Louis L'Amour 2022 Shared Read Challenge

Here's 13 story collections that we can read, one a month plus one sometime in the year.

Beyond the Great Snow Mountains - January
Bowdrie - February
Bowdrie's Law - March
Dutchman's Flat - April
End of the Drive - May
From the Listening Hills - June
Long Ride Home - July
May There Be a Road - August
Riding For the Brand - September
The Strong Shall Live - October
Valley of the Sun - November
Yondering - December
West of Dodge - Floating

Here's the wiki: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Louis_L%27Amour_2022_Shared_Read_Challen...

>1 SilverWolf28: thank you! I'll add those to my reading lists.

>1 SilverWolf28: Thanks for setting this up! I'm in.

>3 harrygbutler: You're welcome!

I’m following, and will hope to participate from time to time! Thanks for setting this up!

Karen O

>5 klobrien2: yippee (ki yay?)!

Will we continue with the same wiki, or will you be setting up a new one for this year? Either way, I'd love your wiki link to show up in your first post!

I'll start another wiki this weekend and link it to the first post.

>8 SilverWolf28: thanks!

I'll try to remember to USE the Wiki this year...

I started reading last night, enjoyed the first two stories. I suddenly just realized that I'm reading the wrong book...With These Hands. Oopsies.

>8 SilverWolf28: It's going to take me longer than I thought to get the wiki up. Real Life is extremely stressful and complicated right now. I'll hopefully have the wiki up soon.

>11 SilverWolf28: I've not yet finished Beyond the Great Snow Mountains so no rush.

No rush even if I had finished it.

And now I have finished my reread:


Beyond the Great Snow Mountains by Louis L'Amour

This collection of short stories displays the author's range of genre, from a mining murder mystery to a pre-World War II exploit, to a western roundup adventure, and more. My two favorites were the first story about a young woman stranded in a remote South American village controlled by a brutal headman, and the last story about a woman living with a Mongolic tribe who faces a choice that will affect more than just herself. Most of the tales are good to very good, with a couple boxing yarns that I didn't care for.

Bowdrie by Louis L'Amour

I thoroughly enjoyed a reread of this short story collection about a young Texas Ranger. I especially liked how the main character uses his smarts to uncover the truth of each investigation and doesn't just shoot/punch his way through. Recommended.

I finally got the wiki made! https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/Louis_L%27Amour_2022_Shared_Read_Challen...

I love a good western. May I join in?

>16 Carmenere: Certainly, you're very welcome!

>16 Carmenere: please!

>17 SilverWolf28: >18 fuzzi: Great! I've got Jan, Feb and March on their way to my library.

Bowdrie's Law by Louis L'Amour

This is volume two of Louis L'Amour's short stories about Chick Bowdrie, Texas Ranger, and it's just as satisfying and entertaining as the first. Above average, and definitely worth reading.

>14 fuzzi: fuzzi - Can you list what stories are contained in the book title Bowdrie? My library has plenty of books of collected stories that include Bowdrie stuff, but none of the titles included in any of them just say "Bowdrie". If I can get to the same contents through a different batch of collections, I can still finish this read.

Same with Yondering. Nothing in my library by that title. If possible, I'd like to figure out the contents.

>21 countrylife: I can, but it'll have to wait until tomorrow, as the books are in my bedroom, and my dh is already in bed.

>21 countrylife: Bowdrie


They're also in the collection The Collected Short Stories of Louis L'Amour Volume 2.

As far as I know the stories in Yondering are only in that volume.

I've gotten myself in a L'Amour mood having just read Sackett. I do have Vol 2 of the collected stories so I can fake the Bowdrie book. I've read several other short story collections on your list

>21 countrylife: Yondering is available for about $4.00 USD: https://www.bookfinder.com/search/?ac=sl&st=sl&ref=bf_s2_a1_t1_1&qi=...

>24 RBeffa: I love the Sackett books, especially The Sackett Brand and Ride the Dark Trail (Talon and Sackett).

>26 fuzzi: I see that the Sackett Brand continues the story of Tell and Ange. I will have to read that soon.

