This is a mountaineering forum, so please keep your posts on-topic. Posts do not all have to be related to the 14ers but should at least be mountaineering-related.
Personal attacks and confrontational behavior will result in removal from the forum at the discretion of the administrators.
Do not use this forum to advertise, sell photos or other products or promote a commercial website.
Posts will be removed at the discretion of the site administrator or moderator(s), including: Troll posts, posts pushing political views or religious beliefs, and posts with the purpose of instigating conflict within the forum.
For more details, please see the Terms of Use you agreed to when joining the forum.
greenonion wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 1:52 pm
Next up:
Going to finally give Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian a try, yet quite violent and grisly apparently.
I've been wanting to read this as well. Especially now since the last article I read about McCarthy said, Blood Meridian is "unfilmable."
But 'they' said that about Life of Pi as well, and that turned out pretty damn fantastic (I thought).
We’ll see how much I can stomach.
Yes, Life of Pi, the book and movie, were super good.
greenonion wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 1:52 pm
Next up:
Going to finally give Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian a try, yet quite violent and grisly apparently.
Awesome! McCarthy is my favorite author, and BM is my favorite book. Try to think of the gratuitous violence as a plot device; the point is to quickly desensitize you, which mirrors the moral decline of the book's subjects. If you find yourself struggling to follow the format of the prose, I highly recommend Richard Poe's narration in the audiobook.
greenonion wrote: ↑Sat Nov 18, 2023 1:52 pm
Next up:
Going to finally give Cormac McCarthy’s Blood Meridian a try, yet quite violent and grisly apparently.
Awesome! McCarthy is my favorite author, and BM is my favorite book. Try to think of the gratuitous violence as a plot device; the point is to quickly desensitize you, which mirrors the moral decline of the book's subjects. If you find yourself struggling to follow the format of the prose, I highly recommend Richard Poe's narration in the audiobook.
Blood Meridian is excellent, and much of the bare facts of the Glanton Gang’s expedition are historically accurate. If you are new to Cormac McCarthy, his most accessible writing is arguably the Border Trilogy that begins with All the Pretty Horses. Excellent and far more pathos than the detached violence of Blood Meridian. Having read his entire canon, I can recommend almost all of it although I had a hard time getting into his latest: Stella Maris / The Passenger.
rmcpherson wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:55 am
Blood Meridian is excellent, and much of the bare facts of the Glanton Gang’s expedition are historically accurate. If you are new to Cormac McCarthy, his most accessible writing is arguably the Border Trilogy that begins with All the Pretty Horses. Excellent and far more pathos than the detached violence of Blood Meridian. Having read his entire canon, I can recommend almost all of it although I had a hard time getting into his latest: Stella Maris / The Passenger.
Yep, I read All the Pretty Horses and the second of that trilogy, but not the third. And have read the Road and No Country for Old Men. McCarthy can be pretty ruthless and it sounds like BM takes it to another level. We’ll see how it goes. Again, I appreciate the insight from a couple folks here on McCarthy and BM.
rmcpherson wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:55 am
Blood Meridian is excellent, and much of the bare facts of the Glanton Gang’s expedition are historically accurate. If you are new to Cormac McCarthy, his most accessible writing is arguably the Border Trilogy that begins with All the Pretty Horses. Excellent and far more pathos than the detached violence of Blood Meridian. Having read his entire canon, I can recommend almost all of it although I had a hard time getting into his latest: Stella Maris / The Passenger.
Yep, I read All the Pretty Horses and the second of that trilogy, but not the third. And have read the Road and No Country for Old Men. McCarthy can be pretty ruthless and it sounds like BM takes it to another level. We’ll see how it goes. Again, I appreciate the insight from a couple folks here on McCarthy and BM.
Having a hard time with some specific language in Blood Meridian, so I don't know...
rmcpherson wrote: ↑Sun Nov 19, 2023 8:55 am
Blood Meridian is excellent, and much of the bare facts of the Glanton Gang’s expedition are historically accurate. If you are new to Cormac McCarthy, his most accessible writing is arguably the Border Trilogy that begins with All the Pretty Horses. Excellent and far more pathos than the detached violence of Blood Meridian. Having read his entire canon, I can recommend almost all of it although I had a hard time getting into his latest: Stella Maris / The Passenger.
