Tuesday, July 22, 2014

BUCKET LIST UPDATE No. 164: Read “Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry

“Lonesome Dove” by Larry McMurtry won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1985, and it’s a book that I’ve wanted to read for a long time. I put it on my “bucket list” several years ago and finally finished reading it on Sunday.

For those of you unfamiliar with “Lonesome Dove,” it’s about a pair of former Texas Rangers, who have decided to drive a large herd of cattle from South Texas to Montana. After hearing all about Montana’s great qualities from a friend they haven’t seen in almost a decade, they hope to become the first cattle ranchers in Montana and make a fortune. Things don’t go smoothly though as a number of their friends die along the way, and they have to deal with such dangers as grizzly bears and hostile Indians.

Many people are familiar with “Lonesome Dove” thanks to the popular TV mini-series adaptation of the novel. The TV series included four episodes that originally aired on CBS in February 1989. This mini-series got great ratings, and its cast included Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Danny Glover, Diane Lane and Anjelica Huston.

As you might have imagined, the book (and the mini-series) appears on a number of “best-of” lists. The book was included on The Art of Manliness’ “Fiction for Men” reading list and Esquire magazine’s list of “75 Books Every Man Should Read.” The Art of Manliness also ranked it No. 89 on a 2011 list called “100 Must Read Books: The Man’s Essential Library.” It’s also a past winner of the Western Writers of America’s Spur Award for Best Novel.

While reading “Lonesome Dove,” I learned that McMurtry had written three other books in what’s called his “Lonesome Dove Series.” In order of publication, the complete series includes “Lonesome Dove” (1985), “Streets of Laredo” (1993), “Dead Man’s Walk” (1995) and “Comanche Moon” (1997). Oddly, these novels aren’t in chronological order. If you want to read them in chronological order, start with “Dead Man’s Walk,” then read “Comanche Moon.” “Lonesome Dove” comes next, and “Streets of Laredo” is last.

From the outset, I wondered where the title, “Lonesome Dove,” came from. While reading the book, you quickly learn that it’s the name of the town in South Texas, where the two main characters have owned and operated a small livery operation since their retirement from the Texas Rangers. The novel begins and ends in this desolate frontier town.

Of course, this made me wonder if "Lonesome Dove" was a real place you could visit, but as it turns out, it’s a fictional place. McMurtry has said in interviews that he came up with the name while eating in an Oklahoma restaurant. While there, he saw a van owned by Lonesome Dove Baptist Church in Southlake, Texas, and the rest is literary history.


In the end, I really enjoyed reading "Lonesome Dove" and highly recommend it to anyone out there who enjoys a good book, especially Westerns. How many of you have read “Lonesome Dove”? What did you think about it? Did you like it or not? Let us know in the comments section below.

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