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- Thread starter saliotthomas
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753C
Active Member
The only McCarthy I've read so far is The Road, and I have to say I devoured it, and certainly enjoyed it. If "enjoyment" is the right term.
I've not tried the trilogy yet, of which All the Pretty Horses is a part, but have tried at least twice to read Blood Meridian without success. Just too.....I don't know, intense is what comes to mind, but that isn't all of it. I found it unrelentingly brutal is the best way I can put it.
I have to start the trilogy one of these days, the books are staring at me reproachfully as I type. heh
All the Pretty Horses is one of my all time favorites. I re-read it every couple of years. I can't say I like everything I have read by McCarthy though. If you wanted to try something lighter by McCarthy, "Suttree" Was pretty entertaining, very funny in spots. Sort of like Huckleberry Finn on acid.
Peder
Well-Known Member
BookManEd
New Member
and a half! A sci-fi/eco/horror in which pre-teen children start killing adults.
beer good
Well-Known Member
Sjón, From The Mouth Of The Whale. A story of superstition, xenophobia, discovery, myth, understanding, blah blah blah, mostly set on a small island off 17th century Iceland where Catholicism and biology is considered idolatry, where the sun never rises, where magic is either coming back or dying off for good, always centered around equinoxes, the world either growing darker or opening up. The more we illuminate, the more darkness we see. An Icelander invited to the court of Denmark's finest scientist pisses himself laughing when he's shown a unicorn horn. Sjón's stories and lyrics are always full of shapeshifters (I'm a fountain of blood in the shape of a girl), both as characters and as the very ground (physical or meta-) they walk on. I'm not sure this is quite up there with The Blue Fox, but damn, it's got some power to it.
MonkeyCatcher
New Member
Them: Adventures with Extremists by Jon Ronson. A very refreshing take on investigative journalism, Them is an account of Ronson's experiences with a variety of "extremist" groups ranging from the KKK to Israeli fundamentalists in England. Rather than focussing on their differences and eccentricities, Ronson does a fantastic job of showing how similar their beliefs are, and I found his informal style of reporting to be quirky and interesting; you really get to see how he sources his information and follows up leads. He reminded me a lot of Louie Theroux, who I absolutely adore. I'll definitely be looking out for his other publications (particularly The Psychopath Test).
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Hah, funny you should say...I bought The Psychopath Test just a bit ago, couldn't resist the cover.
I'll look out for Them. Thanks.
pontalba
Well-Known Member
Have finished the first three of a series of four.
Le Crime, L'Assassin and The Terrorist by Peter Steiner.
Ex-CIA operative quits, walks across France, settles down and of course runs into murder and mayhem. Namely a body being dumped on his doorstep and various members of his somewhat alienated family back in the U.S. being persecuted by.....ahhh, that's the question. It's not a bad series, the books improve as the reader advances.
Steiner makes the reader care whether or not the various participants survive.
I read them all in about 2 days, the electric was out due to Hurricane Isaac.
Le Crime, L'Assassin and The Terrorist by Peter Steiner.
Ex-CIA operative quits, walks across France, settles down and of course runs into murder and mayhem. Namely a body being dumped on his doorstep and various members of his somewhat alienated family back in the U.S. being persecuted by.....ahhh, that's the question.
It's not a bad series, the books improve as the reader advances. Steiner makes the reader care whether or not the various participants survive.
I read them all in about 2 days, the electric was out due to Hurricane Isaac.
Alexander III
New Member
I just finished Mary Shelley's Frankenstein! I think everybody knows what that one's about. I enjoyed it tremendously!
beer good
Well-Known Member
Nikanor Teratologen, Assisted Living (re-read). And I'm still not sure if this orgy in nazisatanic mysticism, pedophilia, ultraviolence and Foucault and Lacan references is the "hillbilly Finnegans Wake" the postscript hails it as or the literary equivalent of Human Centipede. There's no denying the guy's flair for language, for picking apart the very fabric of any context (societal, literary, historic) and turning it into almost Lovecraftian chaos, but all the imagery and all the namedropping gets tiresome after a while. A book this offensive shouldn't be this boring; a book this funny shouldn't be this controversial. At best, it's an inverted literary hydrogen bomb, wiping out all the structures and leaving only the people alive.
Also, I'm not sure any of you should care, since from what I can tell, the English translation is horrible, so I'm mostly talking to myself here.
Somewhere between
and 
. Aren't we all.
Also, I'm not sure any of you should care, since from what I can tell, the English translation is horrible, so I'm mostly talking to myself here.
Somewhere between
and . Aren't we all.PrincessFiona60
Member
Nikanor Teratologen, Assisted Living (re-read). And I'm still not sure if this orgy in nazisatanic mysticism, pedophilia, ultraviolence and Foucault and Lacan references is the "hillbilly Finnegans Wake" the postscript hails it as or the literary equivalent of Human Centipede. There's no denying the guy's flair for language, for picking apart the very fabric of any context (societal, literary, historic) and turning it into almost Lovecraftian chaos, but all the imagery and all the namedropping gets tiresome after a while. A book this offensive shouldn't be this boring; a book this funny shouldn't be this controversial. At best, it's an inverted literary hydrogen bomb, wiping out all the structures and leaving only the people alive.
Also, I'm not sure any of you should care, since from what I can tell, the English translation is horrible, so I'm mostly talking to myself here.
Somewhere between
At least your description of it means it's not one I'll be looking for. Not my cup of tea!
beer good
Well-Known Member
How did you like it? I've read two of Maalouf's books so far (Leo Africanus and The Crusades Through Arab Eyes) and really liked them, so I'm looking for excuses to find more of his books...
I just finished "11th Hour "
By James Patterson (Women's Murder Club #11)
I know he has begun to write his books with another author but they are a quick read and I always enjoy them.
Now I've begun Karin Slaughter's book "Criminal." It's not her best but I'm only into it 100 pages. I hate when they introduce a lot of people all at once. I'm sure I'll finish it though.
On hold at the library iswaiting for me.. "Line of fire" by Stephen White."
By James Patterson (Women's Murder Club #11)
I know he has begun to write his books with another author but they are a quick read and I always enjoy them.
Now I've begun Karin Slaughter's book "Criminal." It's not her best but I'm only into it 100 pages. I hate when they introduce a lot of people all at once. I'm sure I'll finish it though.
On hold at the library iswaiting for me.. "Line of fire" by Stephen White."
Landslide
Well-Known Member
Hi Jewels. We already have a thread where you can post what you finished reading so yours has been merged with it. Feel free to keep posting your reads here.
Peder
Well-Known Member
With a Daughter's Eye by Mary Catherine Bateson. A memoir by their daughter of both her parents, Margaret Mead and Gregory Bateson -- al three, anthropologists -- with interesting perspectives from both her childhood and later mature years and, indeed, interesting thoughts and observations on the writing of memoir.