I just found this site, and am thrilled. My Dad was a voracious reader, and loved Louis L‘Amour’s novels. My Mom got him a collection of some of the novels, which was one of the things he really wanted all of us to enjoy. When he passed away, though, none of the grandkids had room for the set. No one wanted to break them up, though, so I kept them, hoping some day the great-grandkids would want them.
I’m getting up in age now, so I made another appeal to the family. It turned out that the wait was worth it. My great-nephew Hunter loved Papa, (all the kids and grandkids adored him) and wants to have the books. His mom and dad have a bigger house now, and can take them. Hunter’s a youngster, though, only 11, so I want to send a starter set of about ten books appropriate for his age.
I don’t have time to read all the books again to find out which ones kids would like. I know romance is far from Hunter’s mind, for instance.
Can you recommend the books you’d send him? I’d really appreciate the help.
Blaine, thank you! It does look like a terrific first book for him. I’ll put a note in the box for it to be #1. You came up with it pretty quick - you must know his books really well. Any ideas for the other nine books?
Yes, I know some have violence, but it’s good guy vs bad guy violence, and not over-the-top with cruelty or against women, right? Definitely want to steer away from that!
I’m writing these down - thanks! It turned out that the collection didn’t include your first suggestion, darn it! So I’ll be sending our young man a separate copy of it to whet his appetite.
Hunter was a family given name for my maternal Robinson line for more than a century. We have never been able to identify the Hunter genealogical line, beyond the time frame of naming paternal first names after maternal maiden names...beginning of the 19th/late18th century.
It really doesn’t matter where you start. I read the stories as I found them in used book stores, grocery stores, book stores, literally wherever and whenever I found them. After the collection was up to date I read them in publication date order and then in story date order. Each story stands on its own...so enjoy!
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
Its a shame the Pilot stores don't carry them anymore. I bought countless paperbacks from them, some I even bought the same story because I liked the covers...I did find a TVA store in South Carolina that had a rack of them, but just the usual fare.. I think its the hunt that intrigues me, I have been all over the southern states lookin', been west a little, Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, but going to Utah and Arizona in May. Hope to find some there... Got a few old paperbacks, where the list price was .95cents... As far as lookin' for your blood line. My brother went on Ancestry .com and traced our family all the way back to Germany..Quite interesting what he found...I hope you find what your lookin' for?
Yup. Been active on ancestry for a long time. I was lucky and stumbled onto a 91 year old cousin who was a retired teacher and professional genealogist. She died about a year after I rode out to Greeley Colorado to meet with her. She gave me information plus notes and her conclusions...she was amazing and had published a couple of books on genealogy and research. Her name was Arliss Shäffer Monk. I corrected our surname once to the Germanic spelling with two dots over the a and the computer has corrected it ever since. Too funny.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
Interesting about your family’s Hunters. Our fellow is our first Hunter. Fitting, because his dad kept the family fed with one elk every year when he was a tiny kid. The budget has a lot more room in it now. His dad is teaching him how to use a bow, but Hunter has yet to become a hunter. He needs more strength. My mom’s side of the family hung on to the name Kelsey, sometimes as a first and often as a middle name, over the generations. I hope the kids carry on the tradition.
I love it that you’ve read the books in three different sequences. They do stand alone, not needing information from a previous book to be enjoyable. Do you find them more satisfying when you have all the previous information in each series?
It really didn't matter much since I reread so much. At first I just read them as I found them, and then in published order and finally in the time frame of the novel. There was a time I read three novels at one time, kitchen table, bathroom and car, but old age has me reading one at a time...which is strange when you consider how much more time I have after retiring 12 years ago...my family is now spread out across the width and breadth of the country, so I travel as much as possible.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
Maybe because of the time of year, beautiful weather etc. and people don't get in as much computer time... just started reading the new volume 2 of LL's collected short stories... some I sort of recognize... and they really are short too... can read a couple and go back later for more... hope everyone out there is doing well...I don't post much but so enjoy reading others. God bless and stay safe :)
From memory I think the abrupt endings had to do with the publisher and the agreement or contract LL was bound by as far as when the story was due, and also his finances as a struggling writer. Bosses don’t want excuses.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
Some of you old-timers here remember my writing a fan letter to LL:
I had just finished "Last of the Breed" by LL. I enjoyed it so greatly that I wrote a fan letter to him. I told him I have all 122 books he wrote (in leatherette bindings). I enjoyed all of them, especially all the westerns. The LOTB was very different and I told him I liked that one also (Modern day jet pilot, etc.) But I probably made a mistake when I asked LL about the rather abrupt ending. And I asked if his publishers gave him a deadline to finish it. My fan letter was written in January 1988. (I have never written a fan letter before or after that one.) Several days later LL sent me a typed reply, including some misspelled words and questionable grammer. (Obviously not proof read by a sectetary.) He was glad I enjoyed his books, but in no uncertain terms he said,"No one, no publisher or anybody hurries him to meet a deadline. That book ended just like he wanted it to end" !!! Six months later on June 10th, 1988 LL died. I treasure that letter and have it framed on the wall of my man cave.
Again from memory, I think this was supposed to be the first...the next story was supposed to get Mack across to Alaska and his trek back to CONUS. Can’t remember if he intended it as a two or three novel storyline.
"We don't have any law here. Just a graveyard." LL from TREASURE MOUNTAIN
I think two only. As Jo Mack had been flying out of Alaska his getting back to continental US would simply have been getting back to base and flying south. The rest of the story would have focused on his return to USSR and facing Zamatev in Moscow. It could be padded out by Talia's story getting to US via Hong Kong. Mind you Beau, (in his Graphic Novel) was going to kill her off. :-(
Les Every sixty seconds you spend angry, upset or mad, is a full minute of happiness you'll never get back..
:7
Les The English Language is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought though.
