good news Jonah Hex has been back for 18 issues now. DC has gone back to the 70s/80s versions with mostly done in one issue stories and even grimmer. (Did NOT like the minis from the 90s by Lonsdale and Truman--talented as they are as writer/artist--just wasn't Jonah. Not sure is it's a seller or not but DC seems to be sticking with it longer then I dreamed.
P.S. The long suffering wife was highly annoyed and unimpressed that we got married the same month Jonah Hex did in comic book land--Nov 80 and his new series (#1) came out Nov 2005--our 25th wedding anniversary. I kept saying it was a gift from God that He didn't mind the hobby. That did not go over well.
Last edited by mtpspur; 04-10-2007 at 09:20 PM. Reason: added important footnote
Awesome, I need to snap up the 18 issues and begin haunting the local comic book shops again. Thanks, and belated congrats on you and your wife's 25th anniversary!
Glad to run into a fellow Hex fan. Creator John Albano passed away about a month ago. The writers skip around with Hex's history a bit but Bat Lash and El Diablo have made appearances. Hex's father is in one and (almost unbelievable--even meaner then ever). There's a promise of a story about Hex's son coming up as that plot line was never resolved.
Yup. I'm 51, and still re-read my Louis L'Amour and Zane Greys. I grew up in Zane Grey country in Northern Arizona. Knew of the many locales he wrote about. My mom met some of the people he wrote about....they stayed in my great grandparents' hotel in Holbrook, AZ (the center of the world for the Pleasant Valley war in the Mogollon Rim area, as retold in Zane Grey's "To the Last Man".) I was introduced to Louis L'Amour by a college chum whose dad was a state ag inspector in Southern AZ. He told me (rightly so, I found out) that you could take one of L'Amour's stories and use it like a road map. If he told you it took "x" number of days to go from point a to point b by horseback, by golly, it did. Needless to say, yes, I'm a L'Amour and Zane Grey fan.
I used to work in a Public Library, (I'm now a school librarian), and we had a very well-used Western section. I've never read them myself, but the name Louis L'Amour brings back memories of that Western collection. We had a standing order, whereby we used to receive a certain amount of Westerns, (and Romance) novels every couple of months from the suppliers. I was always under the impression that Zane Grey was a sort of superior writer of westerns, but I may be wrong. My late father used to read westerns, but I can't remember which authors he read. He did like his westerns though, and I grew up watching some of the classic western films, usually starring John Wayne, but not always. Happy days.
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