July-September 2014 – The Old West
SnakReading Through Time
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1Samantha_kathy
Homesteaders ca. 1866
This quarter we will be focusing on the Old West. This theme encompasses books about Native Americans (including the Indian Removal Acts), westward expansion, gunslingers, pioneers, explorers and the Californian Gold Rush of 1849. Think cowboys and Indians and you’ll be looking in the right direction. For those in a more war-like mind, the 1835 Texas Revolution and the 1845 US-Mexican War are good topics. The time period for the Old West can be a bit fluid, but the main focus of this quarter will be on the Old West in the nineteenth century.
Once again, there are many books I could suggest and I’ve made a small list of examples to get you all started.
Time for Outrage by Amelia Bean (1878, Lincoln County War)
Wide Open by Larry Bjornson (1871, cattle ranchers)
Deadwood by Pete Dexter (gunslinger Wild Bill Hickok)
Deep Creek by Dana Hand (1887, lawmen)
Lucky Billy by John Vernon (outlaw Billy the Kid)
Stone Song by Win Blevins (Sioux war chief Crazy Horse)
Mountain Windsong by Robert J. Conley (1830s, Trail of Tears)
I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company by Brian Hall (1804, the Lewis and Clark
Expedition)
Sun River by Richard S. Wheeler (mountain man, first in a series)
The Pony Express Riderby Harry Castlemon (Pony Express)
In Need of a Good Wife by Kelly O'Connor McNees (mail order brides)
Railroad Schemes by Cecelia Holland (coming of the railroad)
The Gringo Amigo by Gary McCarthy (time right after the Gold Rush)
Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende (Gold Rush)
The Gates of the Alamo by Stephen Harrigan (the siege of Alamo, Texas Revolution)
Visit the Quarterly Theme Reads Wiki Page for more information and add your own books for this quarter’s theme!
2DeltaQueen50
I've been looking forward to this quarterly theme as it matches one of my Category Challenge themes. I am hoping to read the following over the next little while:
True Sisters by Sandra Dallas - about the Mormon treks into Utah
Blood Kin by Henry Chappell - set in Texas and tracing the history of the Texas Rangers
The Son by Philip Meyer - again Texas, tracing one family history through several generations.
True Sisters by Sandra Dallas - about the Mormon treks into Utah
Blood Kin by Henry Chappell - set in Texas and tracing the history of the Texas Rangers
The Son by Philip Meyer - again Texas, tracing one family history through several generations.
3Samantha_kathy
The very first book I'll be reading for this is No Place for a Lady by Maggie Brendan, which I started earlier this year and never finished.
4CurrerBell
Some middle reader books this quarter.
I'm going to start with Karen Cushman's The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, which I've had for some while now on Kindle but which I've been saving for RTT.
Also, some more reading of books by Marion Garthwaite, a writer who flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s and wrote heavily on early California. Holdup on Bootjack Hill, in its Jack and Jill Magazine serialization in 1959, was one of my childhood favorites, and a few years ago I acquired all five of the J&J magazines in nice condition and also read the expanded novel. I'll be trying out Coarse Gold Gulch and Tomas and the Red Headed Angel, both of which I've got in TBR. The only Garthwaite book besides Holdup that I've so far read is The Mystery of Skull Cap Island, which isn't "old West" and which I didn't particularly care for.
ETA: In adult literature, I might try out A Lost Lady, which is probably the only Willa Cather novel (is Lucy Gayheart a "Western" novel?) that deals with the "West" that I haven't read yet. I do want to do a reread of My Antonia, but I'm waiting for the Norton Critical Edition which is expected out August of next year.
I'm going to start with Karen Cushman's The Ballad of Lucy Whipple, which I've had for some while now on Kindle but which I've been saving for RTT.
Also, some more reading of books by Marion Garthwaite, a writer who flourished in the 1950s and early 1960s and wrote heavily on early California. Holdup on Bootjack Hill, in its Jack and Jill Magazine serialization in 1959, was one of my childhood favorites, and a few years ago I acquired all five of the J&J magazines in nice condition and also read the expanded novel. I'll be trying out Coarse Gold Gulch and Tomas and the Red Headed Angel, both of which I've got in TBR. The only Garthwaite book besides Holdup that I've so far read is The Mystery of Skull Cap Island, which isn't "old West" and which I didn't particularly care for.
ETA: In adult literature, I might try out A Lost Lady, which is probably the only Willa Cather novel (is Lucy Gayheart a "Western" novel?) that deals with the "West" that I haven't read yet. I do want to do a reread of My Antonia, but I'm waiting for the Norton Critical Edition which is expected out August of next year.
5CurrerBell
I just finished Karen Cushman's The Ballad of Lucy Whipple (4****, tween-age girl comes to California mining town around 1850 with her younger siblings and her widowed mother), but somehow it sounds awfully familiar, like I must have read it before and I'm doing a reread. Interesting that the girl's name (before she changes it for a while to "Lucy") is "California Morning" Whipple because the main character in Marion Garthwaite's Holdup on Bootjack Hill (set in mid-19th century California in a one-time mining town and first serialized in 1959) is California Dean. Garthwaite was a very prominent children's writer who flourished in the 50s and early 60s, and I wonder if Cushman was tributing Garthwaite in some way.
