Richard Roeper is a columnist at the Chicago Sun-Times and co-host of Ebert and Roeper. His book Hollywood Urban Legends (New Page Books, $14) is now in paperback.
The Desert Rose by Larry McMurtry (Simon & Schuster, $12). As much as I appreciate McMurtry’s Westerns, I’m an even bigger fan of his slice-of-life character studies, including The Last Picture Show, Horseman, Pass By (filmed as Hud), and Terms of Endearment. But my favorite is the lesser-known The Desert Rose, the story of an aging Vegas showgirl and her beautiful but increasingly difficult daughter. It’s hilarious and heartbreaking.
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