Book Recommendation: Lonesome Dove

I wasn't an English major, but can I still claim to be an English geek? Some of my biggest pet peeves are grammar and punctuation mistakes. I cheered out loud as I read Eats, Shoots and Leaves. I read The Catcher in the Rye and The Great Gatsby for fun. So, do I qualify, or am I still just a poser?
I probably don't read enough to count as a bookworm. I'm a very, very slow reader; as I read, I envision everything as a movie in my head, with vocal inflections and facial expressions and pacing. If I don't understand something, I'll reread it until I do. It takes forever. And I often set the book down to watch TV or a movie, because I like to watch while I eat. All that aside, though, I like to read, and I'd like to humbly recommend a book to you: Lonesome Dove.
I read it 3 three years ago and it's stayed with me this whole time. I've read the other books in the series - Dead Man's Walk, Streets of Laredo, and I'm now on the last 20 pages of Comanche Moon - but the original is a complete experience in itself. (Actually, I'm pretty annoyed with author Larry McMurtry for what he does to one of the characters early on in Streets of Laredo. If you've read it let me know, so we can complain together, because I'm sure if you have any heart in you at all you'll agree with me on this.) I was never interested in anything Western, for the same reason that I didn't like cop shows - no color. Westerns were brown, cop shows were gray, and I get bored quickly with people shooting each other. But Lonesome Dove changed everything. My brother and I have talked endlessly about how genre doesn't matter much; it really comes down to writing style. And I loved McMurtry's style in this book. He held my attention for 900 pages. He states things so simply. No rambling sentences, where you get the impression that the author just likes to hear himself talk. But he communicates so much with that simple style. He lets you into characters' heads, which is fascinating because you don't necessarily understand why they do what they do, but you know what they're thinking while they do it.
Perhaps my favorite thing is that I felt I could make judgments for myself. I hate being told how to feel and when to feel it. It ruins a work of art for me when I'm surrounded by people spouting opinions about it (like I'm doing right now about this book), or when I feel the artist himself is manipulating me. But I get totally sucked in when I feel like the artist has something to say, says it, and trusts me to have my own response. And I definitely responded to Lonesome Dove. I didn't realize to what extent until later, when I found myself recalling scenes or phrases months and years later. The characters and their stories are as complicated as real life, so I find that I'm still trying to figure them out, and the fact that this is a source of intrigue rather than frustration may also be a testament to McMurtry's ability to tell a good story. Of course, I'm not sure what to make of it, that I sometimes live my life in reference to a work of fiction. But that's my problem. It should only serve to further recommend the book to you.
So there you go. Holly, Book Reviewer, at your service.