Books to read?

Been into reading before I go to bed. I've read all the Stephen Hunter Books and most of Lee Childs. Lately they have become boring and long.

In the mail, I got a catalog from Sporting Classics. There are a bunch of books which tell hunting stories. Duncan Dobie on deer hunts, Hemmingway, Capstick, etc. on Africa. Any yall read these? I need something which will keep my attention and NOT too deep.

suggestions please and thanks.

Im reading Robert E. Lee, A Life. Excellent read.

Wife has been working on the C.J. Box books for quite a while. It’s based on the Joe Pickett TV series.

Capstick: Death in the Long Grass, Death in the Dark Continent, Death in the Silent Places

They were tough for me to put down - enjoyed everyone of them so much that I loaned them all out to my friends and unfortunately I don't think I'll be getting them back.

They are all good but the Death in the Silent Places was my favorite. It includes the accounts of several big-game and mainly Man Eater hunters who were targeting specific apex predators on several different continents. Leopards in Asia, Lions of Tsavo, Jaguars in South America, etc.

I re-read sand county almanac usually every year. I really like The River of Mother God… its a collection of essays from all Aldo’s books

Read “The Old Man”, by Thomas Perry. If you don’t really like it, I will reimburse your cost. Also great is “The Watchman” by Robert Crais. I read a lot, and those two are among my favorites.

Sporting Classics has a wealth of outdoor stories. I'm currently reading Carolina Christmas by Archibald Rutledge about their old hunting traditions during the Christmas season. It's pretty cool.

CJ Box. Joe Picket. They were books long before it was a series. At least that was my understanding. Haven’t saw any shows.

Longmire. Same thing. Lots of good books. And was a good series.

J Todd Scott. Anything he writes but start in order. “The Far Empty”. If this was a real list that single book would be on top.

Anything written by Stephen Ambrose, particularly on the subject of WWII. I'd start with Citizen Soldiers.

Yep, Capstick books are hard to put down. Same thing happened to me. I lent my set out & they never came back!

The Boy Captives by Clinton L. Smith for quick interesting read about Indians in Texas.

I will second the Joe Pickett books by C J Box. Read them in order, also they are way better than the series in my opinion. Box has another series of books that are excellent as well.

Think I'm leaning more to the Hunting Stories like Capstick. I need to order one.

The Bible for knowledge

Anything by Patrick McManus for outdoor-related laughs

I keep it pretty simple.

If you like how he wrote, anything by Kent Haruf. Plainsong is his most famous. It is NOT exciting plots, nor exciting settings for that matter, but it is excellent writing about everyday folks living everyday lives.

Speaking of how someone wrote, Ruark is better than Hemingway, in my opinion, on hunting in Africa. Do NOT try to read his book set in NYC titled The Honey Badger. It's awful. The Old Man and The Boy by him is pretty famous. A friend on here doesn't care for him though. 'Thinks he's a fraud. Some old African PHs think Capstick was too.

Read any of the Bill O'Reilly killing series books if you like history.

All the Capstick books are very good. Don't forget Gene Hill as well.

Gene Hills short stories make me cry

Been reading some of the Puritans. Easier reading than I thought they’d be.

Jack O'Conner's "Big Game Hunts"

No one is surprised by that, Buzz.

The Time it Never Rained -Elmer Kelton

All time favorite: The Whisper of the River by Ferol Sams, #2 is The House of God, medical interns in a Mao Clinic type setting. Very much like St. Elsewhere.

If you’re into series of books where you get to know and love great characters the “In Death” murder series by J.D. Robb (Nora Roberts). Currently approx. 56 books, great when read in order. Talk of a movie or 3 going on but has been for a while.

If you want action check out David Baldacci series on Will Robbie (CIA hitman). The first book is The Innocent.

The Time it Never Rained is a classic but it is hard to read..I’ve read most of Kelton and have all of but 5 of L’Amour books. I’m almost into nothing but a western paperbacks and old West History. I buy Western paperbacks at the Bowie Second Monday Flea Market.

Can’t stand the “classics” that I had to read in College English classes.

Have quite a few of Capstick books and other African Hunting authors.

If you guys like Western “Shootem Ups”, go to the Bowie Second Monday Flea Market. An old woman there has a massive amount of used paperbacks. Cheap.

If it's for this weekend, consider "Gone with the Wind".

"The Butcher's Boy" by Thomas Perry

Can't believe no one has mentioned Lonesome Dove.

The prequel, Comanche Moon, was good as well - but you can't beat the original LD.

I had seen the movie several times before reading the book and I thought it was still phenomenal. There's plenty they left out in the movie despite it being 3 parts.

The "first book" of the series, Dead Man's Walk - boy that was a tough one to get through though. You can tell Larry was in a darker place mentally when he wrote that one.

Yes, my first thought when I saw this thread.

"Empire of the Summer Moon"

An outstanding suggestion.

Add another vote for "Empire of the Summer Moon"

He wasn’t trying to come off as fraudulent imo, at least by his own accord. But his being an authority on African hunting is way overstated. Lush goes hunting with dingbat wife and capable P.H would be an apt description of “Use Enough Gun”

I much prefer Capsticks writing but I am aware his authenticity comes into question. In Africa the PH’s call him “Crapstick”…

Been reading a lot of Indian books lately.

About to start “ The Comfort Crisis” tonite.

Mike Blakely from Marble Falls writes a good western, "Plenty Man", "Comanche Moon" and "Shortgrass Song" are good reads. I picked up a book the other day called "The Mason County Hoo Doo Wars" about the fued in the late 1800's. I found a copy of Elmer Keiths book of "Hell I was there" at a yardsale for $2. J. Frank Dobie has some good reads I enjoyed. I loved a good Tom Clancy book too. The writers that have continued the series have done justice to his character.

For a memoir of an unbelievable life, hunt up "Scouting on Two Continents" by Frederick Russell Burnham. He battled Apaches and took part in the Pleasant Valley War in Arizona, campaigned in both Matabele wars in Africa, made the trek to the Klondike and then went back to Africa for the Second Boer War, where he was made a major in the British Army by King Edward VII and served as chief of scouts. While patrolling and gathering intelligence in Africa with his friend, Robert Baden-Powell, he taught Powell the woodcraft skills he learned growing up among the Sioux on a reservation in Minnesota, where his father was a Presbyterian missionary, an experience that helped give birth to the Boy Scouts. Another good friend, H. Rider Haggard, modeled his hero Allan Quatermain of "King Solomon's Mines" on Burnham and another friend, Frederick Courteney Selous. Burnham was a friend as well of Theodore Roosevelt and Gifford Pinchot.
Why this man is not a household word as an American hero is simply beyond me. You will never forget him.

https://www.amazon.com/Scouting-Two-Continents-F-R-Burnham/dp/1797037617/ref=sr_1_1?crid=1WOM2MCBXVYWZ&keywords=Scouting+on+Two+Continents&qid=1702048065&sprefix=scouting+on+two+continents%2Caps%2C106&sr=8-1

" Hell, I Was There" has to be one of the best book titles of all time. I wish I had bought one years ago. $2 is almost free! The cheapest I ever saw was $16 used. That was years ago and I didn't buy it then.