Book Review - The Best of the West by Tony Hillerman

I've love Tony Hillerman's books for a long time and was, at first, disappointed that this one wasn't written by him, just collected by him.  Having read it though, I am NOT disappointed.  In this volume Hillerman has collected some of the best history, stories and lore of the West.  It is truly a delight to read.

You know I like bathroom books - ones that allow for a complete, stand alone, chapter for each sitting.  Well I've modified that.  Now they're my favorite bed time books.  If got to where I don't like sitting on the stool any long than it takes to do my business.  Perhaps due to a song I head recently about Three Old Ladies Stuck in the Lavatory.

I've lived in and read about the West all of my life, but this collection gave me a whole new appreciation for how the West was won.  Sometimes, hilariously!  Sometimes tragically.  Sometimes less than admirably.  Always fascinatingly.

My immediate desire upon completing each story was to get out there and see the place first hand.  I could spend a life-time just chasing down the locales of each fascinating tidbit of Americana.  I know a few Civil War buffs in the East who do just that.  I find this segment of our past to be far more fascinating and much less tragic.

Give this and all of Tony Hillerman's books a look see; they're true American treasures.

*****