Recently I was asked by a young film student in Albuquerque about my favorite Western novels and movies. Though picking the ‘best’ is subjective, here’s my personal take on 11 timeless novels (why stick with 10?).
And please note: The choices are not what you’d call traditional, old Western books about cowboys and Indians, but books representing several eras and places within the West. All have a Western aesthetic, expressive of the Western mindset.
11. The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian, Sherman Alexie. Before we jump into the more traditional titles, I thought a marvelously written, poignant work is in store. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian follows a Native American teenager living on the Spokane Indian Reservation. Alexie writes about Arnold ‘Junior’ Spirit, a cartoonist, with great resolve and understanding. The book addresses poverty, racism, and the arts. The book won the 2007 National Book Award for Youth.
10. A Thief of Time, Tony Hillerman. Former Albuquerque resident Tony Hillerman was a legend of Western aesthetics, writing about the Diné (Navajo) world with sensitivity and deep appreciation. Led by Tribal Police officers Jim Chee and Joe Leaphorn, A Thief of Time is one of many excellent Hillerman thrillers, a classic tale of mystery and murder set among Anasazi ruins. The recent Dark Winds series on AMC is based on Hillerman’s characters. The novel won the Macavity Award in 1989.
9. The Brave Cowboy, Edward Abbey. A contemporary Western about a lonesome, old-world cowboy roaming through New Mexico’s landscape. One-part philosophical novel, one-part Western, The Brave Cowboy is a fine introduction to the former New Mexico resident works. The movie based on the book is Lonely Are the Brave, starring Kirk Douglas.
The Brave Cowboy, Edward Abbey
8. Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko. Published in 1977 but set after World War II, Silko’s Ceremony is a deeply touching, some say traumatic, exploration of modern people of New Mexico. Writing as a Native New Mexican, Silko incorporates Native traditions and cosmology, weaving a magnificent, modern tale of Native identity. Silko won the American Book Award for Ceremony in 1980.
7. Death Comes for the Archbishop, Willa Cather. Pulitzer-winning author Cather writes beautifully about the West in many of her works. In Death Comes for the Archbishop, Cather constructs a novel based upon the real-life events surrounding the arrival of Archbishop Lamy to Santa Fe, New Mexico. Though not a classic Western, it covers the Old West from a unique vantage point. Death Comes for the Archbishop received the William Dean Howells Medal in 1930 and is included on various lists as one of the best English-language novels of all time.
6. Thaila: A Texas Trilogy: Horseman, Pass By, Leaving Cheyanne, and The Last Picture Show, Larry McMurtry. Ok, I’m cheating. This is not one book, but three. But all three books by Larry McMurtry deserve to be read. All three are contemporary western novels, addressing a host of subjects connected to the West (ranching, small-town life, injustice, racism, death, and family relations). All three were made into movies. Hud (Horseman, Pass By) starred Paul Newman. The Last Picture Show won several Oscars.
Thalia: A Texas Trilogy, Larry McMurtry
5. Borderland Trilogy: All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities on the Plain, Cormac McCarthy. I’m cheating again; three books in one. But like McMurtry, McCarthy’s three Borderland novels are essential readings to understand a modern, Western aesthetic. Not only are the works philosophically stimulating, but the writing is magnificent, Biblical in tone. McCarthy received the National Book Award for All the Pretty Horses in 1992.
4. The House Made of Dawn, M. Scott Momaday. Former New Mexico resident, Momaday, won the Pulitzer for this book in 1969. The House Made of Dawn is a poetic, impressionistic work focusing on Abel, a Jemez man dealing with life after World War II, incorporating Native and Christian cosmologies. It’s an ethereal and beautiful book.
3. Train Dreams, Denis Johnson. Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in 2012, this gem of a book follows Robert Grainier as he navigates his simple life as a railway worker, losing his wife and child to nature. Set in the Northwest in the early 20th century, the mysterious ending is worth the wait. It’s a brilliant book, made recently into a movie starring Joel Edgerton and Felicity Jones.
2. Of Mice and Men, John Steinbeck. I could’ve chosen any of Steinbeck’s classic works dealing with the West, notably the Pulitzer-winning Grapes of Wrath or East of Eden. But I chose Of Mice and Men due to its deep Western connection: two migrant farmworkers, George and Lennie, making sense of the world, outcasts in a socially hostile environment in Great Depression California. Dealing with friendship and the failing of the American dream, Of Mice and Men is one of the Nobel-winning author’s finest. The movie starring John Malkovich and Gary Sinise is good as well.
1. Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy. One could argue that Blood Meridian is the greatest Western book written. Many position this and Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry side-by-side. Both men were Pulitzer-winning authors. For me, Blood Meridian is the finest and fiercest Western novel. Composed while former New Mexico resident McCarthy was living in El Paso, Texas, readers beware: With its violence and stylistic escapades due to McCarthy’s particular voice in writing, the novel may be difficult for some. The work follows “the Kid” as he experiences life with the Glanton gang, scalp hunters. Judge Holden may be one of literature’s scariest, psychologically disturbed antagonists.
Blood Meridian, Cormac McCarthy
Brian C. Nixon, Ph.D., is Chief Academic Officer and professor at Veritas International University in Albuquerque. As a writer, musician, and artist, his interests surround the philosophical transcendentals: truth, beauty, and goodness. You can contact Brian via his Bandcamp email address: https://briancharlesnixon.bandcamp.com
