New Riders of the Purple Sage.... the book and the band who took the name!

HUGE GREY FAN!!!!!!! After collecting all of the L'Amour westerns I began with his stuff.

I like to read Louis L'Amour westerns whenever I feel the need to cleanse my mental palate, so to speak. No-nonsense men and women, true to their moral beliefs, simple stories told in a straightforward manner. Most writers of "serious" literature today are whack-jobs who need psychotherapy or want to give that impression. Sex and violence, always useful in a story, has been debased to the point of being mechanical, even with some of the better thriller writers. Boring, unless you're 14 years old. Another favorite writer of mine for portraying decent people is the late Neville Shute, a Brit. My favorite of his is probably "A Town Like Alice" or maybe "Trustee from the Toolroom." I might give Zane Grey a shot.

Edit: If you have a taste for any of the above, don't neglect Frank Spearman's "Whispering Smith" or Jack Schaefer's "Shane" or Charles Porter's (?) "True Grit." All are better than the movies made from them, as is usually the case.