Larry McMurtry - Not just that goofy dude in the jeans

So the Oscars were pretty much a bust – what else is new? – but there were some highlights. The gay cowboy montage was utterly hilarious. Ang Lee won a well-deserved Oscar. And Reese got the trophy for my hands-down favorite performance of last year.

But the best had to be seeing my literary hero dressed in his cowboy tux, accepting the award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Along with frequent collaborator (and now hotshit movie producer) Diana Ossana, Larry McMurtry adapted an 11-page short story into probably the best film of 2005 (sorry, Crash). Despite a long, storied career in Hollywood, McMurtry is still one of the best (most prolific) authors of his generation. Though best known for and Lonesome Dove and his other westerns, McMurtry deserves equal acclaim for his non-westerns.

In honor of his Oscar win, here’s my shortlist of favorite McMurtry books:

1. The Last Picture Show
   Very different from McMurtry’s other work (and particularly different from its sequels), The Last Picture Show is certainly one of his finest and probably the best film adaptation of his books, followed closely by…
   
2. Lonesome Dove
   Second on my list (book and film), but first in the hearts of most McMurtry fans. Few westerns have ever transcended the genre like this masterpiece, and none of his subsequent westerns really hold a candle to it.
   
3. Terms of Endearment
   I’ve never actually sat through the film version, but this novel is a real treat, much less chick-lit than you might believe.
   
4. All My Friends Are Going To Be Strangers
   A great read for all of you womanizing grad students out there, this novel introduces us to Danny Deck, another of McMurtry’s colorful recurring characters (I also dig the sequel Some Can Whistle).
   
5. Film Flam
   A hilarious and fascinating collection of essays about McMurtry’s early days in Hollywood.
   
6. Texasville
   Unapologectically silly compared to its predecessor The Last Picture Show, Texasville still has its own considerable charms and merits. There's still a bittersweet and longing heart beating underneath all of the shenanigans.
   
7. Horseman, Pass By
   The basis for the film Hud, this early novella of McMurtry's shares the same lonely tone of The Last Picture Show. McMurtry, incidentally, liked the film better than the book.
   
8. Movin’ On
   Someday I’ll finish this motherfucker. It’ll warp your thinking about love, sex, rodeos and (again) grad school (provided you think about rodeos and grad school), but cut the dude some slack - he was clearly paid by the word for this monster.