Book o' the Month: The Californios

I'm a day late for Turn the Page ... Tuesday, but you should definitely head over there next to see what the gals have been reading!

I never thought I'd read a Louis L'Amour book.  My grandmother (who is now ninety-three) would always be reading one when I visited her as a child.  I bet she has one on her end table right now!  L'Amour wrote over one hundred books, so no wonder.

I read The Californios because I'm interested in the time period of the story (1844).  I kept picturing it in my head as a western on TV at my grandparent's house.  I'm surprised this one didn't become a film, as so many of L'Amour's other novels were made into films, such as Hondo and The Quick and the Dead. 

The book contains several references to real places in Southern California (Malibu, Topanga Canyon) and it was fun to be able to picture them from memory.  It was a quick read.  Sparse, a little cliche, a little metaphysical, with some exciting action.  Will I become a western/L'Amour devotee?  Probably not.

But now I have something to talk to my grandmother about next time I see her.