True Grit

By Charles Portis

Fourteen year old Mattie Ross, is after Tom Chaney,  an outlaw who shot her unarmed father in Fort Smith, Arkansas.  Chaney stole her fathers' life, his horse, $150 in cash, and two gold pieces hidden in his waistband.  Mattie hires U.S. Marshal Rooster Cogburn to help her track the coward down.

I really liked this book.  Mattie is tough and resourceful, and Rooster is an original "hero with a dark past".  His type is what we think of as a true cowboy in the Old West, complete with an eye patch and a wandering spirit.  The story reminds me yet again that I wouldn't last long as a homesteader --- I don't have the guts or the smarts.