The first "real" books I read as a child, were The Hornblower novels, so it's probably no surprise my all-time favorites are the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. And I fully understand the guy who said he only wanted to read his favorite authors, I never read the copy-cat naval series set in the Napoleonic era... even when they are apparently quite good from trusted reviews. Weird sense of loyalty? Dunno. Westerns were always very appealing to me, and it wasn't until I was much older that I realized why. It is because of the personal code of honor that the characters have and promote. As CSN famously sang: "You, who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by..." I happen to feel that the gradual diminishing of the Western in popular culture coincides with lessening the concept of personal honor in our culture. Thanks again for this fascinating lecture series.
Of course, as soon as you upload something like this you realize all the things you left out... in this case (so far): Willa Cather (!!), Conrad Richter, and Thomas Savage.
The first "real" books I read as a child, were The Hornblower novels, so it's probably no surprise my all-time favorites are the Aubrey-Maturin series by Patrick O'Brian. And I fully understand the guy who said he only wanted to read his favorite authors, I never read the copy-cat naval series set in the Napoleonic era... even when they are apparently quite good from trusted reviews. Weird sense of loyalty? Dunno.
Westerns were always very appealing to me, and it wasn't until I was much older that I realized why. It is because of the personal code of honor that the characters have and promote. As CSN famously sang: "You, who are on the road, must have a code, that you can live by..." I happen to feel that the gradual diminishing of the Western in popular culture coincides with lessening the concept of personal honor in our culture.
Thanks again for this fascinating lecture series.
Of course, as soon as you upload something like this you realize all the things you left out... in this case (so far): Willa Cather (!!), Conrad Richter, and Thomas Savage.
And Karl May! Darn!