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Larry McMurtry

    June 3, 1936 – March 25, 2021

    Larry McMurtry was celebrated for his sweeping narratives that often explored the American West. His works are characterized by a keen eye for life, with characters as complex as the landscapes they inhabited. McMurtry's prose was both sparse and lyrical, capturing the essence of the American spirit. His literary legacy is rich, engaging with diverse themes with a singular voice.

    Larry McMurtry
    Streets of Laredo
    Dead Man's Walk
    Comanche Moon
    The Last Picture Show
    Leaving Cheyenne
    Lonesome dove
    • 2025

      Měsíc nad prérií

      • 680 pages
      • 24 hours of reading

      Měsíc nad prérií je druhá kniha epické tetralogie Osamělá holubice, která je vrcholem jedinečného pohledu Larryho McMurtryho na americký Západ. Vypráví o období dvaceti let mezi romány Cesta mrtvého muže a Osamělá holubice, o dobrodružství plném tragédií, krutosti, odvahy, cti a zrady. Texaští hraničáři Augustus McCrae a Woodrow Call, nyní již muži středního věku, se i nadále potýkají se stále většími útrapami dospělého života. Gus kvůli své osudové lásce Kláře Forsytheové a Call kvůli Maggie Tiltonové, mladé děvce, která ho miluje. Dva hrdí muži, přátelé, i když každý je úplně jiný, se vydají s oddílem hraničářů pronásledovat Buvolí hrb – velkého válečného náčelníka kmene Komančů, Kopajícího vlka – proslulého komančského zloděje koní a Ahumada – nelítostného mexického banditu lačnícího po mučení. V jejich hořké snaze chránit postupující západní hranici před vzdorovitými Komanči, odhodlanými do posledního dechu bránit své území a svůj způsob života, jim pomáhají kumpáni Deets, Jake Spoon a Pea Eye Parker. Kniha Měsíc nad prérií vychází v češtině vůbec poprvé.

      Měsíc nad prérií
    • 2011

      Literary Life

      A Second Memoir

      • 192 pages
      • 7 hours of reading

      Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry offers an intimate and reflective exploration of a writer's life in this deeply personal follow-up to his memoir, Books. Through his experiences, McMurtry delves into the challenges and triumphs of the writing process, providing insights into the literary world and his own creative journey. This work captures the essence of being a writer, revealing the complexities and rewards that come with the craft.

      Literary Life
    • 2009

      Books

      A Memoir

      • 272 pages
      • 10 hours of reading
      3.2(191)Add rating

      The memoir offers an intimate glimpse into Larry McMurtry's lifelong obsession with rare and antiquarian books, detailing his experiences in buying, selling, and collecting them. Through personal anecdotes and reflections, McMurtry shares the significance of these books in his life, revealing the joys and challenges of his literary pursuits. This captivating narrative not only explores his passion for literature but also provides insights into the world of book collecting.

      Books
    • 2006

      I've come to think that in times of crisis human beings don't have it in them to be rational. The Yazee gang was riding down upon us, six abreast. We all ran outside and confirmed that fact. The sensible thing would have been to run and hide -- but did we? Not at all.The narrator of Larry McMurtry's newest book is spunky Nellie Courtright, twenty-two years old and already wrapping every man in the West around her little finger. When she and her teenage brother Jackson are orphaned, she sweet-talks the local sheriff into hiring Jackson as a deputy, while she takes over the vacant job of town telegrapher. When, by pure blind luck, Jackson shoots down the entire Yazee gang, Nellie is quick to capitalize on his new notoriety by selling reviews to reporters. It seems wherever Nellie is, action is sure to happen, from a love affair with Buffalo Bill to a ringside seat at the O.K. Corral gunfight. Told with charm, humor, and an unparalleled zest for life, Nellie's story is the story of how the West was won.

