Attica Locke's Book Recommendations (Updated for 2026)

1

Galveston

Nic Pizzolatto

4.0

Recalling the moody violence of the early novels of Cormac McCarthy and Denis Johnson, a dark and visceral debut set along the seedy wastelands of Galveston by a young writer with a hard edge to his potent literary style. On the same day that Roy Cady is diagnosed with a terminal illness, he senses that his boss, a dangerous loan-sharking bar-owner, wants him dead. Known “without affection” to mem

Recommended by Ryan Holiday and Attica Locke.

Attica Locke

It’s just a great piece of fiction, lean and literary. The book starts out in New Orleans and ends up in Galveston. Those cities, to me, share the same soul. A lot of people don’t realise how French Galveston is – Galveston’s town centre looks very much like the French Quarter in New Orleans and there are a lot of Creole folk there. There’s symmetry between the two cities. [source]

Ryan Holiday

Author

This a novel from the writer of True Detective (from before he was the guy from True Detective). Guess what? It's really really good. It's a dark noir story (surprise!) but it's got a great character and great lines...even a touching ending. Also, and I know this is pretty controversial, but I think the second season of True Detective was pretty damn good. [source]

2

The Wake of the Wind

J. California Cooper

4.5

A dramatic and thought-provoking novel of one family's triumph in the face of the hardships and challenges of the post-Civil War South.

The Wake of the Wind, J. California Cooper's third novel, is her most penetrating look yet at the challenges that generations of African Americans have had to overcome in order to carve out a home for themselves and their families. Set in Texas in the waning years

Recommended by Attica Locke.

Attica Locke

To my mind, J California Cooper is one of the most under-read American authors alive. Wake of the Wind is a story about living in the wake of the Civil War and emancipation, a picture of a nation and a state in transition. It’s a beautiful sweeping story about a black family trying to navigate a new landscape – a new cultural, political and physical landscape. And about how a recently emancipated people struggled for their version of the American dream. There’s so much literature about what it was to be enslaved and not nearly enough literature about what it was for people to learn to be free, become landowners, reunite with relatives, and put a life together. [source]

3

The Big Rich: The Rise and Fall of the Greatest Texas Oil Fortunes

Bryan Burrough

4.3

"What's not to enjoy about a book full of monstrous egos, unimaginable sums of money, and the punishment of greed and shortsightedness?"

Phenomenal reviews and sales greeted the hardcover publication of The Big Rich, New York Times bestselling author Bryan Burrough's spellbinding chronicle of Texas oil. Weaving together the multigenerational sagas of the industry's four wealthiest families, Burr

Recommended by Attica Locke.

Attica Locke

There’s no way to understand the culture and politics of Texas without talking about oil. It’s just not possible. The Big Rich follows four men who used to be called “The Big Four”: Roy Cullen, HL Hunt, Clint Murchison and Sid Richardson. These are the men after whom streets are named in Texas. The book starts all the way back in 1901, when oil was first discovered in Beaumont, Texas and stretches through the second half of the 20th century. For the most part these men came from very modest backgrounds. I think one was an elementary school dropout. They were called wildcatters, a name that reflects their risk-taking and outsized personalities. [source]

4

The Last Picture Show

Larry McMurtry

4.0

From the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of LonesomeDove comes a powerful coming-of-age novel set in the American West. In Thalia, Texas, Larry McMurtry epitomizes small-town America and through characters reintroduced in Texasville and Duane’s Depressed, captures the ecstasy and heartbreak of adolescence.

The Last Picture Show is one of Larry McMurtry's most memorable novels, and the basis for the e

Recommended by Attica Locke.

Attica Locke

The Last Picture Show captures the adolescent energy that epitomised the state in the second half of the 20th century, when Texas was taking off in people’s imaginations. It takes place in 1951, on the eve of a real explosion in car culture and as the state is about to really come into its own. That reckless adolescent energy, which McMurtry wrote into the book, just speaks to the state at that time, in my opinion. It’s about best friends and a girl that comes between them in this little town called Thalia. At the beginning of the book, these boys have just played their last game of high-school football. It’s time for them to move but there is nowhere for them to go so they just roll around like tumbleweed. [source]

5

The Liars' Club

Mary Karr

4.1

When it was published in 1995, Mary Karr's The Liars Club took the world by storm and raised the art of the memoir to an entirely new level, as well as bringing about a dramatic revival of the form. Karr's comic childhood in an east Texas oil town brings us characters as darkly hilarious as any of J. D. Salinger's—a hard-drinking daddy, a sister who can talk down the sheriff at twelve, and an oft-

Recommended by Adam Savage, Attica Locke, and Calvin Trillin.

Attica Locke

The book starts with Mary Karr’s recollection of her mother, this tall striking woman who seemed out of place in this small, stinky, chemical-waste town. Her husband worked in a refinery. She was an artist who dreamed of a different life but was locked down by whatever was expected of her at that time in our nation’s history and in this region. There’s a lot of rage, alcohol and guns in this book. I cannot say enough about the power of Mary Carr’s voice. It’s the kind of book you almost want to read out loud. And it’s just so Texas, so specific East Texas. It’s like I grew up down the street and went to high school with her. Liars’ Club makes the reader feel like they’re sitting at a bar with somebody who is telling them about their crazy fucking life over cocktails. It’s fantastic. [source]

Adam Savage

The author's first memoir. [source]

Calvin Trillin

It’s one of my favourite memoirs. [source]