3.5* rounded up because it deserves the better rating. It is probably the best known western novel of all times and deservedly so. It is an epic book, in size and scope. It can be funny and sad at the same time. You get to really care about the characters in 1000+ pages. It is a huge adventure ride with many types of characters, rangers, whores, cowboys, bandits. I loved most of it but I think that the characters deserved a better fate than the misery they got. I probably read it at the wrong ti...

Revived review RIP Larry McMurtry 3 June 1936 - 25 March 2021He described Lonesome Dove as a "pretty good book".****Larry McMurtry is as surefooted as any cowboy’s favourite horse. He never trips or stumbles. It doesn’t take many pages before you know this is a 5 star book.As you know this is the enormous story of a big old cattle drive from Texas to Montana. That’s kind of it. Bits get added on here and there but the main idea is to get these thousands of cows across 3000 miles of dangerous ter...

“‘I don’t like sending that boy off to sit up with a whore,’ [Woodrow Call] said. ‘He’s young and innocent,” Augustus [McCrae] said. ‘That’s why I picked him. He’ll just moon over her a little. If I’d sent one of the full-grown rowdies, Jake might have come back and shoot him. I doubt he’d shoot Newt.’‘I doubt he’ll even come back, myself,’ Call said. ‘That girl ought to have stayed in Lonesome Dove.’ ‘If you was a young girl, with life before you, would you want to settle in Lonesome Dove?’ Aug...

Update: Finally able to talk about the book. This book touched my heart, made me laugh so many times, made me mad and made me cry. There are a lot of books I would never have read if it wasn't for my Goodreads friends, but the two most memorable and that have made it to my favorites list are: The Conte Of Monte Cristo and Lonesome Dove I loved so many characters in this book and I feel like I have been on that journey with them. I kept wishing they would have stayed in Texas or at least stopped ...

Larry McMurtry is considered one of America's master story tellers. His novels include Terms of Endearment and The Last Picture Show, as well as the screenplay to Brokeback Mountain, which later became award winning films. A revered author in Texas, he was invited by former First Lady Laura Bush to be a special guest speaker at the first annual Texas Book Festival. It seems fitting that I began his definitive work, Pulitzer winning Lonesome Dove, on his birthday, June 3. A story of Texas Rangers...

In order of publication:Lonesome Dove (1985) *****Streets of Laredo (1993) ****Dead Man's Walk (1995) ****Comanche Moon (1997) ****In order of internal chronology:Dead Man’s Walk (set in 1842, when Gus and Call are 19 years old)Comanche Moon (set in 1858, when the men are 35 years old)Lonesome Dove (set in 1878, when the men are 55 years old)Streets of Laredo (set in 1893, when Call is 70 years old)However many books I finally manage to read in my lifetime, I don't expect that Larry McMurtry's i...

Are you looking for the most Western book ever? If so, Lonesome Dove better be in your search!This was a fantastic epic journey! I am glad I took this one slowly over the course of several months so that I could savor it. You may look at this and say, “Matthew, you took exactly four months to read an 858 page novel? That must have been a chore!” But, it was not. Every chapter was a story in itself, every page added to the characters, atmosphere, drama, etc. No filler. No boring parts. Everything...

This is my top favorite book of all time. Its been on top since I read it shortly after it came out in paperback. This is one of those great books where I remember the segment of my life while reading it. That's how strong the Fictive Dream is in this book: Where were you when? The book has two of the most endearing characters of all time, there's action, romance and great story lines. But most of all I think this book is about enduring friendship and loyalty. For years I wondered how McMurtry c...

The account of a cattle drive from Texas to Montana. This is a very long novel which is nevertheless always compelling. It contains memorable characters whose adventures are narrated in a deceptively straightforward style.What impresses me most about this book is that the fates of the characters are neither cornily predictable nor deliberately surprising. The book's great length allows life to happen to them as it happens to all of us. We have the leisure to observe them carefully, and we are gl...

I was only willing to read this book because a friend told me I had to. When I was thirty pages into it and complaining to him about being unable to handle any more discussion about horses and beans, he made me a bet: If I got to page 101 (out of 900, mind you) and I still didn't enjoy it, he'd take me out to dinner at any restaurant I wanted in New York City. If at page 101 I had warmed up to it, I had to finish. I don't think I made it past the 60th page before I knew I had "lost" the bet.The ...