So Brave, Young, and Handsome

I first came across Leif Enger about a year ago when I picked up his first book, Peace Like a River at my library's annual summer book sale. I devoured the thing in about three days. It was one of those books that draws you in and won't let you go until you reach the final page. And even then you can't stop thinking about it, and it becomes a part of you, coloring your future reading experiences. Enger is an ingenious storyteller. He managed to take an average young boy in the 1960s, his miracle-performing single father, convicted murderer older brother, and Western-epic-poetry-writing little sister (who is quite possibly the most awesome character ever created, reminiscent of Scout in Harper's Mocking Bird) and create a magically epic journey out West.

So I had high expectations when I saw he had written a new novel. So Brave, Young, and Handsome did not let me down. Again, I finished it in three nights. I found myself staying up until midnight or 1 a.m. just to find a good stopping place. But alas, there was no "good" place. The storyline just galloped on like the tireless cowboys and their faithful steeds in the book.

I'm not a Western fan. I've watched maybe one Western movie in my life. So the idea of reading about a retired cowboy-turned-train robber normally wouldn't interest me all that much. And maybe it was partially thanks to the main character, a one-hit-wonder author struggling to complete a successful second novel, that my attention was initially grabbed. But in all honesty, Monte Beckett is the lamest character in the book. Redstart, his energetic 11-year-old son; Susannah, his artist wife; Glendon Hale, the gentle, mild-mannered train robber and murderer; Charlie Siringo, the determined Pinkerton detective; and Hood Roberts, the 16-year-old mechanic turned Western desperado are all brimming with life and adventure and give the book soul. (Not to mention some awesome names--Redstart, Hood? Genius.)

It's rare to come across a book so new and fresh. While it plays on a lot of old Western elements, it's really a modern work and reaches out to anyone who enjoys a good adventure tale, romance, comdey, or tragedy. Leif Enger and his first two books are definitely on my must-read shelf. Now I just have to wait for the next one.

Harry Potter

I did start to read Tristram Shandy a few months ago, as I said in my last post. But having already read it once, I lost interest about 100 pages in. I went through a bit of a dry spell after that, and didn't read much of anything, to be honest. And then Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows pt. 2 came out in theatres. I immediately knew that I needed to reread the series, since I had only read Books 3-7 once, as they were published, with big gaps in between. So in a matter of two weeks I reread Books 1-3. It was a blast revisiting Hogwarts, and I found I had forgotten a lot of things, like Peeves the Poltergeist and trips to Hogsmeade. I still intend to reread the rest of the series, but I'm taking a bit of a break at the moment.

I stopped by Border's this weekend to check out their going-out-of-business sale. Talk about paradise for a book nerd like me! I totally geeked out for about an hour, until the store closed, combing the half-off bookshelves for authors or titles that looked familiar. So my next few posts, in no particular order, will be on the following books:

So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger
World Without End by Ken Follett
The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver
The Autobiography of Mrs. Tom Thumb by Melanie Benjamin
Contemporary American Short Fiction selected by Joyce Carol Oates