Dutchman's Flat by Louis L'Amour

A solid selection of short stories in this authorized L'Amour collection. I enjoyed the introductions to each story, which give the reader some background of topics touched upon within. Not every tale is of gunfights or range wars. One I especially liked was about the middle-aged grandfather trying to mine enough gold to save his widowed daughter's ranch, and outwit Apaches at the same time. The Tumbling K is featured in a couple of the stories, as is Kilkenny.

End of the Drive by Louis L'Amour

An excellent series of short stories that remained in a box for years, undiscovered, until after the author's death. Included are tales that were the basis or inspiration for novels to come such as Fallon, Kiowa Trail, Tucker, Kid Rodeo, The Lonesome Gods, and the superb Last of the Breed...time for a reread of that one! For fans of the Sackett series, there's another installment about Tell included as well. Highly recommended.

Well, this stinks. I can't find my copy for June's read, From the Listening Hills.

The library has a copy, and I've put in a request to borrow it. Sheesh.

I'm so lonely, anyone else here?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CQFEY9RIRJA

I'm here - I did not have luck finding these particular collections (altho I do have Yondering for later). So, I decided I would start on some kindleunlimited L'Amour collections and I began Grub Line Rider last night. I need to check again for some of the coming months.

ETA: My local branch does have From the Listening Hills so I will see if I can pick it up on my next visit - but I have a couple of other holds coming in.

>32 RBeffa: watch for e-book deals on Amazon. I got Grub Line Rider and other L'Amour collections for a couple dollars each.

I enjoyed the Grub line rider collection. I have read the first two stories in From the listening hills and was rather underwhelmed. The second story had me confused for a bit. So, I will take that one back to the library unfinished.

>34 RBeffa: it happens. The stories in From the Listening Hills were some that I believe were never published.

I've not read the library copy yet, as my dad snagged it and claimed first dibs when I brought it home!

ETA: I've now read the first two stories, and they're not L'Amour at his best by any means, in my opinion. Third story is leaving me cold, as I not a fan of any of L'Amour's pre-WWII Asian locale tales, may skip it and go to the fourth.

Long Ride Home by Louis L'Amour

This book consists of a good group of short stories, written by the master of the Western genre, Louis L'Amour. Recommended, and worthy of a re-read. (Review from 2015)

Addendum: I did skip most of one of the stories that I hadn't found appealing the first time I read it, but some of them were a delight.

>36 fuzzi: When I read this collection in Sept 2018 I gave it 2 1/2 stars. Maybe I was a little cranky cause that is the low end of an OK read for me. This is what I wrote:

Eight shorter length stories, all entertaining. These kind of remind me of the type of stories that were staples of TV westerns. This is not high-brow literary stuff. It is entertainment. L'Amour, as I have noted before, seems to always have the good guy survive a gunfight that stretches belief and he also loves giving a blow by blow step by step accounting of a fistfight. I'm sure this appealed to his core readership many decades ago but are the least interesting parts of the story to me. I find these short stories more entertaining than the novels.

>37 RBeffa: I do skim over his fist fight scenes.

You're right, it's entertainment, not high-brow literary stuff. I love watching Jane Eyre on television, but also love Smokey and the Bandit...two totally different yet entertaining genres.

L'Amour excelled in the short story field, and I also prefer his collections over most of his novels. Exceptions are Last of the Breed, A Man Called Noon, and Conagher...especially the last.


Sam Elliott as Conagher. Nice.

Wow, I've not posted since...July?

I've been reading, but I've had to handle a lot of personal stuff.

August Read: May There Be a Road I liked a couple of the stories, but did not finish it.

September Read

Riding for the Brand by Louis L'Amour

One of my favorite collections of L'Amour's short stories. There's a forward by the author, and notes prior to each story. This book includes tales of cattle rustling, homesteading, man-hunting, and even one of someone taking the name and reputation of a murdered man. Good reads.

(reread, review from ?)

October Read

The Strong Shall Live by Louis L'Amour

This book is an above average collection of Louis L'Amour's short stories, each one an example of the will to survive against the odds. In one tale, an actor faces certain death in order to protect innocents, while in another story Jim Bostwick realizes that he can't possibly survive an encounter with a gunfighter, an encounter he can't find a way to avoid. Each story has a different scenario, without predictable results or typical characters.

