The Sunday Post, Issue #11: From Rainy Excerpts to Hidden Western Treasures: A Week in Reading

Happy Sunday!

This past week, I shared my thoughts on Longarm and the Molly Maguires by Tabor Evans, participated in my other blog's Book Blogger Hop, and featured a rainy excerpt from These Men Chose Hell on the Friday 56.

I made my usual Monday visit to the local Salvation Army, not expecting to find anything new given the 4th of July holiday weekend. As I suspected, there weren’t any fresh books to browse through, but it did give me a chance to see if I had missed any hidden gems from my last trip. I found four historical fiction novels: Dishonored Flesh: The History of Rome Hanks by Joseph Pennell (published in 1944 with the cover tagline: "The Greatest Civil War Novel Ever Written"), The Golden Fury by Marian Castle (published in 1949), Griffin's Way by Frank Yerby (published in 1962), and Come Gentle Spring by Jesse Stuart (published in 1969).

At the library, I managed to grab two discarded large-print hardcovers in the Western genre: Thunder Moon by Max Brand and Death Stalks the Rangers by James J. Griffin.

While exploring two nearby antique flea markets, I found a slew of Westerns. I picked up The Daybreakers, The Lonely Men, and Bowdrie's Law by Louis L'Amour, Power of the Mountain Man and Trail of the Mountain Man by William W. Johnstone; The Whip Hand and The Fighting O'Neils by William W. Johnstone & J.A. Johnstone; The Devil Wire and Renegade Lawmen by Cameron Judd; The Alamosa Trail by Robert Vaughan; Guns of Canyonlands by Joseph A. West; Terror Trail by Lyle Brandt; Anything for Billy by Larry McMurtry; Gambler's Bullets by Robert Lane; Palomino Sundown and The Sunset Kid by Michael D. George; and Firewater by Jed McCloud. I also picked up a biography titled Will Rogers: A Biography by Ben Yagoda.

For this coming week, I'm leaning towards reading Cameron Judd's Renegade Lawmen and plan to post a review on Wednesday or Thursday, depending on when I finish it. My pick for the next Friday 56 will be Raw Land by Luke Short.

Happy reading, everyone!

⁓B.J. Burgess

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