Giant Love

 

I love the movie "Giant". What's not to love? Texas and horses and cattle and oil and James Dean. It's a great story. I read the book when I was a teenager (I have it around the house somewhere). I bought it at a used bookstore, and I was so excited to find it. My local library didn't have it, and none of the bookstores I went to had it, either. 

Which brings us to one of Gilbert's questions: why has everyone forgotten about Edna Ferber? She was an extraordinarily popular writer in her day. She won a Pulitzer for one of her first books. So what happened? It's hard to say. "Giant" is the only book of hers I've ever read, and while I really enjoyed it, I doubt I would have sought it out if I hadn't seen the movie first. 

"Giant Love" was divided into two sections: the book and the movie. Gilbert also sprinkled in lots of biographical details about her great-aunt. It was entertaining and fascinating, and I really wish I knew why her books aren't still popular today. 

Billy the Kid

 

A coworker saw this book on my desk and asked "Haven't you already read that?" and I said "No, I've read many books about Billy the Kid, but not *this* book". Honestly, I don't remember reading a fiction book about Billy before, it's all been biographies. (**checked my blog and I did read one fictional account back in 2017, so there you go). 

So it was fun! Coleman saw "Young Guns" around the same age I did, and he was (like me) inspired by Billy the Kid's story. I checked out and bought every used book I could find about him. Did Pat Garrett really kill him, or did he live on anonymously? That's a tough question. When I was younger, I was firmly in the "no way did Garrett kill him" camp, but now that I'm older, I think it's most likely that he did. I can't imagine Billy, barely twenty-two, going on to live a life of quiet solitude and never again causing any problems. From all accounts he killed recklessly and often without thinking. Coleman did a great job of humanizing Billy while also showing his more ruthless side. He did find himself in a lot of terrible situations where killing was the only way to survive, but he also killed because it was convenient. I really liked it, I couldn't put it down.