This collection contains ten stories of people facing danger and death, with courage and determination, without backing down. I liked each and every one of these narratives.

(reread, review from ?)

>39 fuzzi: I gave The Strong Shall Live 3 1/2 stars also when I read it a decade ago. I credit it with getting me interested in reading L'Amour. I'd only read a very few in the years before. Not reading more L'Amour at the present. Plan to read Yondering in December. I read Valley of the Sun just a couple years ago.

>40 RBeffa: I just started Valley of the Sun, and yes, the stories are familiar, but I'm enjoying it nevertheless.

Valley of the Sun by Louis L'Amour (reread, review from 2014)

I believe that the short story was the best area to showcase Louis L'Amour's writing talents, and this collection is a good example of what he could write in a couple dozen pages. As I read each tale, I again saw the author's sense of humor displayed, as is not always evident in the Western genre. In one example from this collection, a gambler is caught cheating, and reaches for his gun just as the victim of the crime starts shooting. To quote: "Lead, received in those proportions and with that emphasis and range, is reliably reported to be indigestible."

As usual, these are entertaining stories, with believable characters, and definitely worth a read. Recommended.

Just started on Yondering. Finished the first story. I'll probably read these short stories in between other reading.

>43 RBeffa: I've done that, works well.

I think I am going to read West of Dodge first.

Do you want me to post a Louis L'Amour thread next year? If you do what should it be about?

>45 SilverWolf28: is anyone else going to participate?

#113 West of Dodge by Louis L'Amour

This is a collection of short stories that were written after the author's "pulp" days, and as he was transitioning into full length novel writing...and it shows. There's less "shoot-em-up" or fistfight action, more talk, deeper plots, and some of the stories have a twist in them, which I really liked.

My favorite was probably Let the Cards Decide, about a mail order bride, but they all were good reading. Recommended.

I am enjoying Yondering quite a bit. About two-thirds done. Might give this 4 stars.

I would enjoy a continuing casual read of L'Amour next year. I plan to heavily focus on my series reads with a great number of series to pick from, so I might do a Sackett or two. I think I enjoy his shorter works best though and I like reading the reviews here of books read.

>48 RBeffa: I agree on the shorter works, I believe L'Amour excelled in the short story format.

I'm thinking about a reread of Jubal Sackett, but am not interested in doing all the Sackett books next year...what type of challenge could we set up for 2023?

This is certainly one of the better short story collections by L'Amour that I have encountered. I seem to enjoy his short stories more than many of his novels, although both can be very good. L'Amour writes an excellent introduction to each of the stories here and what gave rise to their origin. My favorites in here might be his seaman tales, but these non-westerns are quite diverse. I read these over several weeks and they were nice treats one and two at a time. Not a single dud. There's even a good poem in here.

The stories in my 1980 edition are: Where There's Fighting • The Dancing Kate • Glorious! • Dead-End Drift • Old Doc Yak • Survival • Thicker Than Blood • The Admiral • Shanghai, Not Without Gestures • The Man Who Stole Shakespeare • A Friend of the General • Author's Tea • A Moon of the trees broken by snow: A Christmas story • Let Me Forget...

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>49 fuzzi: I don't need a challenge for L'Amour since I normally just read 2, maybe 3 of his books each year, so other readers should decide this. I have two unread large short story collections and I think a couple novels like Californios, Silver Canyon (and Canon Walls in a western author trilogy). I would also like to read a bit more by Zane Grey.

>50 RBeffa: thanks for sharing your review here!

We've done the Sacketts, and the Chantry/Talon/Kilkenny series, and now two years of short stories, so I'm not sure what type of a challenge we could do.

I'm thinking about rereading some of my favorites this year, starting with Jubal Sackett in January. It was my first L'Amour read, back in about 1987.

And there's always Last of the Breed!

I could post a thread where we can say what we're reading and then if someone wanted to they could read it also.

>52 SilverWolf28: go ahead and do it if you like. I, as others here have indicated, will be reading L'Amour throughout 2023.

>53 fuzzi: I'll try to do it tomorrow or Tuesday.

>54 SilverWolf28: thanks. No rush, I've not started Jubal Sackett yet.

Here's the thread for 2023: https://www.librarything.com/topic/347550