Giddyup.
“Lonesome Dove” — the nearly 1,000-page, Pulitzer Prize-winning Western novel first published in 1985 — is experiencing a resurgence thanks to Stephen King, TikTok and cowboys being in fashion.
Larry McMurtry’s tale of retired Texas Rangers driving cattle into Montana has sold some 1.5 million copies in the 40 years since its publication. This past year alone, it’s sold more than 56,000 copies, according to BookScan, which tracks sales from major sellers and some independent ones.
At New York’s Strand bookstore, marketing director Kat Pongrace said it’s sold twice as many copies of “Lonesome Dove” this year compared to last.
“This is the best-selling year for the book in over 30 years,” the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, told The Post. “The last time ‘Lonesome Dove‘ had sales this strong was . . . when the ‘Return to Lonesome Dove’ TV miniseries aired” in 1993.
This past June, the publisher released a 40th-anniversary edition of the book with a foreword from “Yellowstone” creator Taylor Sheridan and an audio version narrated by Will Patton, who appeared on the show.
On TikTok, there are more than 7,000 #lonesomedove posts. The majority are from the past year — and quite positive.
“I loved this book, I just adored it,” BookToker Nicole Pearce gushed on the platform, clutching a Kindle copy to her chest. “You are just so fully invested and immersed in [the characters’] world.”
Pearce, who has more than 68,000 TikTok followers, first added the doorstop to her reading list after hearing Stephen King sing its praises.
A few years back on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the great horror novelist proclaimed “Lonesome Dove” his favorite book, in a clip that’s since been widely circulated.
She was initially intimidated by the book’s length, but once she started reading it, the pages flew by.
“[It] completely transports you to the world in which it takes place,” Pearce, a 37-year-old Pilates teacher based in Boston, told The Post. “Even when nothing much is happening plot-wise, it’s so thoroughly enjoyable spending time with [the characters], flaws and all. While reading, you feel like you’re part of their Hat Creek outfit, and finishing the book is like having to say goodbye to your friends — I wasn’t ready to leave them!”
Simon & Schuster noted that King isn’t the only literary tastemaker who’s fueled interest in the book. The publisher credited New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino and “Sweetbitter” author Stephanie Danler with driving enthusiasm.
“Obsessed with Lonesome Dove. Can’t parent, can’t write, just need to read my thousand page book filled with old cowboy dudes not talking about their feelings. What McMurtry should I read next?” Danler posted to Threads in July 2023.
Tolentino listed the book in a “New Yorker” piece on what to read in the summer of 2023.
“I fell into the novel the way a stone disappears down a well. . . . [T]he book had me spellbound, obsessed with the characters, who felt realer to me than my own self,” she raved. “I gasped and sobbed and clutched the book when it was over. I was so thankful for the reminder that reading can still be
like this, that the realm of the unread always holds, somewhere, the exact thing I’m looking for, whatever it is.”
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, small-screen adaptations were major cultural events. The 1989 “Lonesome Dove” TV miniseries, which starred Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, won seven Emmys and a Peabody Award. In 1993, the “Return to Lonesome Dove” miniseries — with Jon Voight, Ricky Schroder, Barbara Hershey and a young Reese Witherspoon — followed.
Not surprisingly, a new adaptation is in the works. In February, Teton Ridge Entertainment announced it had acquired the rights to the book, and the three that follow in the series, from McMurtry’s estate. McMurtry’s writing partner, Diana Ossana, and his grandson, country singer Curtis McMurtry, are among the producers on the project.
The current interest in all things cowboy — what Simon & Schuster calls “a renewed cultural interest in the American West” — would also seem to be driving demand for the book. “Yellowstone” has been one of the most-watched scripted shows in recent years. Bella Hadid is dating a rodeo rider and country-western bars and line-dancing nights are popping up across the city.
One of the most popular is the regular “Honky Tonkin’ in Queens” night at Gottscheer Hall in voguish Ridgewood.
The neighborhood’s library has recently had to order more copies of “Lonesome Dove” to satisfy demand, especially among younger women.
“We can’t really keep copies on the shelves for long,” Sarah Healy, a librarian at the branch, told The Post. “I think that there’s a growing sense that one of the many pleasures of reading these days is giving your undivided attention to something, and ‘Lonesome Dove’ makes that easy.”
