7 books for the Texas enthusiast
As the holiday season kicks into high gear, it’s time to think about what to give the devoted Texan on your list. These are just a handful of books published this year that could make for intriguing reading.
STORIES FROM THE ROAD “Hometown Texas” By Joe Holley and Peter Brown Trinity University Press, $35, 304 pp.
In his weekly Native Texan column for the Chronicle, Holley — a retired editorial writer and Pulitzer Prize finalist — explores the people and places of an older, more rooted Texas. This compendium of those columns, broken into five regions, weaves a broader tale of our state’s cultural identity and shows there’s much to be appreciated in small towns. Photographs by Brown, a teacher at Rice’s Glasscock School, capture the spirit of Holley’s stories.
HERITAGE MEMOIR “Bob and Helen Kleberg of King Ranch”
By Helen Kleberg Groves Trinity University Press, $45, 288 pp. In this book, 2017 the revival only child of a of long-out-ofprint longtime ranch manager Robert Kleberg Jr. and his wife, Helen Campbell Kleberg, offers a peek at more than a century of life on King Ranch. Through text and some 200 archival photographs, Groves, 90 — who grew up on the legendary South Texas cattle ranch founded by her great-grandfather, Capt. Richard King, in 1853 — tells a romantic story of interest to any Texana enthusiast.
HOUSTON PRIDE “From Rendering to Reality: The Story of Buffalo Bayou Park”
Buffalo Bayou Partnership, $40, 136 pp. Hurricane Harvey left much of 160-acre Buffalo Bayou Park covered in silt, debris and downed trees, but that it’s already well on its way back only adds another chapter to its impressive development. This book, with contributions from such local luminaries as architectural historian Stephen Fox, is an informative look at the nuts and bolts that built the park over the past 100 years and spotlights its many features. Bonus: There’s a pullout guide to the plants and birds you might spot there.
RURAL PHOTOGRAPHY “Marfa and the Mystique of Far West Texas”
By John Slaughter University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, $37.50, 128 pp. dream West — Texas sweeping is a photographer’s desert with a mountainous backdrop, art installations (hello, Prada!), smalltown quirks, characters and, more frequently these days, an influx of chic hotels and tourists. Here, Slaughter — who splits time between Louisiana and Marfa — trains his lens on the remote area, with photographs taken between roughly 2004 and 2016. Flipping through the book is a glossy reminder of the intrigue that awaits.
ILLUSTRATED ADVICE “The Texanist: Fine Advice on Living in Texas”
By David Courtney and Jack Unruh University of Texas Press, $24.95, 128 pp. Illustrator Jack Unruh died in 2016, but his work remains instantly recognizable to avid Texas Monthly readers — it accompanied the magazine’s beloved “Texanist” advice column for nearly a decade. This collection illustrations of paired several with dozen the Unruh zany questions that inspired them and Courtney’s in-character replies — Is not liking Willie Nelson a deal killer? (yes); Are vehicles with ornamental testicles acceptable? (no) — makes for a fun read.
YOUNG READERS “My Journey to the Stars”
By Scott Kelly with Emily Easton Crown Books for Young Readers, $17.99, 48 pp.
Houston-based astronaut Scott Kelly’s memoir (“Endurance,” Knopf) published recently, along with a mini version for kids 5 to 8. Here, illustrations by Brazilian André Ceolin and personal photographs mix with the inspiring story of the man who spent nearly a year on the International Space Station, from pivotal moments in his youth and the steps he took to work for NASA to what it was like living in space (“tools you are using float away — and that can be so annoying!”).
CLASSIC NOVELS “Thalia: A Texas Trilogy”
By Larry McMurtry Liveright, $29.95, 736 pp. first (1961), “The This three Last omnibus “Leaving Picture novels: Cheyenne” includes Show” “Horseman, (1966), McMurtry’s (1962) Pass all and By” set in written the small between Texas the town time of the Thalia author and graduated from North Texas State through his time teaching English at Rice University. In a short introduction, McMurtry writes that it became clear to him that, as he worked on the books, he was witnessing the dying of “a rural, pastoral way of life.” Indeed, according to Annie Proulx, “they revolutionized hero-heavy Western literature.”