It has to be on purpose - intentionally not making it close. Lansdale uses the Nat’s name but little else, distancing himself from the facts and writing a dime novel about Nat Love (at least, imho). Of course, Nat Love plays fast and loose in his autobiography also. Was he Deadwood Dick - a Deadwood Dick - a wanna-be Deadwood Dick?
That Wikipedia article on the character “Deadwood Dick” is very interesting, ignatius. Their article on Nat Love comes straight from his autobiography, which is obviously distorted. I don’t suppose enough documentation exists (?) for anybody to know Nat’s real story.
History is a funny thing. Probably most of you, like me, have had the experience of reading a newspaper article that mentions people or events they are personally familiar with — and gets things so, so, so wrong.
Some info on the dime novel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dime_novel
I admit I would have been addicted to dime novels. No surprise there as I spent my nickels and dimes at the local drugstore picking up the latest comic books when I was in elementary school.
Some of these covers just make me happy.
In post #82, ignatius wrote:
I like the fact that there seem to be quite a few female heroes. If you click on the titles on the right-hand side of the page, you can see large photos of their covers.
^^^ I noticed the female heroes also.
^ Those are great! As a Carleton College alum, I have a particular fondness for the Jesse James covers. 
My siblings and I were huge Old West buffs when we were little. We had most of the Best of the West and Legends of the West dolls, and would play with them for hours upon hours. In fact, we even had Deadwood Dick: http://www.ebay.ie/itm/351527769886
Oh, so that’s what he looked like!
Just like a game of telephone…
Sidetracking a little to say I’m reading Footsteps by Richard Holmes. The author, a well regarded biographer of Coleridge, Shelley, Kipling, and others, describes a process of trying to get at the truth of his subjects by visiting places they’ve been. In the first section of this book, he follows a route taken by Robert Louis Stevenson and his companion donkey through the French countryside. It’s so interesting, and I’ve thought about our book, wondering how it would feel to ride through the Old West, or visit historic Dodge and Deadwood on the paths taken by Nat Love. It wouldn’t look like this anymore!https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deadwood,_South_Dakota#/media/File:Deadwood13.jpg
I like the way they covered his ears. 
That doll, Mary13!!
Haha, @VeryHappy and @mathmom!
The only Western movie I liked as a kid was Shane. I had a crush on Alan Ladd.
^^^ Shane - I loved that movie … and book, of course.
^ Me, too! Both book and movie are great. They were a childhood staple for us.
I took a film class with a guy who wrote the book about John Ford westerns. My favorite was The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - it’s about how legends are made. In fact kind of appropriate to this book. It’s the movie where this line comes from: " “This is the West, sir, when the legend becomes fact, print the legend.” We also saw * High Noon* , The Searchers , Darling Clementine , Stage Coach and probably some others I can’t think of now.
@mathmom’s excellent summation (and a nice one-minute Jimmy Stewart fix): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=363ZAmQEA84
I sense we’re ready to bid adieu to our friend Nat, so we can begin to think about the next book at any time.
By the way, did anyone notice that most of our previous book discussion threads have been locked? Is this a new thing–automatic for threads without new posts for a certain number of months? It doesn’t matter – I’m just curious.
Yes, I believe MaineLonghorn posted on some thread that any thread revived after no one posted on it for six months would automatically be closed.
In the past I’ve posted on old book threads when I read the book belatedly, or others have when they run into something interesting that’s related to the book.
I’m going to suggest the Camus pairing again! Here’s a bit from the Wikipedia entry on The Meursault Investigation.
The Camus pairing - both books together total 280 pages. May tends to be a busy month for CC-ers, so short works well. And my daughter marries on June 10th - and I like the idea of short duos so I can at least knock one of the two out.
FWIW - I love this book club and will give participating my best shot no matter what’s chosen - long or short. However, I don’t intend to suggest books (other than my above agreement with the Camus duo) just in case I don’t make it in time to participate.
I strongly support the Camus pairing:
- *The Stranger*, the classic short novel by Albert Camus.
- *The Meursault Investigation*, by Kamel Daoud, a 191-page novel, published in 2013, that retells the story of *The Stranger* from the point of view of the brother of one of the characters.
This group has considered the pairing as a reading choice several times before. Maybe it’s time we finally picked it!
Another book I suggest:
Judas by Amos Oz. Released in English translation in Nov 2016, it has been long-listed for the Man Booker International Prize.
A member of my other online reading group (Goodreads’ “Roundtable”) had this to say about Judas:
Since I’ve only recently joined this group, I hesitate to suggest anything, as it may already have been discussed.
However, hesitation has never stopped me before. What about The Orphan Master’s Son, by Alex Johnson. It’s fiction about North Korea and it won the Pulitzer Prize. I read it a year or so ago and found it riveting.