Since many of us are reading more these pandemic days (or at least trying to read more), there was on the front page of today’s Sunday “Zest” section of the Houston Chronicle an article by Andrew Dansby, a music and books staff writer for the Chron. It is titled (as above) “Lone Star Lit: The 30 most essential books about Texas” where Andrew Dansby selected his “most essential” books about Texas—15 fiction and 15 non-fiction. The books could be by Texas authors, or be about Texas by non-Texas authors, but had to have a Texas connection.
Of course Andrew had some ground rules for his selections. First they had to be books he himself had actually read and finished. Next the books had to be readily available and moderately priced (no rare books or high-end expensive books). No “doorstop histories”, although focused histories were acceptable. No career anthologies. Also only one book per author. He also didn’t rank the books (where he compared ranking books to ranking weather), so I am listing them in the unranked order he listed them. And who doesn’t love lists!
After the 15 fiction/15 nonfiction books listed, I will also add Andrew’s “also ran” books that he mentions because of his self-imposed limit of 15/15 that didn’t make his list but that he was thinking seriously about.
Finally at the end I will add another list of “escapist” novels recommended by some of literature’s leading authors that was in a separate article by Angela Haupt of the Washington Post that was also reprinted in today’s “Zest” section of the Chron as well. So off we go with Andrew Dansby’s picks for essential “Texas” books. Enjoy!
Fiction:
Lonesome Dove, Larry McMurtry (1985)
No Country for Old Men, Cormac McCarthy (2005)
Where We Come From, Oscar Casares (2019)
I’m Not Missing, Carrie Fountain (2018)
Bluebird, Bluebird, Attica Locke (2017)
Savage Season, Joe R. Lansdale (1990)
Lot, Bryan Washington (2019)
Billy Lynn’s Long Halftime Walk, Ben Fountain (2012)
Pale Horse, Pale Rider, Katherine Anne Porter (1939)
The Time It Never Rained, Elmer Kelton (1973)
Tears of the Truffle Pig, Fernando A. Flores (2019)
News of the World, Paulette Jiles (2016)
Texas, James Michener (1985)
Bang, Daniel Peña (2018)
Valentine, Elizabeth Wetmore (2020) [p.s., this book is on my wish list, I’m going to get it right now]
Nonfiction:
Isaac’s Storm: A man, a time and the deadliest hurricane in history, Erik Larson (1999)
The Liar’s Club, Mary Karr (1995)
Coronado’s Children: Tales of Lost Mines and Buried Treasure of the Southwest, J. Frank Dobie (1930)
Friday Night Lights: A town, a team and a dream, H.G. Bissinger (1990)
Thursday Night Lights: The story of black high school football in Texas, Michael Hurd (2017)
God Save Texas: A journey into the soul of the Lone Star State, Lawrence Wright (2018)
Movies (And Other Things), Shea Serrano (2019)
Borderlands / La Frontera, Gloria Anzaldúa (1987)
The Raven: A Biography of Sam Houston, Marquis James (1975)
Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, Jenny Lawson (2012)
The Midnight Assassin: Panic, scandal and the hunt for America’s first serial killer, Skip Hollandsworth (2016)
Goodbye to a River: A narrative, John Graves (1960) [p.s., This is one of my favorites.]
Empire of the Summer Moon: Quanah Parker and the rise and fall of the Comanches, the most powerful Indian tribe in American history, S.C. Gwynne (2011)
The Last Sheriff in Texas: A true tale of violence and the vote, James P. McCollom (2017)
The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power, Robert Caro (1982)
Also-rans:
Libra, Don DeLillo (1988) — I love Andrew Dansby’s comment about this book: “… a book by a guy from the Bronx about a guy from the Bronx who did a horrible thing in Dallas. … I feel like Don DeLillo’s probing novel about the Kennedy assassination feels pertinent today. … we’re still wrestling with the idea that fiction so quickly permeates historical fact. ‘Libra’ is a book with global tendrils whose nasty nematocysts left an ageless burn on a Texas city.” Don DeLillo is one of my favorite authors; I have read everything he has written. Libra was a difficult, but important, read for me.
Sig Byrd’s Houston, Sig Byrd (1955) — Too rare
The Improbable Rise of Redneck Rock, Jan Reid (2004) — Too expensive
Adventures of a Ballad Hunter, John A. Lomax (2017, reprint edition)
Ghost Notes: Pioneering Spirits of Texas Music, Michael Corcoran (2020)
Chinaberry Sidewalks: A Memoir, Rodney Crowell (2012)
Legends of Texas Barbecue, Robb Walsh (2016)
Walter Benjamin at the Dairy Queen: Reflections on Sixty and Beyond, Larry McMurtry (2001) [Not included because Lonesome Dove was already on the list.]
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Now for the shorter list of “escapist” books recommended by other writers in the article by Angela Haupt for the Washington Post under the title of (at least in the Houston Chronicle): “Rushdie, Gabaldon and other authors reflect on books they find most transporting”:
Mary Kay Andrews (author of Hello, Summer & The High Tide Club): The Lake House, by Kate Morton
Pierce Brown (Red Rising series): Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury
Chanel Cleeton (author of Next Year in Havana): The Cubans, by Anthony DePalma
Esi Edugyan (author of Washington Black): The Blue Flower, by Penelope Fitzgerald
Diana Gabaldon (Outlander series): Shogun, by James Clavell
Linda Holmes (author of Evvie Drake Starts Over): The Martian, by Andy Weir
Khaled Hosseini (The Kite Runner & A Thousand Splendid Suns): The Paying Guests, by Sarah Waters
Min Jin Lee (Free Food for Millionaires & Pachinko): The Baron in the Trees, by Italo Calvino
Frances Mayes (Under the Tuscan Sun & See You in the Piazza): Mani: Travels in the Southern Peloponnese, by Patrick Leigh Fermor; along with The Valley of the Assassins & Alexander’s Path both by Freya Stark
Ruth Reichl (author of Save Me the Plums): The Lymond Chronicles & The House of Niccolò series, all by Dorothy Dunnett
Salman Rushdie (no intro necessary): Heat, by Bill Buford
V.E. Schwab (author of the Shades of Magic series & The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue): Wayfarers series (especially the 2nd book in that series A Closed and Common Orbit), by Becky Chambers
Paul Theroux (author of On the Plain of Snakes: A Mexican Journey): A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul and Christ Stopped at Eboli by Carlo Levi
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Happy Reading in this time of pandemic.