One of the author's ten favorite books about the American West, as shared at Publishers Weekly:The Quick and the Dead by Joy WilliamsRead about another entry on the list.
On the wrinkled soft quarter-sheet of paper I used as a bookmark while rereading The Quick and the Dead some years back there are 17 words written down. Most of them are illegible. I can make out the following: “rusk,” “telluric,” “decedent,” “descanso,” “Fleetwood Brougham,” “ischemic.” Here’s a portion from the introduction of my favorite character: “Ray didn’t drink or do drugs but various ischemic incidents had given him an eager, erratic nature and a variety of facial contortions that allowed permanent employment to elude him. He hated selling shoes. He wanted to sell boots, but the manager disliked him.” This is my favorite Joy Williams novel, but who cares, read every word she writes.
--Marshal Zeringue
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