AmySea

I am not a huge reader of westerns, in fact, it may be one of my least read genres.  But for some reason I was in the mood for a short western today, and this collection of short stories fit the bill.

This collection contains quite a variety of stories.  Some read more as poems, some were western love stories, some were stories of death and gunfights.  There were a handful of stories that I liked, including The Little Goldminers by Joaquin Miller, Twelve O'clock by Stephen Crane, The Vengeance of Padre Arroyo by Gertrude Atherton, The Caballero's Way by O. Henry, and On the Divide by Willa Cather.  

The problem was, I think, that some of the narrators didn't sit well with me.  Some read in such a subdued voice I felt like they were trying to put me to sleep.  Another narrator seemed to be trying to channel the speaking patterns of John Wayne, and John Wayne's style of speaking drives me crazy.  He distracted me from the stories that he narrated, and that's never good.

I think this is a fine collection for people who truly enjoy westerns.  There is good variety here, and lots of big name classic authors are represented.  For me, though, this collection was a way to make time move more quickly, but  I can't say that it particularly warmed me up to the genre.