Where Have All the Cowboys Gone? (So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger)

It's definitely been a while since I've posted! I've read a few books, and watched a few movies, so I'm going to try to update my readers on all of that...

First up is a book I read a couple of months back, So Brave, Young, and Handsome by Leif Enger. Anyone who knows my reading habits knows that I love Enger's freshman novel Peace Like a River- I recommend it to pretty much everyone. His sophomore effort, while it doesn't have the same magic quality at the first, is still an excellent read.

The story follows an ex-train robber, outlaw, and boat craftsman by the name of Glendon Hale, as told by his friend and companion Monte Becket. It hearkens back to the westerns that were popular in the 1950's, and it has a pleasant, lyrical quality to the writing that makes it a pure pleasure to read. The book is about suffering, loss, love, and in the end, redemption, as all good cowboys stories are. It made me long for the days where you could hop on a horse, ride west, and have an adventure.

The book also incorporates Charles Siringo, a non-fictional Pinkerton agent who has been on the trail of Hale for years. I actually didn't know that until I looked the book up on Amazon (which offers it on Kindle, if you have one of those or the iPad app). I definitely recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good adventure novel, or anyone who enjoys a poetic, light touch to prose that Enger employs with great success:

"You can't explain grace, anyway, especially when it arrives almost despite yourself. I didn't ask for it, yet somehow it breached and began to work. I suppose grace was pouring over Glendon, who had sought it so hard, and some spilled down on me."

Until next time, Happy Reading!