The Sunday Salon: New Beginnings

This certainly has been a strange week. This is my first post since Tuesday. My last day at the job I've had for the past nine years was Friday. It was a job I loved and I worked for a man I respect, who is a good friend, so needless to say, its been a tough week. As I've mentioned before, the crashing economy has been especially hard on Florida in the construction industry and that's where I've made my life. Since 1983 I've worked in all aspects of the business. Unfortunately, New Colony Homes is taking a hit and can no longer afford to keep the office open. So its time now for me to explore other things. Because of my retinal disease and low vision, I'm now going to take the step I've been putting off for some time now and will file for disability, with the hope of maintaining a small bookkeeping business from my home as a supplement. The upside is that I'll be gaining lots of reading and blogging time! Yay!

I did manage to do a few bookish things in the early part of the week. For one, I finished ETTA by Gerald Kolpan. [Review here] It's a western-themed novel about Etta Place, the girlfriend of the "Sundance Kid" and member of the Hole-In-The-Wall Gang. Very enjoyable storytelling from a debut author.

I picked up TRUE COLORS by Kristin Hannah at the library on Monday. I had to wait two months for this one!! But it is worth the wait. I'm halfway through it and if it weren't for other things going on, I'd have finished it already, but my mind hasn't been on reading the last several days. This is the first book I've read of Ms. Hannah's and I am loving it. Her writing just flows fom page to page and I love the premise of the story. Three sisters, raised on a ranch in a small town in Washington state, and the bonds of family loyalty. It has a little bit of everything, even a murder. It's a great story! I'll definitely be picking up more of her books if they're anything like this one.

I received an ARC of THE LAST BRIDGE by Teri Coyne from LibraryThing on Thursday that I'm very anxious to start reading. I think it's going to be a real page turner from what I've read about it. I also got Jodi Picoult's HANDLE WITH CARE that I won from BookClubGirl last week. That's another author I've never read before. But that one is going to have to wait a bit. I've got a few ARC's to get through first.

I'm planning to get back into reading today and hopefully finish TRUE COLORS. And I'm also going to spend some time catching up on my blog reading. I'm scared to even look at my Google Reader!!! I hope you are having a pleasant Sunday - what book has your attention today?

Etta by Gerald Kolpan

Whenever you decide to read a 'fictionalized' story about a real person you never really know what to expect. I came across this debut novel on a few blogs and since I like reading books with a western theme, I was drawn to it.

Etta Place was known as the Sundance Kid's girlfriend and a member of the Hole-In-The-Wall-Gang from the late 1800's. Not much is known about this mysterious woman other than her striking beauty, her taste for fine clothing and apparent privileged family lineage.

Here's what Random House says about the book ~

Beautiful, elusive, and refined, Etta Place captivated the nation at the turn of the last century as she dodged the law with the Wild Bunch, led by Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Her true identity and fate have remained a mystery that has tantalized historians for decades. Now, for the first time, Gerald Kolpan envisions this remarkable woman’s life in a stunning debut novel.

Kolpan imagines that Etta Place was born Lorinda Jameson, the daughter of a prominent financier, who becomes known as the loveliest of the city’s debutantes when she makes her entrance into Philadelphia society. Though her position in life is already assured, her true calling is on horseback. She can ride as well as any man and handle a rifle even better. But when a tragedy leads to a dramatic reversal of fortune, Lorinda is left orphaned, penniless, homeless, and pursued by the ruthless Black Hand mafia.

Rechristened “Etta Place” to ensure her safety, the young woman travels to the farthest reaches of civilization, working as a “Harvey Girl” waitress in Grand Junction, Colorado. There, fate intervenes once more and she again finds herself on the run from the ruthless Pinkerton Detective Agency. But this time she has company. She soon finds herself at the legendary hideout at Hole-in-the-Wall, Wyoming, where she meets the charismatic Butch Cassidy and the handsome, troubled Harry Longbaugh, a.k.a. the Sundance Kid. Through a series of holdups and heists, Etta and Harry begin an epic and ultimately tragic romance, which will be the greatest of Etta’s life. Then, when Etta meets the young and idealistic Eleanor Roosevelt, her life is changed forever.

Throughout reading this adventurous story, I had to keep reminding myself that most of it, even though some of the characters were real, never really happened. I was fully entertained by the antics of Etta and her cohorts in crime, but the fuzzy line between reality and fiction was always there. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book. I really did. The author makes it very clear in the back of the book what parts are from actual historical accounts and what he made up for the purpose of this debut novel.

The book is made up of narrative storytelling, diary entries supposedly written by Etta herself, telegrams and letters from various other characters and wanted posters with arrest warrants for the infamous bandits. All of this combined makes for a quick read and keeps the timeline of events clear to the reader.

For readers who enjoy stories from the wild west, like myself, this is a book you will be entertained by. For me, personally, I liked the author's storytelling and clever wit which kept this a light, sometimes humorous account of his vision for the tales of this most mysterious horsewoman.

ETTA

Author: Gerald Kolpan

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Published: March 2009

Pages: 336

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (I liked it)