If you’re on the reserve list for Rhino Ranch, Larry McMurtry’s newest novel, you are most certainly a fan of the author and possibly favor his Contemporary Fiction rather than his Westerns.  This article offers some ideas for contemporary fiction about the “New West” similar to McMurtry in style and content.

Rhino Ranch is the final entry in a series of novels set in Thalia, a fictional place based on the author’s hometown Archer City, Texas.   If you missed any of the earlier stories, it would be a good idea to catch up on those before starting Rhino Ranch.  The “Thalia, Texas” series of novels begins with The Last Picture Show, which was also made into an Academy Award winning film.  McMurtry continued his saga about life in the small Texas town with Texasville, Duane’s Depressed, When the Light Goes, and finally Rhino Ranch.  My review of When the Light Goes offers a brief discussion of these fascinating stories.

If you get hooked on the author’s crazy characters after reading the “Thalia” series, you may want to try the McMurtry novels dedicated to a motley group of “Big City, Texas” characters.   Set mostly in Houston,  the series features fascinating characters including the irrepressible Aurora Greenway.  Terms of Endearment, Evening Star, Moving On, All My Friends Are Going to Be Strangers, and Some Can Whistle are the titles to look for.

Readers who prefer the New West of McMurtry should also consider the authors Annie Proulx, Cormac McCarthy, and Ken Kesey.  Annie Proulx wrote the original story of Brokeback Mountain, the basis for McMurtry’s Oscar-winning screenplay.  That controversial tale of love and life is one selection from a three-volume set of stories about the New American West.  The titles are Close Range: Wyoming Stories , Bad Dirt: Wyoming Stories 2, and Fine Just the Way it is: Wyoming Stories 3 .  The Border Trilogy by Cormac McCarthy offers a compelling group of novels similar to McMurtry’s “Thalia” series, but McCarthy sets a more serious tone with young characters prone to despair and violence.  The titles are All the Pretty Horses, The Crossing, and Cities of the Plain. The book Sometimes a Great Notion by Ken Kesey also has much about modern life in the New West and explains the bittersweet aspects of urban versus rural living.