Literary Life: A Second Memoir [Deckle Edge] [Hardcover]

Having pre-ordered Literary Life, I was excited to receive it in the mail from Amazon and proceeded to set aside two other books in order to dive into this one. Reading it in nearly one sitting, I am pleased to recommend this to other readers.

Larry McMurtry's second memoir titled Literary Life is a personal chronicle of his development as a writer, including mention of many of his books, his writing career, his struggles, and his successes. In the first installment, which he claims will total three books although I suspect and hope four will occur, McMurtry discusses his life as a book collector and book scout, culminating in a vast personal collection as well as the mecca of used book stores in Archer City, Texas called Booked Up. Literary Life, without excluding the world of book scouting, provides a glimpse into the personal angst and joys of a professional and immensely successful writer.

A career that has included screenplays, essays, historical research, western fiction, modern fiction, an Oscar, and a Pulitzer prize is examined in a type of autobiographical account that is at various times touching, relaxing, daunting, entertaining, informative, and always honest. A heart-felt balance between humility and hints of pride shine forth throughout the pages as McMurtry carefully presents his life as a writer. Acknowledging some great fortune in his career but also mentioning his failings and insecurity in various sectors (a nice piece on his time as President of PEN American Center), and without even a hint of imperiousness, Literary Life explores the amazing career of one our most successful living American authors.

The classic prose of Larry McMurtry with its smooth yet non-rhetorical language finds fruition in personal opinions and facts on other writers and books. Obviously uncomfortable talking about himself, he continually moves forward in wanting to discuss writers, books, essays, magazines, and reviews. This makes for a charming and vastly informative book that leaves the reader enlightened, refreshed, and curious about books. Early in the book, McMurtry claims not to be a scholar, yet I know many "scholars" who are not anywhere near the level of scholarship of Larry McMurtry.

Rarely can a writer achieve excellence in the fields of fiction and non-fiction, but in Larry McMurtry's case, he has done just that. While I tend to enjoy his non-fiction a little bit more due to its authentic and capsulized honesty, it is in his fiction where his creativity finds its biggest outlet. This is a highly recommended book and fans of McMurtry will again be satisfied. We are anticipating the next installment of Memoirs which promises to be about Hollywood.

I consider myself a huge Larry McMurtry fan. Although I have found his last few novels disappointing, even his weakest book is better than most of what's out there. I always learn a lot from how he creates characters, sets a scene, and crafts a sentence. So I eagerly awaited the second volume of his memoirs. I wanted to learn about his approach to writing and the evolution of his books, many of which are among my all-time favorites. Sadly, this very slim, meandering, and infuriatingly unfocused memoir disappoints on just about every level (and I say that as someone who actually enjoyed BOOKS, his first volume about his life as a bookseller/collector). This reads like stream of consciousness. It's rambling on the page without any direction. McMurtry's train of thought is frequently derailed, veering off into asides that have little or nothing to do with writing...and that seem to have no point whatsoever. Where was his editor, Michael Korda? Probably off giving one of the dinner parties that McMurtry talks about in one of his many asides. I also wish I had a dollar for every time McMurtry starts an anecdote, only to stop when it begins to get relevant or interesting and say he'll go into more detail about it in his next memoir. It made me wish he'd just skipped ahead to the next memoir and dropped this one. If you're as big a McMurtry fan as I am, you're going to read this no matter what I say...but be forewarned, it's a let-down. I have to disagree with another reviewer here who compared it favorably to Stephen King's far superior ON WRITING, which actually talked in detail about the craft and business of writing. I wish McMurtry had actually given us a book like that.

Author, essayist and screenwriter Larry McMurtry has led a full life -- some of his three dozen novels formed the basis for such classic films as "Hud," "Terms of Endearment" and "The Last Picture Show"; he won an Academy award for scripting "Brokeback Mountain"; and his epic Western "Lonesome Dove" netted him a Pulitzer prize.

He's also a well-traveled book dealer who survived a heart attack that led to quadruple bypass surgery and subsequent months of serious depression.

In fact, he's been so busy he divided his memoirs into three volumes: One about rare book scouting; another recounting his career as a novelist; and a third devoted to working in Hollywood.

So it's a shame "Literary Life," the second and latest installment is kind of a drag.

In a series of short chapters, he tosses out stories and anecdotes like a man pitching cards at an upturned hat -- some go in and some don't.

A number of McMurtry's famous friends drift through the tales, including authors Ken Kesey and Susan Sontag, editor Michael Korda, director Peter Bogdanovich and literary agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar, but they remain, for the most part, ill-defined wisps.

To use a "Lonesome Dove" analogy: "Life" is as laid-back as Gus McCrae but ultimately as dry as Woodrow Call.

The first volume of this series, simply called "Books," is a far better crafted discussion that, unfortunately, focuses on a subject with a much smaller range of interest.

Hopefully by the time McMurtry gets around to volume three and his adventures in the screen trade, he will have regained enough wind to give his memoirs the spark and feeling that makes his fiction writing so rich.

› Go to Amazon.com to see all 11 reviews  3.5 out of 5 stars