Community Room

[Vermontcozy]

I never thought of "All the Pretty Horses" as anything but a stand alone book,powerful,realistic and a love story ,dangerous..Especially if you like the West,the plains,the border towns.I must admit a Crush on Cormac McCarthy..Vtc..

[Paul_Hochman]

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Vermontcozy wrote:

All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy Series #1)   My only read by Cormac McCarthy..Dark,beautiful,and must read the next 2..has anyone read it?"The "Road" sounds excellent.

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I've read everything he's written. He's one of our last living masters. Check out The Crossing. It may just be his best and it'll break your heart over and over again.

[Paul_Hochman]

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Vermontcozy wrote:

I never thought of "All the Pretty Horses" as anything but a stand alone book,powerful,realistic and a love story ,dangerous..Especially if you like the West,the plains,the border towns.I must admit a Crush on Cormac McCarthy..Vtc..

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John Grady Cole returns in Cities of the Plain.

[Vermontcozy]

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PaulH wrote:

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Vermontcozy wrote:

I never thought of "All the Pretty Horses" as anything but a stand alone book,powerful,realistic and a love story ,dangerous..Especially if you like the West,the plains,the border towns.I must admit a Crush on Cormac McCarthy..Vtc..

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John Grady Cole returns in Cities of the Plain.

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Thank you for that..Should one read "The Crossing #2 and then "City of the Plain" is there a storyline that continues with #2,or can I just read 'Cities of The Plain' and pick up from there?Ah,John Grady Cole... V

[Vermontcozy]

The Road  

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PaulH wrote:

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Vermontcozy wrote:

All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy Series #1)   My only read by Cormac McCarthy..Dark,beautiful,and must read the next 2..has anyone read it?"The "Road" sounds excellent.

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I've read everything he's written. He's one of our last living masters. Check out The Crossing. It may just be his best and it'll break your heart over and over again.

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Another Broken Heart,well,ok,Cormac McCarthy is worth all that .I thought every page of "All The Pretty Horses" was a work of art.Pen21,twj,are speaking very highly of "The Road" I respect their taste,so I am assuming you have read it as well..V

[Paul_Hochman]

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Vermontcozy wrote:

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PaulH wrote:

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Vermontcozy wrote:

I never thought of "All the Pretty Horses" as anything but a stand alone book,powerful,realistic and a love story ,dangerous..Especially if you like the West,the plains,the border towns.I must admit a Crush on Cormac McCarthy..Vtc..

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John Grady Cole returns in Cities of the Plain.

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Thank you for that..Should one read "The Crossing #2 and then "City of the Plain" is there a storyline that continues with #2,or can I just read 'Cities of The Plain' and pick up from there?Ah,John Grady Cole... V

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You can read "Cities" first but I'd suggest you read "The Crossing" first as the main character plays a big role in "Cities".

[Vermontcozy]

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PaulH wrote:

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Vermontcozy wrote:

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PaulH wrote:

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Vermontcozy wrote:

I never thought of "All the Pretty Horses" as anything but a stand alone book,powerful,realistic and a love story ,dangerous..Especially if you like the West,the plains,the border towns.I must admit a Crush on Cormac McCarthy..Vtc..

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John Grady Cole returns in Cities of the Plain.

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Thank you for that..Should one read "The Crossing #2 and then "City of the Plain" is there a storyline that continues with #2,or can I just read 'Cities of The Plain' and pick up from there?Ah,John Grady Cole... V

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You can read "Cities" first but I'd suggest you read "The Crossing" first as the main character plays a big role in "Cities".

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Ater the Holidays, and FirstLook..I look forward to reading both...Was it always marketed as a Trilogy?V

[thewanderingjew]

I read All the Pretty Horses a long time ago and remember liking it but not much else so I searched and found this site if anyone is interested. I also read Volume two of The Border Crossing Trilogy, The Crossing and got hooked by Cormac but I never read the third volume for some reason but perhaps I will now that I have rediscovered it. The links I provided give a synopsis and/or analysis of the books.

Whoops, sorry Paul, if I have repeated anything you wrote, I seem to have missed reading a page of replies.

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Vermontcozy wrote:

All the Pretty Horses (Border Trilogy Series #1)   My only read by Cormac McCarthy..Dark,beautiful,and must read the next 2..has anyone read it?"The "Road" sounds excellent.

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[thewanderingjew]

This is a great website on the movie The Road. Here is another.

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liisa22 wrote:

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thewanderingjew wrote:

I had a different take on the absence of names in The Road...one was that there was no need since basically, there were only two characters. The need to define individual characters with different traits and names is often to help us identify with them. In this book, there was only one father and one son. If he said son, only one would answer and the same goes for the son, if he said father, only one father was there to respond. There would be no confusion for the reader.

Also, the use of the terms father and son only, really enhanced the starkness of the novel for me. It seemed to illustrate the emptiness and the ruin more profoundly.

Does anyone plan to see the movie?

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Do I plan to see the movie?   good question.  I really don't know.  I just don't know that they can do it justice.  Who is producing and directing?  

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[kpatton]

I've appreciated reading all of the book suggestions and the discussion around several of them.  I am glad that I have had the opportunity to read many of them, including All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing.  Looks like I need to get going on McCarthys newer books.

I wanted to suggest two books which I have recently read that were great.  One was The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff.  The other was The Story Sisters by Alice Hoffman.  They are very different from one another, but both very good.

