True Grit

How long have people been recommending True Grit to me? How many times have I seen it on Must-Read lists and how many times have I passed it up, not eager to read what I anticipated would be a shoot-'em-up story?

Listen to me: You want to read this story. I don't know how Charles Portis got into the head of a magnificent fourteen-year-old girl who heads off to avenge her father's death, but he does. I don't know how Charles Portis was able to transport us all back a hundred and fifty years into the West where anything can happen, but he does. You think you know the story from the movie, and you do, but read it anyway.

It's my new favorite book.