What Book Did You Read Last Night??? (8 Viewers)

[Cornu Ammonis]

Started into Blood Meridian last night because of you lot shiteing on about it.

Hopefully I still have the ability to still read things longer than 4 pages.

I’m re-reading and on page 181 if you want to compare notes. I’m thinking of buying the fancy Folio Society version now. I’d love the Suntup Press edition but I think it goes for about €5000 now:

Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy - Suntup Editions

Often referred to as “the Great American Novel,” Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West is Cormac McCarthy’s magnum opus. An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America’s westward expansion, Blood Meridian brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel...

suntup.press

 

[snakybus]

Yeah I reread this very recently and just as I finished it, he died. Well, a few days later, but anyway. I feel like it was a significant thing and marks it down as a sort of milestone in my life, which I know is a bit cracked but it really was that big a deal reading it; I was astonished by this book. It meant way more this time around. I guess I got it. the last time I had read it was when I was maybe in my twenties and reading it at fifty puts a whole different perspective on it. Where before I found it murky and impenetrable, this time round I found it exhilarating and bountiful, especially towards the end where the action and intrigue really took off. This was all somewhat helped by my having a smartphone to translate the Spanish and look up difficult words, some of which were McCarthy inventions. Anyway: a work of genius. Hot damn.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Yeah I reread this very recently and just as I finished it, he died. Well, a few days later, but anyway. I feel like it was a significant thing and marks it down as a sort of milestone in my life, which I know is a bit cracked but it really was that big a deal reading it; I was astonished by this book. It meant way more this time around. I guess I got it. the last time I had read it was when I was maybe in my twenties and reading it at fifty puts a whole different perspective on it. Where before I found it murky and impenetrable, this time round I found it exhilarating and bountiful, especially towards the end where the action and intrigue really took off. This was all somewhat helped by my having a smartphone to translate the Spanish and look up difficult words, some of which were McCarthy inventions. Anyway: a work of genius. Hot damn.

I hadn’t noticed any invented words, curious what you spotted? The translate function on the iPhone camera has been amazing for the Spanish dialogue. On one hand, not having a breeze what is being said gives a certain level of mystery (and tension) but the bits with the travelling juggling act near the start add a lot to my understanding of the world they’re in.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Now I'm on to The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård which has a pleasing Stephen King feel to it.

 

[snakybus]

I hadn’t noticed any invented words, curious what you spotted? The translate function on the iPhone camera has been amazing for the Spanish dialogue. On one hand, not having a breeze what is being said gives a certain level of mystery (and tension) but the bits with the travelling juggling act near the start add a lot to my understanding of the world they’re in.

I hear what you're saying about the mystery/tension but I decided when reading this time to find out the meaning for any word I didn't understand because that sentiment bogged me down the first time. I landed on this handy list a bit too late and found out that e.g. the word 'scurvid' appears to be a McCarthy invention, along with a couple of others.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

I hear what you're saying about the mystery/tension but I decided when reading this time to find out the meaning for any word I didn't understand because that sentiment bogged me down the first time. I landed on this handy list a bit too late and found out that e.g. the word 'scurvid' appears to be a McCarthy invention, along with a couple of others.

That list is great, thanks!

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Oh and it took me until this reading (my third) to figure out that the epilogue wasn’t some opaque allegorical mysticism but actually a description of

Spoiler

men laying the new railways into Texas and connecting this wild frontier with civilisation

.

 

[snakybus]

Oh and it took me until this reading (my third) to figure out that the epilogue wasn’t some opaque allegorical mysticism but actually a description of

Spoiler

men laying the new railways into Texas and connecting this wild frontier with civilisation

.

Aha! I thought it was

Spoiler

folk drilling for oil, it being Texas

but your analysis makes more sense.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Oh and it took me until this reading (my third) to figure out that the epilogue wasn’t some opaque allegorical mysticism but actually a description of

Spoiler

men laying the new railways into Texas and connecting this wild frontier with civilisation

.

That makes sense although I thought it was

Spoiler

a far future post apocalyptic time where the progeny of men mimick the laborious toil of their ancestors like benighted idiot gods presiding over the desolation of a silent world

or something like that

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

That makes sense although I thought it was

Spoiler

a far future post apocalyptic time where the progeny of men mimick the laborious toil of their ancestors like benighted idiot gods presiding over the desolation of a silent world

or something like that

That’s what I used to think but given the time the book is set (1848-1850), the first

Spoiler

section of railroad in Texas was completed in 1853 (I looked it up today). I had a look online and there doesn’t seem to be any consensus on it, some people saying fences to indicate the creations of borders and settlements, and others saying oil or fossil hunters (the latter does link back to the third quote at the start of the book about prehistoric evidence of scalping) but these feel more tenuous to me.

 

[Cormcolash]

Finished a John Bruner omnibus the other week. Dude was fuckin way ahead of his time.

'The Sheep Look Up', 'The Shockwave Rider', 'The Traveller in Black'

None of them are as good as Stand On Zanzibar, but the first two are amazin predictions of the future of catastrophic capitalism in Murica.

 

[rettucs]

I'm lukewarm about Wilco, at best, and I did give it a good go to get into them. But this is a lovely read. His style of writing is very warm and free-flowing. And he some good old tales to tell too. Only 50 pages in but loving it.

 

[David Kronenbourg]

The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård. Genre, story and vibe-wise this should be my thing, but I wasn't feeling it. All the characters were interchangeable bores.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Heresy, occultism, murder and hot peasant sex in a 14th Century monastery. Yeah! Also very cool literary puzzles and hidden clues. A great book.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer. Just started this. Techno-thriller from the master. Main character is a hoot. Great so far.

 

[rettucs]

View attachment 17368

I'm lukewarm about Wilco, at best, and I did give it a good go to get into them. But this is a lovely read. His style of writing is very warm and free-flowing. And he some good old tales to tell too. Only 50 pages in but loving it.

this is a lovely little read. Its short and very easy going. But he's funny and interesting. One of the more enjoyable memoirs that I've read in a while.

 

[chris d]

Decided to give up on In Cold Blood last night, just under half way through. Felt horrible reading about real murders.

In Cold Blood - Wikipedia

 

[David Kronenbourg]

Ancient Evenings. Norman Mailers book about ancient Egypt. Pretty wild ride.

 

[MacDara]

The Morning Star by Karl Ove Knausgård. Genre, story and vibe-wise this should be my thing, but I wasn't feeling it. All the characters were interchangeable bores.

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco. Heresy, occultism, murder and hot peasant sex in a 14th Century monastery. Yeah! Also very cool literary puzzles and hidden clues. A great book.

Hummingbird Salamander by Jeff VanderMeer. Just started this. Techno-thriller from the master. Main character is a hoot. Great so far.

Eco’s great; Bee’s read The Name of the Rose a few times. I’ve only read Baudolino (on her recommendation, actually) but really enjoyed it.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

Decided to give up on In Cold Blood last night, just under half way through. Felt horrible reading about real murders.

In Cold Blood - Wikipedia

Yeah, I don’t know how people deal with true crime. I can barely cope with the news most days.

 

[rettucs]

I started reading 'Fairy Tale' by Stephen King while on my holliers last week.

the opening 160 pages are great. King at his best.

I sense its going to start getting weird now. And not necessarily in a good way.

Will see.

 

[Cornu Ammonis]

He’s great at the first half of his books.