Larry McMurtryâs fascinating and surprisingly intimate memoir of his lifelong passion of buying, selling, and collecting rare antiquarian books is âa necessary and marvelous giftâ (San Antonio Express-News).
Spanning a lifetime of literary achievement, Larry McMurtry has succeeded at a wide variety of genres, from coming-of-age novels, such as The Last Picture Show; to essays, like those in In a Narrow Grave; to the reinvention of the âWesternâ on a grand scale like the Pulitzer Prizeâwinning Lonesome Dove. Here at last is the private McMurtry writing about himself as a boy growing up in a largely âbooklessâ world, as a young man devouring the world of literature, as a fledgling writer and family man, and above all as one of Americaâs most prominent âbookmen.â He brings the reader along on his journeys to becoming an astute and adventurous collector who would eventually open book stores of rare and collectible books in Georgetown, Houston, and finally in his previously âbooklessâ hometown of Archer City, Texas.
Reading Books is like reading the best kind of diaryâfull of wonderful anecdotes, amazing characters, spicy gossip, and shrewd observations. Like its author, Books is erudite, full of life, and full of great stories. Yet the most curious tale of all is the amazing transformation of a reluctant young cowboy into a world-class literary figure who has spent his life not only writing books, but rounding them up the way he once rounded up cattle. At once chatty, revealing, and deeply satisfying, Books is Larry McMurtry at his best.