No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy

[singlemalt]

started this one last night. fell asleep after the third page. i'm blaming myself, not the book.

the nice thing about falling asleep after three pages is that the book can only get better.

giddey-up!

[shamatha1]

I read an excerpt of this in Granta, I think, that I liked. And then in a recent Harpers, some guy did a review of this book/appreciation of McCarthy's oeuvre(sp?) that made me want to read all his books. I'm sure I can find the Border Trilogy used, but I'll have to wait for the new one to be out in paper.

[singlemalt]

I'm 1/3 of the way through this. It's a fairly quick read.

Here are three problems I have with the book.

1. Rough cut pages. What the hell is the problem with publishers and rough cut pages? If I'm paying 15 or 20 bucks for a hardcover -- you could at least have smooth freaking pagaes.

2. McCarthy seemingly has no rhyme or reason for using apostrophes. Sometimes he just simply doesn't use them. He seems to have a severe aversion to using an apostrophe before the letter "t," such as didn't or don't or wasn't. I don't get it. Hey, you're an older guy trying to be hip, but proper grammer is appreciated, holmes (note that the "l" in "holmes is pronounced).

3. The lack of quotation marks. Okay, when I first read a book that didn't use quotations marks (Night of the Hunter) I thought it was different and dream-like. Now after the fifth book or so that doesn't use them, it just pisses me off. Tell me who the fuck is talking and that they are actually talking.

So, there you have it.

[singlemalt]

halfway through. picking up. picking up indeed.

[singlemalt]

no update today. didn't get to read last night.

i had to take care of the wife, if you know what i mean. what i mean by that is, uh. . . i had to clean the kitchen.

[singlemalt]

i finished this a while ago.

i can forgive the rough cut pages. i can forgive the lack of punctuation. but i cannot, cannot, forgive killing off a major character 3/4 of the way through by way of a flashback told by a character we never met before. and then ending the book with a 20 page rant by another character?

therefore, i must call bullshit.

next.