Louis L'Amour Westerns "discovery"

[JohndeFresno]

I was the recipient, in this forum, of a generous "sweepstakes" gift from Pete44RU * - "The Trail to Seven Pines," ghost authored by Louis L'Amour when the Hopalong Cassidy original author Clarence Mulford went into retirement. The book was a lot of fun. Then, blessed with a recent severe bout of a California cold that lasted more than a month, I had time to watch "The Sacketts," fairly faithful collaborations of two Louis L'Amour books, followed by reading some parts of the two books that were the basis of the movie. That did it; I decided to spend some serious time reading some more Louis L'Amour fare.

I am reading the first (at least, the first in the alleged chronology) of his "Sackett" books - "Sackett Land" - which is a fictional chronology of a real family (Sackett) originating in the marshland - "fens" - of northeast England - in the 17th Century. The environment and life required hardy souls to live off the land with its mires and dangers. This novel, then, forms the fictional family background of the better known cowboy stories in his other books. Even this 1655 "history" of the family is so entertaining that I have downloaded some $54 worth of the entire collection of Sackett books into my Kindle reader.

This book starts out with some Errol Flynn type swordplay and pursuits and a run from the onslaughts of crooked and vengeful nobility. Along the way, there is mention of astounding (to me) little bits of history that drove me to "Google" to research various facts - fens being a hiding place for pirates and those who evaded various Roman conquerors, a lost treasure (caught in the quicksands and mud of the fens) of the self-indulgent and cowardly King John "the Softsword," and many other fascinating facts of some of my forebears. All done by entering things like "Boston in England" into Google (Boston was a major English seaport, just like our Boston, and still exists).

For those who have the time to really enjoy some great fiction, and especially if you are prone to pull even deeper history from the mentioned side events in the stories, I would heartily recommend looking at the L'Amour books. I'm already hooked.


Anyway, my stated favorite author is Michael Crichton, whose fiction always provides a deep background of the fictional stories that he wrote; but now Mr. L'Amour's research for his fare has opened new vistas, as well.

* Edited to correct the donor's name - it was Pete44RU

[Shasta]

I have the complete set of leather bound Louis L'Amour books published by Bantam Books. I bought them several years ago through a book-of-the-month club. I never read any of them when received, but now that I'm retired, I read a couple chapters each day and have been enjoying them very much. I'm trying to read them in chronological order, and boy, there are a lot of them! I'm currently reading "Troubleshooter", one of the Hopalong Cassidy stories. The L'Amour books have all the Good Guy-Bad Guy thrills of the old westerns I loved to watch as a kid!

SHASTA

[JohndeFresno]

Here is a list, which looks to be correct, of the "chronology" of the Sackett series, for your enjoyment. Some books may or may not have been written in order. Compare to the great "Star Wars" movies, where the first three episodes were actually put together several years after the first series of movies had been presented.

From: http://www.wyomerc.com/llbantam.html

"Books in the Sackett Saga, shown in suggested reading order:
Sackett’s Land
To the Far Blue Mountains
The Warrior’s Path
Jubal Sackett
Ride the River
The Daybreakers
The Courting of Griselda (short story in 'End of the Drive')
Lando
Sackett
Booty for a Badman (short story in 'War Party')
Mojave Crossing
The Sackett Brand
The Skyliners
The Lonely Men
Mustang Man
Galloway
Treasure Mountain
Ride the Dark Trail
Lonely on the Mountain

Read more: http://www.wyomerc.com/llbantam.html#ixzz3NbDt1zPX "

[Larkbill]

Just realized why I never find any new ones on the library website, I'VE READ THEM ALL.

If you enjoyed those then you need to check out the books of William Johnston.

I also greatly enjoyed all of Dr. Crichton's books. What a brilliant man, and he had a unique ability to explain the complex in ways us simple mortals could understand.

Don't get me started, we're not even talking about John Sandford, Stuart Woods, WEB Griffin...

[JohndeFresno]

...If you enjoyed those then you need to check out the books of William Johnston...

Thanks for the tips!

[Mike Armstrong]

I spent some time in the fens one summer in the late '60s. They were still pretty wild and empty back then--reminded me of the Mississippi and Sacremento delta agricultural areas, not to mention the Mekong. Except you could drive for hours and not see a person since most of the agriculture by then was mechanized. Dikes, levees, sluices, weirs and canals--all kinds of water control devices. Few boats, fewer fishermen, mainly tourists up from "the Smoke" to sportfish. Duck hunters in the winter and fall, according to the publicans and inn keeps. More wildlife than I'd suspected: ducks and waterfowl like marsh hens, snipe and woodcocks, pheasants, hares, and roe deer (tiny!). Many foxes, some boars.

Easy to see why it became a refuge. No way cavalry could function in there!

Ely Cathedral on the "Isle" of Ely (it was an island in the Dark and Middle Ages) has a truly beautiful abstract stained glass "rose window" formed by a 1950s artist from the shards of Medieval stained glass windows shattered by a Nazi FW-190 in one of the "cultural revenge" raids of early 1944.

[GonnePhishin]

Two other authors that I believe are in the same league are Larry McMurtry and Ralph Compton.

[AJMD429]

I also got the book-of-the-month deal, and read them all twenty years ago or so. Good stuff.

Check out James Alexander Thom's books if you like real-to-life stuff; his encompass the U.S. Midwest during the era between the Revolutionary and Civil Wars.

This is my favorite book of all time; I re-read it every few years.

[JRD]

I've read a good many western novels. After a while you need something different to spice things up. A change of scenery if you will. I read those early Sackett novels way back in high school and old England and colonial America were a nice change of pace from the old west.

Along the same idea is "The Walking Drum". Not related to the Sacketts. This one is set in the 1100's and is a medieval adventure. I remember being quite captivated by it.

Jason

[JerryB]

I started reading Louis L'amour when I was about 14 or so in the early 1950's. They are still good reading. Haunted Mesa is real good reading, kinda makes me think about Mescalero and some things we have talked about.
Tony Hillerman's Navajo books are good also. So are the Trail of the Spanish bit series.

[Larkbill]

As my wife likes to say "so many books, so little time".

Will definitely check out James Alexander Thom. Thanks for the recommendation.

[Malamute]

A few of L'Amours books set in more modern times have been good, The Haunted Mesa, a bit science fiction-esque, and Last of the Breed. The one set way back, The Walking Drum, was also good.

[Griff]

I also have all the L'Amour Bantam leather bound books... and have read every book he wrote, plus all the anthologies that were published after his death by his family... some previously unpublished stories, some were early version short stories of his later full books.

Great fun, great entertainment.

[Udy]

Couldn't say I've read all of his books, I'm sure I've missed a few. But yes I've read all of the sacket series. Very good story teller. I perfered the first few best before the caracters turned into cowboys, just because they were a bit different than his typical works.
A few of my favorites he wrote were last of the breed, Sitka, the walking drum, and his memoirs of a traveling man was enlightening. They are all worth reading of course, but those pop in my mind as top notch

[Malamute]

Memoirs of a Traveling Man, I dont know that thats the one that came to mind when I saw the title, but he did a book of short stories about fighting men in the 20th century. It was a good read.