I sadly admit that I've only read maybe 2-3 books from each author, so definitely not an expert on either. I know both were great on detail, story etc.

So who do you think is better?

I spent most of my westerns reading the works of lesser but good authors. One book n particular, I can't quit reading. Its called: Ambush At Soda Creek. I forget the authors name off-hand? I also liked the Easy Company series. My westerns all have to have these elements: Cowboys, Injuns, Outlaws, Mexicans or Mexican outlaws and Cavalry.

Always liked Louis L'Amour myself, that comes from my
Great grandfather always reading his books.

Both can provide a good read. I have read more of Louie's books than the Gray offerings but then Louie L. was writing when I was young and they were readily available in paper back for not very much money. Louie's books can be a little repetitious, especially at the end of his career. The early books are great. And some of the books he wrote at the end of his life were not westerns and they are good also. Favorite? Without a doubt "Hondo". Lots of folks have written good westerns. And many of them are available, for those of you who have moved into the 21 century, on Amazon for cheap and sometimes free.

Try Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy, or No Country for Old Men also by him.

I liked both of them. You could tell they wrote in different eras. If I could only read one it would be Louie. Both of them kept me company in airport lounges and flying over the seven seas.

Elmore Leonard.

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Got to go with Louis

Hondo's my favorite L.L book by far, then Last of the Breed and a, The Sacketts title.

They are both good authors, but Louie, who wrote in MY time, in MY English, is a more enjoyable read for me.

Easy Company - that that group of Mounted Infantry, where the CO carried both a SAA and a Schofield?

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I've only read a couple of the Zane Gray books.....read quite a few of the Louie L'Amour books but being from Tennessee I especially liked the ones about the Sackett family (there were several) because they came out of the Tennessee Hills.

Don

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Laus Deo! <><

Ringo, You might also look at Gordon Young. His book "Tall in the Saddle" was also made into a John Wayne classic (and may be the closest adaption of any book I have ever read that was made into a movie.) As for modern writers, Matt Braun is a good pick. As mentioned, Elmore Leonard is good.

Its been awhile since I last read any Easy Company but, I think you're correct.

I'll take Lamore for 200 dollars. And Robert B Parker has a couple of really good westerns and so does Elmore Leanard

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I sure will. Always looking for more good authors.

Louis L "Amour...........Read everything he wrote.

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I've seen several mentions for this guys books, I WILL be looking for hisd. Time to visit Barnes and Ignobles.

As a callow youth, I read both Grey and L'Amour. I will concede that L'Amour was the better 'writer of the written word', but as I grew older and actually cowboyed for my Uncle's spread some, participated in Team Roping and then competed in long distance trail riding on my Morgan horses, I became aware of just how badly L'Amour exaggerated the performance capabilities of horses and then men. I'm sure he knew better and was only exercising his right of 'poetic license', but it grated on me until I just couldn't enjoy reading anything else from him. Even now I go back and reread Zane Grey, but won't read anything that L'Amour's name is on.

"exaggerated performance".....this from the man with the magic thumb!!! LOL

L'Amour for me......tried to like Grey....just couldn't get into his writing.

Have to agree on the beatings L'Amour's heroes would take and keep on ticking.....all it took was three days and some cold mountain air to get them back in the fight with their fast draw skills!!!!!

But overall fun reads.....the Sackett family saga was neat. Really liked the early ones set in the 17th/18th century ??????????

Need to do a re-read.
Have read both, but it's been a while.
Quite honestly, from a long distance view they kind of run together!

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L'Amour over Zane Grey for me. I read a fair amount of Grey's stuff as a kid as a neighbor family had a lot of his books. Never cared much for his writing style, though. In my teens I got into L'Amour's stuff, and "learned" some stuff from it, some of which might have been true.

Some years back Miles Swarthout, son of Glendon Swarthout who wrote the book and script for John Wayne's "The Shootist", gave a talk over at Cody. He went into the hows and whys of the story and movie, accompanied by film takes.

But then that was a movie with a lot of meaningful content, too...

I can't remember the name of the Elmore Lenard one but it was his first published book. The Robert B. Parker one is Aapoosa with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen. The movie from this book is pretty good too. There is one more western by Parker but I can't think of the name of it. I believe it too was made into a movie.

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Unless you like to collect books you would be better served if you had a local used book store near by. Paperback westerns are very cheep. I've walked out of one near me several times with a bag full of Louie L'Amour books for the cost of two or three from burns and Ignobles.

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I reckon so

My uncle gave me a big box full of paperbacks, L'Amuor and the Sacketts are my favorite

seems like Elmer Keith made several unfavorable comments about Z.G.
in one of his books. Something about being a guide and under paid.

