Comanche Moon; Los Angeles in the 1970s; Lincoln in the Bardo

I finished rereading "Comanche Moon" for the millionth time (approximately). I remember how excited I was when I bought this book and opened it up to the first page and saw Call and Gus's names. I raced through it, I didn't even care that it didn't match up to what McMurtry had written in "Lonesome Dove", it was just so much fun to read about Call and Gus again. I use Call's last line from the book all the time (and I'm sure it sums up how McMurtry felt about the whole thing): "It may be over, but it wasn't fun". Brilliant.

"Los Angeles in the 1970s" was a fun collection of essays about the City of Angeles in one of the strangest decades in recent memory. There was a remembrance from Steve Hodel, which I wasn't expecting, about a murder case he worked. He wrote a really interesting book about his theory that his father, Dr. George Hodel, killed the Black Dahlia. I read it years ago when it first came out (I own it, actually, he came to the B&N where I worked and I got a signed copy) and enjoyed it. I enjoyed most of the essays in this collection, too, they did a good job of bringing the time and place back to life.

I didn't enjoy "Lincoln in the Bardo" by George Saunders, it was really disappointing. It's gotten such good buzz, and I love reading about President Lincoln. When I heard this one was about him dealing with his young son, Willie's, death while he was in the White House, I put it on hold. At least it went quick, but there wasn't much story to it. There were whole chapters of snippets from other people's previously published works, discussing the party that took place the night Willie was dying, how Lincoln and his wife handled their grief, etc. The main story was about how Willie didn't realize he was dead, he was in the cemetery with all the other spirits who refused to acknowledge their deaths so they could move on to the next phase. Lincoln visits him and by entering his thoughts Willie learns he's dead and is able to move on. The end. Hmm. Well, like I said, it least it was quick so I didn't feel like I wasted too much time.