Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry (Paperback)

Two retired Texas Rangers drive a cattle herd from the Rio Grande to Montana, and the journey tests every kind of loyalty, courage and regret along the way. Funny, brutal and deeply moving, it's the great American novel about friendship between men.

Read it if: you want an epic you'll be sad to finish.

Third Shelf — a heavyweight. Save it for when your attention is back in shape.