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Currently reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy.

Any good?

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I used to be addicted to crystal meth, now I'm just addicted to Breaking Bad.

It's unrelentingly bleak if you like that kind of thing. Oprah did. Lots of people have, it seems. It's even being made into a movie.

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Bleacheddecay

i don't mind unrelentingly bleak. i don't see why any fan of reading should dislike a book simply because it's too bleak. it would be the same thing as disliking a book because it's too sexy, or too bloody, or too quirky. these factors don't exsist in my reading world.

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letterboxd

As they shouldn't.

Yeah, "bleak" is a good word to describe it. But it's effective. There's no way to write a story about a father and his young son struggling over a chilly, post-Apocalyptic landscape without telling a truly harrowing story. Everything hangs by a thread, and you wonder how they continue to endure despite the fact that they should very well be dead already. But because there are still pages to turn, there's still hope.

It's an interesting read. I'd certainly recommend it, if anything for McCarthy's minimalist style that somehow makes every little new discovery on the road just captivating.

I didn't see any hope in it at all. That was part of the problem I had with the book. I think Ash, we've had this sort of discussion before and disagreed.

There are reasons to dislike books and for me, too bleak, is definitely one of them. Another for me, is that there are no characters to actually like or pull for. No one was appealing, at all, in the book. It was a very slow book, there was no light in it, just darkness. I couldn't wait to finish it and move on to a book I could enjoy.

Well, I was speaking about "hope" more to the fact that, although they should be dead halfway in, McCarthy has 120-someodd pages more for me to read. So there's always something 'round the corner. It's that shimmer of hope and discovery amid all the darkness that I find appealing. If given the misfortune of being placed in their shoes, I'd like to think we could all muster the strength to see what's over the next hill.

I do think McCarthy sometimes glosses over the real hardship sometimes. To express fatigue, he'll say something like, "They were dog tired but somehow still carrying on," or mention that they slept for two days straight. That doesn't even begin to cut into the core of what it means to be utterly malnourished and exhausted. So, as bleak as the book is, it's a Four Seasons compared to actually living it.

As for characters, it really is an interesting read. I'm halfway in, and aside from the boy and his father, I've come across only one other speaking character (and that's a fleeting event, anyway). I think the point is to really root for the pair as they suffer all alone, and McCarthy constantly injects a little bit of innocence into the boy to keep you from feeling like it would be best if they just died.

Great post! I didn't see the book that way but I think it's wonderful that you do.

Parable of the Talents by Octavia Butler was great for me. It was bleak but hopeful at the same time. It was thought provoking and somewhat inspiring in some ways. If anyone wants to discuss it, or the previous volume, Parable of the Sower, I'd love to!

As part of a challenge in one of my online book clubs I'm attempting to read all of her novels this year. It's been such a great thing for me to do. I love her writing.

The Long Fall by Walter Mosley. He is one of my fav authors.

I'm reading the following (not quite simultaneously):

In trade paperback:


On Kindle:





And one in trade paperback I'm trying NOT to stop everything to read NOW, by the hilarious Chris Elliott of Cabin Boy and Letterman fame:

It's in the tradition of The Dante Club and The Poe Shadow -- a murder mystery set in the 1800s. But it looks absolutely fantastic, so I am HOPING I can restrain myself long enough to finish some of these others before delving into this one.

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I haven't fully read a book on my own in well over a year, but I'm trying. I'm reading NCFOM by Cormac McCarthy at the moment, but I'm only up to the fifth or so page of the third chapter. I've been finding it hard to get stuck into books lately.

I liked The Pillars of the Earth a great deal!

I'm enjoying the story in Pillars of the Earth. But honestly, I think his writing style just doesn't fit all that great with a massive historical epic story like this one. It's not terrible or anything. I just don't think he's capturing the time period in his writing "voice" or style here....

IMHO....

I'll keep reading for the storylines, though. Good story.

I agree about capturing the time period "voice." I also agree about the story though!

4/5 Everything I've read of Vonnegut's I've really liked.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Night Watch by Sergei Lukyanenko is interesting. It has witches, spirits, vampires and others in it. Not much happens really yet it pulled me along. It kind of reminds me of Asimov's Foundation Series in that way but not. I'll be reading the next one for sure. I hear they just get better and better.

No need for an introduction:

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Comment is free but facts are sacred

Congrats. Awesome book.