Yep, I read All the Pretty Horses and the second of that trilogy, but not the third. And have read the Road and No Country for Old Men. McCarthy can be pretty ruthless and it sounds like BM takes it to another level. We’ll see how it goes. Again, I appreciate the insight from a couple folks here on McCarthy and BM.
Having a hard time with some specific language in Blood Meridian, so I don't know...
Blood Meridian is in my top five books I've ever read. It's an extraordinary parable on violence. McCarthy gets some flack for what some people see as an uber-masculine approach to tradition, but I frequently see his works as a deconstruction of that. Blood Meridian feels like the ultimate satire on American Manifest Destiny, where the violence, rape, destruction, and exceptionalism is laid as bare as it can possibly be. And that includes the language, which doesn't mince words on exactly how horrific American exceptionalism and expansionism actually is/was. If you view the language that way instead of as voyeuristic or exploitative, I think you'll have an easier time.
It's also just a damn good story with tons of references to Milton's Paradise Lost, so that was a nice set of easter eggs!
njlinderer wrote:Perhaps this was already recommended but I just finished "Empire of the Summer Moon" by SC Gwynne. It's about the Comanche Indians and what happened when they met the westward expansion. Blew my mind how formidable the Comanche warriors on horseback were...true bad*sses. And some great under-told history as well.
This book was amazing. Highly recommended and not for the weak in the stomach.
I just finished this book and since it hadn't been mentioned here is some time, bringing up for anyone interested in the history of the american west and an in depth understanding of the "cowboy and indian" wars. Fascinating.
If you read it, you will never drive down HWY 287 in Texas between Amarillo and Wichita Falls without an appreciation for all the history (and blood) right under your feet.
The Myth of American Idealism by Noam Chomsky and Nathan J. Robinson (the editor-in-chief of Current Affairs magazine). Incredible, detailed report on how the US f*cks with other countries. You might find some similarities between the strategies used to upend democracy and human rights around the world and how it's currently being used here in the US right now.
Merlin’s Tour of the Universe, Revised and Updated for the Twenty-First Century: A Traveler’s Guide to Blue Moons and Black Holes, Mars, Stars, and Everything Far by Neil deGrasse Tyson. I started audibling it a couple of weeks ago, ahead of his presentation at the Pikes Peak Center last night. After the preso, I ordered a signed hardcover copy. He's one of the few authors that can pull off narrating his own stuff (though he does get a lot of help with this one!). It's not his typical nonfiction, but rather a novel about a fictional character who travels through time, conversing with historical characters to answer questions about the universe.
For We Are Many by Dennis E. Taylor. This is the second of five volumes in the "Bobiverse" series, which I'm revisiting after audibling the fifth book a few weeks ago (it's not out in print yet). So, yeah, I started over again, from Book 1, We Are Legion (We Are Bob). The first three books are my favorites. If you're new to the genre, I think you'll still find the series very accessible. If you're already into it - or you're an engineer - you will totally geek out.
And Calypso by David Sedaris. He just spoke here in Colorado Springs, and he was hilarious. I used the opportunity to pick up a book of his that I hadn't read, and get it signed, too. I've *just* started it, but so far, so very, very funny.
"An Unfinished Love Story" by Doris Kearns Goodwin
The legislation and politics of the 1960's is presented beautifully and with a heartbreaking, "Unfinished" conclusion.
If your parents were in high school or college in the 1960's, you must get this for them.
Younger readers will find it really hard to believe that at one time, this nation passed so much groundbreaking, positive
legislation is such a short period of time - and started "The Peace Corps, etc.
As I read this novel, I cried - gut punched - at the loss of what this nation could have become.
Hampton Sides had a new book titled "The Wide Wide Sea".
If you like accurate historical research brought to life in an entertaining story-like adventure that leaves you feeling like you learned something along the way, this is a must read.
In this work, the telling of the 3rd of James Cook's round the world trips. Fun insight, Captain James Cook is the name that likely gave rise to t.v. character Captain James Kirk. The adventures of one being no less exotic and dangerous than the other.
It is cliche to say, but it draws you in and is hard to put down.
