I always recommend Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey. It is often on the list of the 25 best books by an American author. It is not very long, and a fascinating book about life, and the Southwest. Abbey was almost certainly an alcoholic, and wasn't with us all that long. I am serious about my Christianity and he was a scoffer. There are a lot of reasons I shouldn't have liked his book, but it is so good I couldn't help myself. Abbey sometimes worked as a park ranger in Utah. Part of the book tells of finding the body of a tourist who walked too far from his car, and died outside in the high desert country. I know it sounds gruesome, but it changed forever some of my ideas about a " good death". There are other parts of the book where he relates some of his experiences with tourists in the parks that had me laughing until the tears flowed from my eyes. I remember reading a "Tale of Two Cities" as a young teen, and the experience changed my young life. Years later Barb and I read"Desert Solataire" at about the same time. More than any other single thing that caused us to check out the possibility of living in the high and pretty remote mountains of Northern New Mexico. We have never regretted it. I think Desert Solitaire is the only book I have ever read multiple times.
By the way, I love this thread, and hope it stays open long enough to read, and make, other recommendations.