Kathy

[Paul_Hochman]

 Vermontcozy wrote:

Ater the Holidays, and FirstLook..I look forward to reading both...Was it always marketed as a Trilogy?V

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I believe so, although McCarthy wrote "Cities of the Plain" first (as a screenplay I think?).

[thewanderingjew]

This interesting link indicates that "Cities of the Plain (1984), predates the publication of the novel by the same name by 14 years. Both screenplays in this collection, Cities of the Plain (1984) and Whales and Men (n.d.) are unpublished."

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PaulH wrote:

 Vermontcozy wrote:

Ater the Holidays, and FirstLook..I look forward to reading both...Was it always marketed as a Trilogy?V

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I believe so, although McCarthy wrote "Cities of the Plain" first (as a screenplay I think?).

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[Vermontcozy]

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thewanderingjew wrote:

This interesting link indicates that "Cities of the Plain (1984), predates the publication of the novel by the same name by 14 years. Both screenplays in this collection, Cities of the Plain (1984) and Whales and Men (n.d.) are unpublished."

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PaulH wrote:

 Vermontcozy wrote:

Ater the Holidays, and FirstLook..I look forward to reading both...Was it always marketed as a Trilogy?V

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I believe so, although McCarthy wrote "Cities of the Plain" first (as a screenplay I think?).

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Hi Twj..Will look into it..Cormac is just one of the finest writers for me..I will continue on after the Holidays...A link for all to see its one of my favorites sites for BookReviews    newslettters@n.npr.org              Lynn Neary's is a good one ...She just gets it  for me..Good  Site..allthingsurbanfantasy.com  as well,, Vtc     

[thewanderingjew]

My family is arriving for a visit tomorrow and I will not be around much so I wanted to take this opportunity to wish everyone a great holiday and a happy new year.

twj

[Coral50]

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Zia01 wrote:

I just finished listening to the audiobook version of the road. What a powerfully dark read. It will stick with me for some time to come.

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Hi Zia01

I read "The Road" last year and it is still with me. It touched me deeply. Life is precious.

Cora

[Coral50]

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pen21 wrote:

I read the Road this year. That was one of the best books I have read.

I was completely involved with the characters, but not one name was used in the book.

That still baffles me to have a whole book without a name used, just son, father, etc.

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 No names or punctuation. First time I've read a book like this.

Cora 

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[JaneM]

One of the things I found most interesting about McCarthy's Border Trilogy is the use of untranslated Spanish dialogue throughout.  I speak a little bit and so could get the gist of what was being said, but sometimes it just went right over my head.  Don't forget that he also wrote No Country for Old Men, which was a fabulous movie out last year.

No Country for Old Men  

[krb2g]

The only Cormac McCarthy I've ever read was

Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West. I enjoyed it because it read like a romance in some ways (I'm talking here about the literary genre that started in ~14th century France): even though the novel is set in a specific historical milieu, there's a sort of blurring of detail (with characters named "The Judge" and "The Kid") that makes it feel like an ur-legend of the American West. I'm thinking I should be reading some more McCarthy in all my spare time...

On a completely different note, was anyone else snowed in this weekend? I was staying at my grandmother's farm in Northern Virginia (without internet) and we had 16" of snow! Unfortunately, I left my snowboots at my parents' house in Maryland, and my play-in-the-snow clothing at my apartment in Charlottesville! I still managed to get out and get some good pictures though. I'm thinking (and hoping) the snow won't melt before Friday, so we can have a white Christmas!

[coffee_luvr]

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krb2g wrote:

The only Cormac McCarthy I've ever read was

Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West. I enjoyed it because it read like a romance in some ways (I'm talking here about the literary genre that started in ~14th century France): even though the novel is set in a specific historical milieu, there's a sort of blurring of detail (with characters named "The Judge" and "The Kid") that makes it feel like an ur-legend of the American West. I'm thinking I should be reading some more McCarthy in all my spare time...

On a completely different note, was anyone else snowed in this weekend? I was staying at my grandmother's farm in Northern Virginia (without internet) and we had 16" of snow! Unfortunately, I left my snowboots at my parents' house in Maryland, and my play-in-the-snow clothing at my apartment in Charlottesville! I still managed to get out and get some good pictures though. I'm thinking (and hoping) the snow won't melt before Friday, so we can have a white Christmas!

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Yes, I am in No. VA near Dulles and we got 20+"........very pretty but hard on the back when shoveling.  I too hope the snow hangs around until after Friday.

[Vermontcozy]

I am so taken by the description of the book,that it will go to the nearly top of my TBR ,its so ironic that there are so many fan's of Cormac McCarthys books,each of us reading either 1 or 2 of his books..Bringimg to our atention others..I imagine we all get so caught up with so many Authors,then we do come back to Authors that we absolutely love ..Thank you...Vtc

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krb2g wrote:

The only Cormac McCarthy I've ever read was

Blood Meridian or the Evening Redness in the West. I enjoyed it because it read like a romance in some ways (I'm talking here about the literary genre that started in ~14th century France): even though the novel is set in a specific historical milieu, there's a sort of blurring of detail (with characters named "The Judge" and "The Kid") that makes it feel like an ur-legend of the American West. I'm thinking I should be reading some more McCarthy in all my spare time...

On a completely different note, was anyone else snowed in this weekend? I was staying at my grandmother's farm in Northern Virginia (without internet) and we had 16" of snow! Unfortunately, I left my snowboots at my parents' house in Maryland, and my play-in-the-snow clothing at my apartment in Charlottesville! I still managed to get out and get some good pictures though. I'm thinking (and hoping) the snow won't melt before Friday, so we can have a white Christmas!

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