I am doing a book challenge and one of the challenges is to read a book in a genre you haven’t read. I am 51 years old, there’s not many genres I haven’t read.
I am thinking a western (fiction) as I haven’t read any that I can think of – I wouldn’t consider “The Grapes of Wrath” western.
Looking for recommendations for unusual genre books and/or westerns that are good.
TIA
by Frodis_Caper
9 Comments
*Riders of the Purple Sage* by Zane Grey is a good Western.
Westerns – The Sisters Brothers by Patrick Dewitt, In the Distance by Hernan Diaz, Inland by Tea Obreht
An unusual genre – Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan, Indonesian literature
I consider Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry to be the best Western book out there.
True Grit by Charles Portis is another good one.
If you want a Western, look no further than *Lonesome Dove*. If the length (roughly 1,000 pages) is too intimidating maybe give McCarthy’s *Border Trilogy* a go and you can just read the first work *All the Pretty Horses*.
Someone else recommended True Grit and I second that.
Alternatively, A Psalm for the Wild Built by Becky Chambers is Solar Punk. But of a niche genre, and an absolute gem of a book.
For the kind of Westerns that ‘guys’ read in the last century, you can’t do better than [Louis L’Amour](https://www.louislamour.com/)!
[James Michener](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_A._Michener) wrote a whole bunch of historical novels, usually in the multi-generational family saga genre, about all sorts of times/places.
The Space Adventures Of Commander Laine. You may like it.
“The Raven’s Table” and “The Wolf’s Feast” by Christine Morgan are EXCELLENT short story collections focusing on viking-inspired horror.
A more modern western that I really, really, loved is the Sisters Brothers (it’s wayyyyy better than the movie, so if you’re seen it don’t judge it on that basis). And if you’re looking for a modern western that’s a little less stereotypical, How Much of These Hills is Gold is a gold rush book about the experience of Chinese immigrants (of which there were many in that era).
Other unusual genres:
– One of my favorite books of all time is the Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson. It’s a novel in verse, and it’s heartbreakingly beautiful. It’s retelling of ancient greek myth.
– If you don’t normally read graphic novels, Black Hole by Charles Burns, Maus by Spiegelman, and Fun Home are all great literary graphic novels
Are you doing the popsugar challenge?