Anyway, I also just started on Frederick Jackson Turner's classic The Frontier in American History.
Anyway, I also just started on Frederick Jackson Turner's classic The Frontier in American History.
6CurrerBell
I just finished Frederick Jackson Turner's The Frontier in American History and gave it a 2½** review. It's a vital piece of American historiography, but too much of the later chapters was padding. (From the point of view of this quarter's time period, The Frontier in American History actually addresses itself more to what we today would call the "mid-West.")
7DeltaQueen50
I just finished a book that will most certainly be among my favorites reads of the year. Blood Kin by Henry Chappell weaves the fictional story of young Texas Ranger, Isaac Webb with the history of the young Republic of Texas.
8DeltaQueen50
The High Divide by Lin Enger was an Advance Reading Copy that I just read. Set in North Dakota and Montana during 1886, this was not a conventional Western but rather a story of family told against the backdrop of history. Touching on the treatment of Indians and the end of the buffalo herds, filled with a mixture of fictional and real characters. Excellent writing and a touching story made this one a pretty good read.
9Samantha_kathy
I completely forgot to come here and talk about the books I've been reading for this theme! (Bad me ;) ).
I started with No Place for a Lady by Maggie Brendan, but I did not finish that book. I found it to be a very bland book and while it wasn't bad writing, it just wasn't for me. My full review can be read here.
So then I picked up Badge of Honor by Robert J. Thomas, which is the tenth book in a Western series. I'd never read any of these books before, but I picked this one up for free for my Kindle. While it was an utterly cliche Western, it was very entertaining to read. Not a great book by any means of the word, but a fun, quick and easy read. My full review is here.
I started with No Place for a Lady by Maggie Brendan, but I did not finish that book. I found it to be a very bland book and while it wasn't bad writing, it just wasn't for me. My full review can be read here.
So then I picked up Badge of Honor by Robert J. Thomas, which is the tenth book in a Western series. I'd never read any of these books before, but I picked this one up for free for my Kindle. While it was an utterly cliche Western, it was very entertaining to read. Not a great book by any means of the word, but a fun, quick and easy read. My full review is here.
10fuzzi
>9 Samantha_kathy: thanks for bumping this thread!
My reads so far:
Wolf, a Range Dog by Thomas Hinkle -
Wolf Brother by Jim Kjelgaard -
(notice a common thread here?)
The High Divide by Lin Enger -
My reads so far:
Wolf, a Range Dog by Thomas Hinkle -
Wolf Brother by Jim Kjelgaard -
(notice a common thread here?)
The High Divide by Lin Enger -
11Samantha_kathy
Got something with wolves? I like them magnificent animals.
As for bumping the thread, I was actually preparing to set up the October-December thread. which was when I remembered I hadn't posted my Old West books her yet.
As for bumping the thread, I was actually preparing to set up the October-December thread. which was when I remembered I hadn't posted my Old West books her yet.
12Samantha_kathy
For those who like to plan ahead, I have posted the October-December 2014 thread: 20th Century: Before WW1 (1900-1913). Thread can be found here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/180493
13DeltaQueen50
I have just finished The Son by Philipp Meyer. At the beginning of this epic I thought I was in for a 5 star read but unfortunately I never quite got caught up in the story, and found his characters were a little one dimensional. Still, 4 stars for this book that covers about 150 years of Texan history.
14Samantha_kathy
We've got a few days left on this quarter and theme before we head into the 20th century. I'll be changing the wiki over to our new theme of 20th Century: Before WW1 (1900-1913) sometime this weekend, so if you've got books left to list there, now would be the perfect time!
15Samantha_kathy
I changed the wiki over to our new theme. If you still want to add a book for this quarter's theme, you can find the list all the way at the bottom of the wiki.
I hope you enjoyed The Old West and will join me over in the 20th century as we read books set Before WW1 (1900-1913)
I hope you enjoyed The Old West and will join me over in the 20th century as we read books set Before WW1 (1900-1913)
16countrylife
I did enjoy The Old West. My reads for this quarter were:
July:
Hunter's Stew and Hangtown Fry: What Pioneer America Ate and Why by Lila Perl
The Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest by Richard Melzer
August:
Aug:
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Sep:
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
July:
Hunter's Stew and Hangtown Fry: What Pioneer America Ate and Why by Lila Perl
The Fred Harvey Houses of the Southwest by Richard Melzer
August:
Aug:
Doc by Mary Doria Russell
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Sep:
One Thousand White Women by Jim Fergus
17fuzzi
>16 countrylife: did you like Doc? I thoroughly enjoyed it when I read it, last year I think.
19fuzzi
>18 DeltaQueen50: Woo hoo!
20countrylife
Loved Doc! I think it was my favorite of my Old West reads.