Six novels with amazing dialogue

David Mamet's new book, his first crime novel, is Chicago. One of the author's six favorite books with amazing dialogue, as shared at The Week magazine:

True Grit by Charles Portis

The dialogue in True Grit is exquisite. Portis was inspired, I believe, by the work of Andy Adams (1859–1935), an actual cowpuncher, who wrote the best fiction of the frontier. Read Adams' The Log of a Cowboy and A Texas Matchmaker, both novels of the trail drive, for a visit to Reconstruction Texas.

Read about another entry on the list.

True Grit also appears on Natasha Carthew's top ten list of revenge reads, Dan Smith's top ten list of fictional hunts, Becky Ferreira's list of seven favorite tales of revenge in literature, Anthony Bourdain's list of ten favorite books, Andy Borowitz's list of five top comic novels, Tad Friend's five best list of novels on success, Willy Vlautin's list of five great books set in the West, and Jonathan Lethem's list of five terrific novels overshadowed by their film versions.

--Marshal Zeringue