Dive into the rugged landscapes and spirit of the Wild West with our 10 Best Western Books to Read. From classic tales of the frontier to modern novels that twist in new directions enjoy our reading list of the Best Western Books to Read.
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10 Best Western Books to Read
Shane by Jack Schaefer
Seen through the eyes of a young boy, Bob Starrett, Shane is the classic story of a lone stranger. At first sight, the boy realises there is something unusual about the approaching man, but as Bob gets to know Shane, he realises that there is an inner sadness in him.
Shane is the story of a gunfighter who tries to hang up his gun but is drawn to the side of the boy’s family and other homesteaders in their struggle to keep from being forced off their land.
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
1980. Llewelyn Moss, a Vietnam veteran, is hunting antelope near the Rio Grande when he stumbles upon a transaction gone horribly wrong. Finding bullet-ridden bodies, several kilos of heroin, and a caseload of cash, he faces a choice – leave the scene as he found it, or cut the money and run. Choosing the latter, he knows, will change everything.
And so begins a terrifying chain of events, in which each participant seems determined to answer the question that one asks another: how does a man decide in what order to abandon his life?
True Grit by Charles Portis
There is no knowing what lies in a man’s heart. On a trip to buy ponies, Frank Ross is killed by one of his own workers. Tom Chaney shoots him down in the street for a horse, $150 cash, and two Californian gold pieces. Ross’s unusually mature and single-minded fourteen-year-old daughter Mattie travels to claim his body, and finds that the authorities are doing nothing to find Chaney. Then she hears of Rooster – a man, she’s told, who has grit – and convinces him to join her in a quest into dark, dangerous Indian territory to hunt Chaney down and avenge her father’s murder.
Centennial by James Michener
A stunning panorama of the West, Centennial is an entralling celebration of out country, brimming with the glory and the greatness of the American past that only bestselling author James Michener could bring to stunning life.
Here is the story of the land and its people–of Lame Beaver, the Arapaho chieftain and warrior, and his Commanche and Pawnee enemies: of Levi Zendt, fleeing with his child bride from the Amish country in Pennsylvania: and of the cowboy Jim Lloyd, who falls in love with a wealthy and cultured Englishwoman, Charlotte Seccombe. It is a story of trappers, traders, homesteaders, gold seekers, ranchers, and hunters–all caught up in the dramatic events and violent conflicts that shaped the destiny of our legendary West.
The Bullet Swallower by Elizabeth Gonzalez James
In 1895, Antonio Sonoro is the latest in a long line of ruthless men. He’s good with his gun and is drawn to trouble but he’s also out of money and out of options. A drought has ravaged the town of Dorado, Mexico, where he lives with his wife and children, and so when he hears about a train laden with gold and other treasures, he sets off for Houston to rob it—with his younger brother Hugo in tow. But when the heist goes awry and Hugo is killed by the Texas Rangers, Antonio finds himself launched into a quest for revenge that endangers not only his life and his family, but his eternal soul.
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford by Ron Hansen
By age thirty-four, Jesse James was already one of the most notorious and admired men in America. Bank robber, train bandit, gang leader, killer, and beloved son of Missouri—James’s many epithets live on in newspapers and novels alike. As his celebrity was reaching its apex, James met Robert Ford, the brother of a James gang member—an awkward, antihero-worshipping twenty-year-old with stars in his eyes.
The young man’s fascination with the legend borders on jealous obsession: While Ford wants to ride alongside James as his most-trusted confidant, sharing his spotlight is not enough. As a bond forms between the two men, Ford realizes that the only way he’ll ever be as powerful as his idol is to become him; he must kill James and take his mantle.
The Revenant by Michael Punke
The trappers of the Rocky Mountain Fur Company live a brutal frontier life. Hugh Glass is one of the most respected men in the company, an experienced frontiersman and an expert tracker.
But when a scouting mission puts Glass face-to-face with a grizzly bear, he is viciously mauled and not expected to survive. Two men from the company are ordered to remain with him until his inevitable death. But, fearing an imminent attack, they abandon Glass, stripping him of his prized rifle and hatchet.
As Glass watches the men flee, he is driven to survive by one all-consuming desire: revenge. With shocking grit and determination, he sets out on a three-thousand-mile journey across the harsh American frontier, to seek revenge on the men who betrayed him.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance by Dorothy M. Johnson
Journey into the Wild West, 1890, in this classic story of good versus evil, of law versus the gun, of one man versus Liberty Valance. A tale of love, hope and revenge set against the vicious backdrop of a lawless society.
When a young scholar from New York City travels west in search of a new life he arrives beaten and half-dead on the dusty streets of Twotrees. Rescued from the plains, the town soon becomes his home as he finds the love of a local girl. This love gives him purpose in a broken land, but is it enough to save him from the vicious outlaw who wants him dead?
The Sisters Brothers by Patrick deWitt
Hermann Kermit Warm is going to die.
Across 1000 miles of Oregon desert his assassins, the notorious Eli and Charlies Sisters, ride – fighting, shooting, and drinking their way to Sacramento. But their prey isn’t an easy mark, the road is long and bloody, and somewhere along the path Eli begins to question what he does for a living – and whom he does it for.
The Sisters Brothers pays homage to the classic Western, transforming it into an unforgettable ribald tour de force.
Death Comes for the Archbishop by Willa Cather
Two French priests have been sent to New Mexico to reawaken the faith. There, they must contend with unforgiving landscapes, danger, rebellion and loneliness. But through their many years together they are sustained by faith, friendship and the awe-inspiring majesty that surrounds them. A work of great simplicity and sublime beauty, Willa Cather’s acclaimed novel asks, what is a life well lived?
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