All Things Left Wild

The Border Trilogy – This list isn’t in any order, but if it were, this would still be first. Yes, I’m including all three books as one; yes, it’s cheating. But, if I didn’t cheat, there’d be hardly any room left on the list. That’s how good Cormac McCarthy’s Border Trilogy is. It’s the standard by which I measure all other western prose. All the Pretty Horses is a National Book Award winner, The Crossing is arguably the best written of the three, and Cities of the Plain is arguably the most Western of McCarthy’s works.

True Grit – Charles Portis gives us beautiful dialogue, a fast, simple story, and a bad-ass female narrator.

Lonesome Dove – Not the best of McMurtry’s career (more on that later), but undoubtedly the most famous. An epic tale that helped reinvigorate the Western genre.

Close Range – Annie Proulx can do no wrong in my eyes. This is the only story collection on the list, and while all of her collections are Western wonders, Close Range includes her most notable story, “Brokeback Mountain.”

Blood Meridian – The greatest nonstory ever written—is that a thing? McCarthy’s writing here is so powerful, so poetic, that many consider Blood Meridian the greatest Western of all time, despite its lack of plot.

The Big Sky – A. B. Guthrie’s debut is a splendid, well-researched excavation into fur trapping and westward expansion.

Desperadoes – Folks may know Ron Hanson’s name from his more popular novel The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. And while that is well-crafted work, Desperadoes is the superior choice, in my opinion.

My Antonia – How hard would it be for a woman who speaks little English to come to a new country and then be thrust into the unsettled West and forced to survive? Willa Cather tells us in poetic detail.

The Virginian – I don’t actually think this book is all that great; it’s definitely good, but it makes this list based on being considered the first “Western” by many literary scholars. Just like the first cup of coffee probably wasn’t the best cup ever made, its existence alone is to be revered.

Horseman, Pass By – Larry McMurtry’s debut novel. He was twenty-five. I can’t help but be bitter at the thought of someone so young writing something so brilliant. In my opinion, it’s his finest work.