But his main preoccupation is getting under the skin of Call, a mostly silent workaholic who is clearly a lot more restless about their adventuring days sliding into the past. When conversation lags or the spirit of the ruckus gets in him, Gus heads to Lonesome Dove’s only saloon for some more talk, some cards, or to visit Lonesome Dove’s only prostitute, Lorena Wood (sometimes all three in one night). Gus has rather taken to this lifestyle, allowing himself to grow lazy and spend his days talking–even if his knowledge on the current subject is short. For the first section of this novel, Lonesome Dove feels like the impossible: a western story in which the adventure is already over. These days they run the Hat Creek Cattle Company, an operation with a simple business plan: when a customer comes along, Call just eases their men across the border into Mexico to steal the necessary cattle. Their adventuring days are behind them–both because they’ve started getting up in years and because the violent threats they used to fight against as Rangers have long since cooled. When we meet former Texas Rangers Augustus “Gus” McCrae and Woodrow Call, they’ve settled into a comfortable existence in the town of Lonesome Dove along the border of Mexico. Oh, and Calamity Jane makes an appearance in number 6.At the outset, Lonesome Dove feels like an unlikely epic in the western genre. Regardless of the reason, each of these works is a masterpiece well worth your time. Others just plain never got the recognition they deserve. Some were once wildly popular but have faded from memory. Some of them are by authors you might know, but fly under the radar even to their fans. I offer a list of my favorite Western novels that are off the beaten track. So here I am getting over my strange peccadillo. But there are also a bevy of other outstanding works of Western fiction that deserve a place on your shelf. Not to discount those titles-they’re well known for a reason. If you’re reading this list, you’re most likely a Western fan already and familiar with classics like Blood Meridian, Lonesome Dove, and True Grit. I really need to get over such silliness. Conversely, whenever someone asks me what I’ve been reading, I feel like I’m trying to sell a beige Buick Skylark in a strip mall car lot. Whenever I’m recommended a novel by a friend, it feels a little bit like a hand-me-down sweater. There’s nothing like wandering aimlessly through a bookstore, picking up a copy of a novel you’ve never heard of, falling in love on the first page, and sprinting up to the counter while turning to page two. I often feel the same when it comes to book recommendations: I like to discover them on my own and am strangely guarded when asked about what I’ve enjoyed lately.
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