For the Love of Books: Lonesome Dove

Here at The High Calling, we are word people. We love books and we love to hear about books you love. On Monday mornings in October, we've asked a few of our readers to share about a book that has influenced their life in some way. Today we welcome Megan D. Willome, a writer and editor for WACOAN, a monthly lifestyle magazine. Megan blogs at meganwillome.com about life and tea and poetry.

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“I attempted briefly to consecrate myself in the public library, believing every crack in my soul could be chinked with a book.”

When I came across that sentence in The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver, I knew she spoke truth. I do believe every crack in my soul can be chinked with a book. And when life bears down hard, that crack can only be chinked with a book of fiction.

What kind of year has it been? Let’s just say I’ve read a lot of really great fiction.

Why not a self-help book? Or a book of spiritual inspiration? Nah. As author Tom Clancy said, “The difference between fiction and reality? Fiction has to make sense.”

So this summer, when reality wasn’t doing it for me, I turned to a world where everything made sense: every character, every setting, every plot twist, every dern page (all 821 of them). Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. Winner of my heart.

Um, isn’t that a Western?

Why, yes. Yes, it is.

I’ve never read a Western before, probably because I am a lifelong Texan who wants to rise above the stereotypes. I’m such a liar. All I really wanted was a story about a cattle drive from Texas to Montana, a story of love and friendship.

The key friendship is between two ex-Texas Rangers, Captain Augustus McCrae and Captain Woodrow F. Call. Gus and Call are best friends. They’re Frodo and Samwise. They’re David and Jonathan.

This world does not contain enough stories about friendship between men. Too often, women don’t recognize male friendship for what it is. It’s sometimes not particularly friendly. It might include a lot of arguments. Here’s what a friend is—a friend is someone you can count on to haul your corpse back to Texas.

“To Texas?” [Call] repeated.

“Yes, that’s my favor to you,” Augustus said. “It’s the kind of job you was made for, that nobody else could do or even try.”

No one but Gus would ask such a thing; no one but Call would do it. Even Call couldn’t say why he carried out Gus’s request, re-covering the 3,000 miles he had just traveled.

“Before he reached Kansas, word had filtered ahead of him that a man was carrying a body home to Texas. The plain was filled with herds, for it was full summer. Cowboys spread the word, soldiers spread it. Several times he met trappers, coming east from the Rockies, or buffalo hunters who were finding no buffalo. The Indians heard — Pawnee and Arapahoe and Ogallala Sioux. Sometimes he would ride past parties of braves, their horses fat on spring grass, come to watch his journey. Some were curious enough to approach him, even to question him. Why did he not bury the compañero? Was he a holy man whose spirit must have a special place?

No, Call answered. Not a holy man. Beyond that he couldn’t explain."

No one can explain friendship. But you know it when you see it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it better than in Lonesome Dove.

“This would make a story if there was anybody to tell it,” Call said.

Thank goodness Larry McMurtry did. I didn’t know I’d need it 28 years later.

Image by Darlene. Used with permission. Sourced via Flickr. Post by Megan D.Willome.