For your New Year's resolution did you promise yourself you'd read more? How's that going?
Finding a good book can be difficult, especially if you're specifically interested in certain types of genres like mystery, political, western, crime, horror or coming-of-age.
With those categories at mind, here are 10 novels set in Texas for you to check out at your local library, purchase at your local bookstore or add to your reading list.
'Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe' by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Dante and Aristotle are loners, but completely different. Dante is self-assured while Aristotle has a hard time with words. Dante is open and Aristotle has a wall built around himself.
Regardless, when the two teen boys meet at a swimming pool, they create a link that will teach them the most important truths of their lives and help define the people they want to become. Only through the power of their friendship and believing in each other will they be able to face incoming hurdles and grow stronger in the end.
Year published: 2012
Genre: Coming-of-age
'Blood Meridian; or, The Evening Redness in the West' by Cormac McCarthy
Based on historical events that occurred on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, the novel traces the fortunes of the Kid, a 14-year-old who ends up in a macabre world where Native Americans are being killed and the market for their scalps is booming.
The novel is a difficult read as some readers have said the chapters do not particularly connect with each other and the violence is excessive and vivid.
Year published: 1985
Genre: Western
'Derby Girl' by Shauna Cross
Bliss Cavendar is a blue-haired, indie-rock loving misfit stuck in Bodeen, Texas. Her pageant-addicted mother expects her to compete in the local competition for the crown, but Bliss decides to escape her mom's world and enter the world of roller derby.
When she discovers a league in nearby Austin, she starts her journey of boys in bands, new friends consisting of tattooed girls and some not-so-awesome realities she has to learn the hard way.
Year published: 2007
Genre: Coming-of-age
'Holes' by Louis Sachar
Stanley Yelnats is under a curse thanks to his no-good-dirty-rotten-pig-stealing-great-great-grandfather. The curse has hit Stanley as he is sent to a boys' detention center at Camp Green Lake, where boys build character by spending their days digging holes.
Stanley realizes that the constant digging isn't just for character improvement, but to help the camp's warden look for something buried decades ago.
Year published: 1998
Genre: Coming-of-age
'The Killer Inside Me' by Jim Thompson
Lou Ford, the deputy sheriff of Central City, Texas, is loved by everyone and is known as the nicest guy in town. But behind his friendly demeanor lurks a monster only a few have unfortunately seen.
After his brother Mike falls to his death, Lou suspects it was anything but a work-related accident. Set to avenge his brother, he is determined to do anything — even killing innocents.
Year published: 1952
Genre: Crime
'Leather Maiden' by Joe R. Lansdale
Cason Statler is a Gulf War veteran and Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist, but after he was caught in a scandalous affair, he loses his job in Houston and returns home to Camp Rapture, Texas.
Trying to get back on his feet, he takes a job at the local paper and stumbles across notes on a cold case murder. As he digs further into the case, he realizes the unsolved crime is connection to events that recently occurred around town and is soon caught in a deadly game of blackmail and murder.
Year published: 2008
Genre: Mystery
'Lonesome Dove' by Larry McMurtry
Woodrow Call and Augustua McCrae are two retired Texas Rangers running the Hat Creek Cattle company. Woodrow is growing restless from retirement and Augustus is missing the love of his life in Nebraska.
After hearing about Milk River in Montana, the two lead a cattle drive from the small town of Lonesome Dove to the unsettled Montana territories with a group of five others. But will their mission be a successful one, or a failure?
Year published: 1985
Genre: Western
'Lost Children Archive' by Valeria Luiselli
A couple and their two children are set on a road trip from New York to Arizona in the middle of summer. The father is wanting to work on a project on the Apache, while the mother plans to find information on her friend's daughters — two children who crossed the border seeking asylum that have gone missing while in federal custody.
During the trip, the children sense the tension growing between their parents and realize they might soon be a broken family. Concerned for the missing children, the young son runs away with his younger sister and leaves their parents a map to reunite with them after he attempts to find the lost daughters.
Year published: 2019
Genre: Political
'Midnight Cowboy' by James Leo Herlihy
Joe Buck, a naive but ambitious Texan, decides to leave his state and move to New York City in hopes of leading a glamorous life as a gigolo. But the Big Apple turns out to be a more difficult place than he could've imagined.
Reflecting on his upbringing in the Lone Star State, Joe soon finds himself compromised and runs into street-hustler Ratso Rizzo, who ends up changing the Texan's life — for (somewhat) better and worse.
Year published: 1965
Genre: Crime
'The Outsider' by Stephen King
When an 11-year-old's corpse is found in a Oklahoma town park, eyewitnesses and fingerprints point to Terry Maitland, the town's Little League coach. Detective Ralph Anderson arrests him but soon finds Terry has an ironclad alibi and DNA evidence.
As the investigation expands, Ralph, a private investigator and others learn about an outsider called "El Cuco." The eerie presence forces the group to travel to Texas and see if Terry is truly the killer or if a folk tale is actually real-life.
Year published: 2018
Genre: Horror
RELATED COVERAGE
More: 'Here to provide services': Corpus Christi Public Libraries remain a resource for community
More: Proposal would prohibit minors from borrowing books with sexual content in Corpus Christi
John Oliva covers entertainment and community news in South Texas. Contact him at john.oliva@caller.comor X@johnpoliva.
Consider supporting local journalism with asubscription to the Caller-Times.
This article originally appeared on Corpus Christi Caller Times: King, McCarthy and McMurtry: 10 Texas-set novels to read
