For someone who has never lived outside a city, Montana stories have always captured my imagination. Some of my favorites include: the novels and stories of Ivan Doig,Jim Harrison, Richard Wheeler, and Larry Watson. But there are so many more. What is your favorite novel set in Montana?
10 comments:
Patti - I have to agree with you about Larry Watson. He'd be my pick.
LEGENDS OF THE FALL by Jim Harrison and the movie of same title.
THE LAST GOOD KISS, James Crumley
Jeff M.
Norman Maclean wrote a few great stories.
Completely forgot THE LAST GOOD KISS was set there. Yes, Maclean for sure.
Ivan Doig's Bucking the Sun, about the building of the Fort Peck Dam in the 1930s intertwined with a multi-generational family saga and a gradually-revealed mystery (who are the two people whose bodies are pulled from a car that plunges into the water?) I should add I've never been to "big sky country," but I too enjoy reading about it.
Montana writers I have enjoyed include Peter Bowen and Robert Sims Reid, but both seem to have disappeared.
That seems to happen a lot. Sadly.
I didn't think I'd read any Montana books but A River Runs Through It (as I am reminded by JTG) qualifies! Very moving and very personal for me.
But reading about Montana and actually being there are two separate things. I've been to Glacier National Park and was in awe. Saw lots of black bears, spectacular hiking in the mountains, nearly done in by lighting while sleeping in our tents during the most ominous thunderstorm I've ever experienced. We were also held a bay on a trail by some intimidating grouse doing a very involved and fascinating mating ritual. Couldn't get around them for about five minutes!
From the YA shelf, THE LONER by Ester Wier. (Newbery Honor Book, 1964...the urban analog, IT'S LIKE THIS, CAT, won the medal.)
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