Books: A Memoir - Larry McMurtry - new hardcover book

BOOKS

A Memoir

by LARRY McMURTRY

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New hardcover book with dustjacket. Published July 2008. 259 pages.

In a prolific life of singular literary achievement, Larry McMurtry has succeeded in a variety of genres: in coming-of-age novels like The Last Picture Show; in collections of essays like In a Narrow Grave; and in the reinvention of the Western on a grand scale in his Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, Lonesome Dove. Now, in Books: A Memoir, McMurtry writes about his endless passion for books: as a boy growing up in a largely "bookless" world; as a young man devouring the vastness of literature with astonishing energy; as a fledgling writer and family man; and above all, as one of America's most prominent bookmen. He takes us on his journey to becoming an astute, adventurous book scout and collector who would eventually open stores of rare and collectible editions in Georgetown, Houston, and finally, in his previously "bookless" hometown of Archer City, Texas.

In this work of extraordinary charm, grace, and good humor, McMurtry recounts his life as both a reader and a writer, how the countless books he has read worked to form his literary tastes, while giving us a lively look at the eccentrics who collect, sell, or simply lust after rare volumes. Books: A Memoir is like the best kind of diary -- full of McMurtry's wonderful anecdotes, amazing characters, engaging gossip, and shrewd observations about authors, book people, literature, and the author himself. At once chatty, revealing, and deeply satisfying, Books is, like McMurtry, erudite, life loving, and filled with excellent stories. It is a book to be savored and enjoyed again and again.

About the author

Larry Jeff McMurtry (born June 3, 1936) is an American novelist, screenwriter, essayist and bookseller. He is the author twenty-eight novels, including the Pulitzer Prize-winning Lonesome Dove. His other works include two collections of essays, three memoirs and over thirty screenplays, including the coauthorship ( with Diana Ossana) of Brokeback Mountain, for which they received the Academy Award. He accepted his Oscar wearing jeans and cowboy boots along with his dinner jacket. He lives in his hometown, Archer City, Texas, where he owns and operates a vast bookstore comprised of nearly 400,000 used, rare and collectible books.

As a person whose life was profoundly changed and enriched by reading, McMurtry has been a tireless champion of "the culture of the book." While at Stanford he became a well-known rare book scout, and during his years in Houston managed a legendary book store there, the Bookman. In 1969 he moved to the Washington, D. C. area, and in 1970 with two partners started a bookshop in Georgetown which he named Booked Up. In 1988 he opened another Booked Up in Archer City, establishing the town as an American "book city." The Archer City store is arguably the largest single used bookstore in the United States, carrying somewhere between 400,000 and 450,000 titles. Citing economic pressures from Internet bookselling, McMurtry came close to shutting down the Archer City store in 2005, but chose to keep it open after an outpouring of public support.

Books: a memoir by Larry McMurtry