This is an incredible book. This is an incredible author. In a few months, this will be an incredible movie.

Robbins first entered my list of favorite authors with Another Roadside Attraction, an offbeat, surreal, hilarious, and downright weird tale of the discovery of corruption in the Catholic Church. I hesitated starting Cowgirls, assuming he couldn't possibly top it. I've not been so wrong since predicting Perot would be elected.

Cowgirls starts by introducing us to Sissy Hankshaw, a character as memorable and archetypal as King Arthur, Helen of Troy and Indiana Jones, and she has a good deal in common with all three. Sissy is "blessed" with enormous thumbs. Truly, truly enormous thumbs. I mean these thumbs are really BIG - okay, you get the point. But does she whine and whimper about it, and spend thousands of dollars attempting reconstructive surgery? No. She uses them for what they've obviously been intended: hitchhiking. And the skill she develops at this pastime takes her from one odd situation to another, including the rebellion at an all-girls ranch that inspired the title.

All in all, this is a book, that once picked up, you will not be able to put down. And once read, you will never forget. n