Wide Open Spaces

Sylvia has selected Muriel Spark's The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie as the next Slaves of Golconda group read. We'll be convening to discuss the book in the MetauxCafe forums "at sundown" on June 30 and we'll also be posting on our blogs about other Muriel Spark works that same day. Sylvia's keeping track of who's reading what on her sidebar, so stop by to let her know which one you want to read. Everyone is welcome to participate. I'll be reading The Finishing School, which appears to be about the study of creative writing in Switzerland.

But before everyone bids adios to Wister and the western genre, I wanted to provide a list of fiction with a western setting that I've enjoyed over the years. Anyone whose appetite for wide open spaces has been whetted by exposure to Wister is likely to find something of interest here:

Rick Bass—The Diezmo
Doris Betts—The Sharp Teeth of Love
James Carlos Blake—Wildwood Boys
Willa Cather—O Pioneers!
Pete Dexter—Deadwood
E.L. Doctorow—Welcome to Hard Times
David Anthony Durham—Gabriel's Story
Marilyn Durham—The Man Who Loved Cat Dancing
Clyde Edgerton—Redeye
Leif Enger—Peace Like a River
Louise Erdrich—Tracks; Love Medicine
Brian Hall—I Should Be Extremely Happy in Your Company
Ron Hansen—Desperadoes; The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Kent Haruf—Plainsong; The Tie That Binds
Cecelia Holland—Railroad Schemes
Cormac McCarthy—All the Pretty Horses
Larry McMurtry—Lonesome Dove; Horseman Pass By; Leaving Cheyenne; Moving On
Tom McNeal—Goodnight, Nebraska
Bruce Olds—Bucking the Tiger
Charles Portis—True Grit
Anne Proux—Close Range
Russell Rowland—In Open Spaces
Jane Smiley—The All-True Travels and Adventures of Lidie Newton
Diane Smith—Pictures from an Expedition
Claude and Michele Stanush—All Honest Men
John Steinbeck—The Red Pony
Guy Vanderhaeghe—The Last Crossing; The Englishman's Boy
Larry Watson—Montana 1948
Richard S. Wheeler—Second Lives