Nevermore: Wyatt Earp, Nathan Beford Forrest, King Edward VII, Kurt Vonnegut, and Brandon Sanderson

The Last Kind Words Saloon by Larry McMurtry is his first novel in five years.  The saloon of the title is owned by Virgil and Warren Earp.  Their brother, Wyatt, and his buddy Doc Holliday are on hand, having finished a brief stint in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show.  Other historical notables drop by, including Quannah Parker and Buffalo Bill, but the book reads more like a farce than a western.  Part of the plot involves an English lord who turns up with his mistress and entourage and teams up with Charlie Goodnight to start an enormous cattle ranch. Our reviewer said, “It’s funny but it’s not Lonesome Dove. I could imagine it as a Broadway musical.”  It’s a quick read, and it is recommended—just be aware this isn’t a book to judge by its cover.

Next up was a nonfiction book about the Civil War.  The River Was Dyed with Blood:  Nathan Bedford Forrest and Fort Pillow was written by Brian Steel Wills, a former professor at the University of Virginia at Wise, and is teaching at Kennesaw State University.  Forrest was a self-made man, a self-taught commander, and a fascinating character.  This book focuses on the events at Fort Pillow, where Forrest’s troops killed most of the Union soldiers, including those attempting to surrender.  Our reader says that Forrest could easily be described as both a saint and a devil, depending on who was doing the describing.  The book is quite readable.

Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut was praised by our next reviewer who found it very interesting, especially if you like science fiction. A young man named Joshua decides he wants to write about the day the bomb was dropped on Hiroshima.  He decides to interview one of the scientists responsible, and his quest leads him to an island and a new religion which boasts that it is based on lies. This is considered one of Vonnegut’s best, a satirical, funny, and absurd look at religion, politics, and society.

The Heir Apparent:  A Life of Edward VII, the Playboy Prince by Jane Ridley is, as the title indicates, a life of Britain’s King Edward VII, who began his rather short reign after the death of his mother Queen Victoria.  Our reader said it could have been subtitled “How NOT to Raise a Child.”  Bertie, as he was called, spent most of his adult life with very little to do, as his mother felt he was not mature enough to handle anything of importance.  That included anything to do with government duties. He ascended the throne at the age of 59 and reigned for less than a decade, but according to some he set the standard for the modern monarchy.  Of course, to many he’s primarily known for his womanizing, high living, gambling, and fashion. This biography is well done, being both enlightening and entertaining.

Finally, a new member is reading the Mistborn series by Brandon Sanderson. Set in a world covered in ash, a tyrant has ruled for a thousand years.  He created a world with vast class divisions, from the nobility to the lowly skaa who serve as slaves.  As the series begins, a half-skaa Kelsior has survived the Dark Lord’s most brutal prison and is now scheming for a way to bring him down.  Our reviewer described it as an epic fantasy and a “keeper kind of a book.”  He hasn’t finished it yet but is finding it interesting so far. There are three books in the basic series but Sanderson has recently written a book set in the same world, but three hundred years later.

Dawn to Decadence, Josephine Earp, Richard Burton & Barnaby

Jud opened Nevermore with From Dawn to Decadence:  500 Years of Western Life by Jacques Barzun.  The book examines the way that various revolutions—political, religious, artistic—affected European culture, leading to the world as we know it today. The book begins right after the Protestant Reformation, and examines many of the pivotal figures in the history of ideas, leading to what the author sees as a post-decadent society in which humanity seems to have lost its way.   Barzun is very good at bringing the arts into his discussions, which may be why Jud enjoys his writing so much, referring to it as his favorite sleep-inducing literature. Light reading it is not, but it is a well done and insightful tome from a respected scholar.

Another sort of Western history—the American West, that is—was brought up with Lady at the O.K. Corral:  The True Story of Josephine Marcus Earp by Ann Kirschner.  Josephine was Earp’s fourth common-law wife and had quite a colorful history of her own, albeit one that she mostly wanted to be kept quiet.  She was the daughter of a Prussian Jewish couple and spent her early years in New York where she acquired her distinctive accent.  The family moved to San Francisco in 1870 when Josephine was ten.  She later ran away from home and became (among other things), an actress and dancer before she met Wyatt.  Our reviewer is finding it to be a very interesting account of a woman and an era.  He also is intrigued by a different view of Wyatt Earp than is usually encountered.

The Richard Burton Diaries is a compilation of the private diaries of the British actor starting from his teenage years up until 1983. Burton wrote of his daily life, including his encounters with other celebrated folk but our reviewer says there aren’t a lot of juicy details.  There are, however, many accounts of bodily functions.  All in all, it’s an unvarnished look at an acclaimed actor who struggled with insecurity and jealousy while remaining a sharp observer of the world. Editor Chris Williams supplies annotations to flesh out some entries.

Finally, Jud brought in Barnaby by Crockett Johnson. Today Johnson is best known as the author of the Harold and the Purple Crayon books, but a decade earlier he had a small but avid following for his strip Barnaby whose fans included Dorothy Parker and Louis Untermeyer.  Barnaby is a little boy who has a fairy godfather—a short, stubby, somewhat inept, cigar-chomping, Irish fairy godfather named Jackeen J. O’Malley who is given to exclaiming “Cushlamochree!”   Barnaby’s parents believe he’s making this all up, of course, even after Mr. O’Malley decides to run for Congress.  The campaign is still believable today, even though the strips ran in 1942.