IIRC, in "Hell, I was there" he claims that ZG underpaid him the first time, promised to make it up and stiffed him the second time.
As a writer I prefer Lamour. He boxed for a while as a youth and to me the fights in his books go on too long and the men recover too quickly but they were tough back in the day.

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I like L'Amour for me. I have most of his books. I like the Sackett series as well, especially the early ones.

Louis L'Amour is the better by far for me... Zane Grey was okay when I was young & bored... but at times he was a very slow read for me, though it's probably been over 30 years since I've read any of his works... maybe longer than 40 years ago..

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I'll go with Louis L'Amour. If you can get them, read the Sackett series in order. As already mentioned, I think some of his other westerns are kind of repetitive.

Definitely L'Amour. Even though he sometimes stretches the shooting abilities of the guns and men who used them. My favorite is "The Daybreakers" another of his books on the Sackett family.

Elmore Leonard westerns that were made into movies you might remember: Last Stand at Saber River (Tom Selleck,) Hombre (Paul Newman,) and Valdez is Coming (Burt Lancaster.) Leonard was also noted as a great mystery/crime novelist.

I like Louis. Legend has it that the back pockets on the Navy dungaree were designed to hold a Louis L'Amour novel.

Maybe the Steven King of westerns? He wrote a few books.

I did a rant how Zane Grey's 'colorful' novels are just that. Hardly a sentence doesn't have some color in it. I don't find his books as realistic as Louis L'mour's

I think ZG was great at a time when kids (and adults) were goggle eyed, and not being familiar with the actual west, ate his romantisized books up.

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He also wrote "3:10 to Yuma" as a short story. Two movies have been made with that title, not sure how much either resembles the book.

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Louis L'Amour wrote the same 5 stories 100 times

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I like the way Zane Grey could describe the setting especially the desert at twilight. If you have a Nook there story collections for both authors which are under $5 for 10 or so complete books.

I'm a diehard collector. Books too. Guess I inherited that from my moms side of the tree.

I hope so in some cases, like: Hondo and Last of the Breed, only not as long as Breed.

Elmer had a few comments about Zane after guiding him and party on a hunt. I forget which book, Sixguns or Hell I was there anyway.

I like Louis myself.

So true........ but back in the 80s when I discovered him I wasn't reading his books back to back......After the Sacketts series I'd read maybe 3-5 books a year so the stories while similar were still entertaining........still have a shelf full of his paperbacks ...still great reads on a rainy/snowy day at the cabin!

I have most of his short story collections

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I have read all the L'amour books multiple times. There are
a whole lot better writers. L'amour is just good, brain-dead
entertainment. Elmore Leonard was a much better writer.
My all-time favorite is Ernest Haycox. Bugles in the Afternoon
and Alder Gulch are probably my two all-time
favorites. A. B. Guthrie is also a much better writer than
either L'amour or Grey.

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That's just what I was going to say! I always enjoyed reading his books, but after reading about 4 of them I would find myself saying, "Didn't I read this one already?"

im a fan of Haycox too. Id forgotten about him.

Wish I could have been a Sackett...........

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I prefer Louie...

When I was 9, we moved from Oregon to SE Alaska, to a remote area with no TV. I read everything I could get my hands on. I was never a big Zane Grey fan, but I read almost every book Louis wrote. After a while, I could read the first few pages and pretty much predict the ending, but they were always a good read anyway.

There were a couple that weren't predictable, like "Reilly's Luck" and "Sitka". I especially liked "Sitka", because parts of it took place on Chichigof Island, which is where we lived.

I always found his writing concerning firearms and geography to be pretty accurate.

I used to sneak read some of my dad's books, like the books written from screenplays such as "Dirty Harry". I read that and "Nobody Loves a Drunken Indian" when I was 12 years old!

In my younger days, I devoured every Zane Grey book I could latch on to. As I got older, starting reading Louis L'Amour. I must say both were good authors. I read once that if Louis mentioned the name of a place, it really existed. A couple of years ago, a dear friend died. She was buried in a very remote area of New Mexico (family plot). A sign on a post read "High Lonesome Mesa". I told my wife, this is a place old Louis could have written about. A very appropriate, descriptive name. Dunno, maybe I read too many Westerns.......

Try The Sackett Brand by Louis L’Amour. It has about all the Sackett's in it.
Also try THE WALKING DRUM by L’Amour. Not a western, it's about a man in the 12th century.

Both great in their own right.

I like Zane Gray better. "The Wolf Tracker" was great reading.