      Telegraph Days
    • 2005

      In this brilliant saga -- the final volume of "The Berrybender Narratives" and an epic in its own right -- Larry McMurtry lives up to his reputation for delivering novels with "wit, grace, and more than a hint of what might be called muscular nostalgia, fit together to create a panoramic portrait of the American West" "(The New York Times Book Review)."As this finale opens, Tasmin and her family are under irksome, though comfortable, arrest in Mexican Santa Fe. Her father, the eccentric Lord Berrybender, is planning to head for Texas with his whole family and his retainers, English, American, and Native American. Tasmin, who would once have followed her husband, Jim Snow, anywhere, is no longer even sure she likes him, or knows where to go to next. Neither does anyone else -- even Captain Clark, of Lewis and Clark fame, is puzzled by the great changes sweeping over the West, replacing red men and buffalo with towns and farms. In the meantime, Jim Snow, accompanied by Kit Carson, journeys to New Orleans, where he meets up with a muscular black giant named Juppy, who turns out to be one of Lord Berrybender's many illegitimate offspring, and in whose company they make their way back to Santa Fe. But even they are unable to prevent the Mexicans from carrying the Berrybender family on a long and terrible journey across the desert to Vera Cruz. Starving, dying of thirst, and in constant, bloody battle with slavers pursuing them, the Berrybenders finally make their way to civilization -- if New Orleans of the time can be called that -- where Jim Snow has to choose between Tasmin and the great American plains, on which he has lived all his life in freedom, and where, after all her adventures, Tasmin must finally decide where her future lies. With a cast of characters that includes almost every major real-life figure of the West, "Folly and Glory" is a novel that represents the culmination of a great and unique four-volume saga of the early days of the West; it is one of Larry McMurtry's finest achievements.

      The Berrybender Narratives - 4: Folly and Glory
    • 2005

      Crazy Horse

      • 160 pages
      • 6 hours of reading
      3.7(1215)Add rating

      Legends cloud the life of Crazy Horse, a seminal figure in American history but an enigma even to his own people in his own day. This superb biography looks back across more than 120 years at the life and death of this great Sioux warrior who became a reluctant leader at the Battle of Little Bighorn. With his uncanny gift for understanding the human psyche, Larry McMurtry animates the character of this remarkable figure, whose betrayal by white representatives of the U.S. government was a tragic turning point in the history of the West. A mythic figure puzzled over by generations of historians, Crazy Horse emerges from McMurtry’s sensitive portrait as the poignant hero of a long-since-vanished epoch.

      Crazy Horse
    • 2004

      Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry continues his four-part epic, The Berrybender Narratives, with a new novel of courage and hardship that transports readers to a time when life itself was an adventure, and death was ever close at hand.... In their trek through the 1830s American West, the Berrybender family has experienced every blessing and hardship imaginable, by both the hand of man and the will of God. Now, Tasmin Berrybender leads her unconventional family as they struggle through an unforgiving land, losing loved ones and gathering new cohorts at the most unlikely turns. It is in these perilous circumstances that Tasmin's husband, the Sin Killer, disappears on a scouting expedition, leaving her to raise her young, wild son alone -- until she falls for another man. In this high-spirited and terrifying tale set against the background of the American frontier, Larry McMurtry once again shows that in the world of Western literary fiction, he truly has no equal.

      The Berrybender Narratives - 3: By Sorrow's River
    • 2003

      Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry continues his epic four-novel telling of The Berrybender Narratives with a new adventure that is both a grand literary achievement and riveting entertainment as forged by a master wordsmith.... The indefatigable Tasmin Berrybender and her eccentric family trek on through the unexplored Wild West of 1830s America -- and suffer the harsh realities of the untamed wilderness, including sickness, brutal violence and death, the desertion of trusted servants, and the increasing hardships of daily life in a land where survival is never certain. Filled with larger-than-life legendary figures such as mountain men Jim Bridger and Kit Carson, vividly rendered action, irresistible good humor, and an ever-changing cast of characters that readers will treasure, The Wandering Hill proves again that Larry McMurtry still reigns as the first statesman of the Old West.

      The Berrybender Narratives - 2: The Wandering Hill
    • 2002

      Paradise

      • 160 pages
      • 6 hours of reading
      3.4(211)Add rating

      The memoir offers a compelling exploration of contrasting landscapes, from the rugged terrain of west Texas to the serene beauty of the South Seas. Through insightful observations and personal anecdotes, McMurtry reflects on profound themes of love and life, creating a rich tapestry of experiences that resonate deeply with readers.

      Paradise