101 Books: Number 101

Favorite Books from Throughout My Life

101: Little Big Man, 1964, by Thomas Berger (1924–2014)

Let’s start with Little Big Man … why?

Because it almost made me high!

It is a Western (love them!), and

Takes place on very famous land.

The Custer Battlefield, the key,

Has always fascinated me

Since I first read of Custer’s Stand

Where he and his were so outmanned.

But Little Big Man tours the West—

We visit “heroes” I liked best

In boyhood. Guys like old Wild Bill

And others—couldn’t get my fill.

A comic novel—also dark.

The things it teaches—grim and stark.

The film was so-so—not so great.

(That endless book v. film debate!)

He wrote a soggy sequel, too*—

It failed with me (to tell you true).

But Little Big Man? ’64?

Unique. A treasure. Even more!**

*The Return of Little Big Man, 1999

**I’ve read all of Berger’s other novels, too. A most remarkable journey through a terrific talent.