McMurtry’s Mild Discouragement

Chapters in this book

1. Frontmatter i
2. Contents v
3. Acknowledgments vii
4. Foreword xi
5. Introduction 1
6. NATIVE GROUND
7. In Awesome Wonder 13
8. The Boy with the Lamp 18
9. The Larry McMurtry I Knew 23
10. The Master Geologist of Archer County 28
11. Larry’s Oil-Patch Legacy 34
12. TEACHER & APPRENTICES
13. Leave His Saddle on the Wall 45
14. McMurtry’s Mild Discouragement 61
15. “Mike, it’s Larry. I’m in Trouble.” 64
16. MYTH BUSTER & MYTH MAKER
17. Ranging across Texas 85
18. Gus, Call, Danny, and the Rangers 98
19. Snakes in a River 103
20. Finding Home 110
21. READER & BOOKMAN
22. Larry McMurtry, Reader 115
23. An Afternoon with Larry 119
24. On Book Scouting and Ghostwritten Erotica 123
25. Runaways 131
26. Bonding over Books 139
27. COLLABORATORS & CONFIDANTS
28. Stirring the Memories 147
29. The Moby-Dick of the Plains 162
30. My Long Trail to Lonesome Dove 171
31. An Unlikely Bond 176
32. Scenes from a Friendship 182
33. Not So Silent Women 190
34. Road Trip Tips from Larry McMurtry 195
35. CRITIC & CHAMPION
36. To Hell with the Sunny Slopes 201
37. Writer, Pass By 210
38. Loving Gus 213
39. WORKSHOPPER
40. Somewhere, a Writer . . . 219
41. McMurtry’s Rebuff 225
42. At the Intersection of Aspiration and Asphyxiation 230
43. Reckoning at Idiot Ridge 235
44. “Furthur” 238
45. LEGACY
46. Writing Plainly and Unforgettably 245
47. Borderlands 250
48. All My Friends Are Going to Be Larry 256
49. McMurtry Passes By 265
50. Image Credits 269