Dan’s Comments (group member since Mar 02, 2009)

Dan’s comments from the fiction files redux group.

I wrote a blog post about coming across stuff at my library in NY. Here's the gist:

The first of my finds was a due date slip from 1989 which was a pretty long time ago (I was 8!). This isn't the oldest due date slip I've come across, it's merely the one I didn't lose.

The second item I found was a small religious flyer warning about the possibility of going to hell and whether it was worth risking it. This flyer was two sided as you can see in the image below. I've heard the rumors that there was once a staff member here a long time ago that used to place these sorts of flyers into books as the were either cataloged or checked-in (I can't remember which). I am not even sure how something like that was ever allowed to happen here in the library as it seems rather improper.

How did i not see the similarity before!? This is amazing JWJ.

Sure thing, I move in on the 18th so I should hopefully have the library reconstructed and organized within the following week.

I remember really liking your library Patty. Or maybe that was just me liking hanging out with you and the poet. :)

Patty wrote: "I'm going to finish this morning. I think the answer to your question, Brock, is "no."

I wonder if the rest of you struggle with the writing sometimes, the way that I do. It's not the vocabulary..."

I felt the exact same way both times that I've read this now. It's the rereading of these types of sentences that grows tiresome. I've also wondered if it is intentionally challenging in this manner when the judge is involved. I don't remember the two other McCarthy books I've read being like this, but I also have a bad memory.

I'm still not even certain the judge exists outside, in the real world (of this story). I thought this especially with the scene where the judge stalking the kid and the ex-priest. Perhaps the judge, as evil and the ex-priest, as some type of good are projections of the kid. Maybe it's stupid to even think that?

I did end up liking this book a lot more the second time despite myself being more confused at times about what's going on.

You know Mo, you are right she is nearly infinitely quotable. I have highlighted quite a few passages from this relatively brief novel.

I also have to agree that it doesn't seem that any character lingered too long, nor departed too early. It seems we were given the precise amount of character development needed for their role in the story. I can't imagine it's an easy thing to balance.

Wow, I liked this book a lot more than I expected. Because it is nearly 1:30am I am just going to paste the review I wrote of the book here. I hope to be able to add more to the conversation once I get some rest.

"Aside from hearing the title and the author's name I knew nothing of this book prior to picking it up the other day. I did so because a number of friends were reading the book together and knew I should get in on the action. I am glad I did.

This was a wonderfully straightforward tale rendered beautifully by simple yet powerful language. It was the type of book that evoked sentimentality from me. For what though, I'm not really sure. As another reviewer (Mo) says, "i like the sense of nostalgia that permeates the book." Here is an example of that nostalgia that really struck me:

As I went back alone over that familiar road, I could almost believe that a boy and girl ran along beside me, as our shadows used to do, laughing and whispering to each other in the grass.

A special thanks to all the FFs who's reading it right now. I'm glad I picked this one up."

Those were some pretty nice libraries. My library currently sits in boxes in the garage. Well most of it does, some of my fancier books are in a book case at my parents and a large portion of my greco-roman collection are with a friend attending grad school in Canada. I'll likely have a reunified collection by the new year.

In a couple of weeks I'll be moving to a smallish place in downtown Phoenix and will be setting up my personal library there. Maybe I'll post some pictures when it's done.

I was so disappointed to find this wasn't the paperback cover of WOH I cancelled my pre-order.

As is often the case I am behind. I have about 50 pages of Blood Meridian to finish off. But I did manage to find a public domain copy for the e-reader which means I don't have to dig through boxes in the 110 degree garage.

So what I am saying is that I'll be starting and hopefully finishing My Antonia this long holiday weekend.

This is such a great thread Brock and Patty! Sorry I haven't brought more to it, though it would likely pale in comparison.

Your differencing experiences Patty are quite great to read about, it is amazing how the world has changed in such a short time. I had no idea that Judge Holden may have actually been a real guy. I am going to be reading some of this historical stuff for a while now that you've got me started.

This book truly is remarkable, sadly my ability to focus on reading is not. This being my second time reading it I am finding it a much richer, and more beautiful experience.

In Chapter XII there is the Slaughter of the Gilenos (page 156ish) and unless I am missing something (which is entirely possible) the Judge appears to be entirely absent from the killing. If I am not wrong about this, what's going on here? Does this say something about the Judge's realness?

Going back a few pages to 147 I was really struck by this passage:

His (Judge) eyes were empty slots. None among the company harbored any notion as to what this attitude implied, yet so like an icon was he in his sitting that they grew cautious and spoke with circumspection among themselves as if they would not waken something that had better been left sleeping.

Again we find the judge nearly naked and less than human-like. We also find McCarthy's great prose and an ominous tone.

And how great is this description? (page 169):

Blood bubbled from the man's chest and he turned his lost eyes upward, already glazed, the capillaries already breaking up. In those dark pools there sat each a small and perfect sun.

I should be in if i can dig up my copy of it. I have been having a hell of a time focusing lately, maybe this will help.

Anyone else see this today?

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/16/1375290...

Brock wrote: "In Blood Meridian, Toadvine plays one of the main comical characters. But he is funny, but perhaps the way he is funny is not funny. He wears an absurd outfit decorated with at least 100 human ears on it. Later in the novel, after Toadvine is hung on the Judge's testimony, the Kid buys the necklace of ears and wears it himself. In many ways, from the aborigines to the savages, warriors are dressed as clowns. "

I like what you say about the type of comedy or perhaps the complexity of the comedy found in this novel. It's perverse and absurd. I also think that the Kid taking over the necklace furthers that absurdity but also showing that the world at it's basest doesn't really change: The horrors of war continue on.

Getting back to the Judge: The description of the party's first encounter with the Judge, sitting alone on a rock as if waiting for a ride is quite funny, it is in this chapter (ten) that the Judge makes the gun powder, and is also supposed to be drunk, without the presence of alcohol, while sitting in the stream completely naked (and hairless) with one of the Delaware indians.

I am still most impressed with Roth's writing in American Pastoral. From what I remember (and it ain't much) Sabbath's Theatre was definitely well written but doesn't have the same beauty or language that Blood Meridian or Lolita has. I can't specifically recall being struck by any of Roth's sentences either in ST or any of his other books I've read.

I get the sense that Roth intended Sabbath to be repulsive for much of the book. It seems like it wasn't until the second half did I have any sympathy towards him, in spite of that repulsiveness. Nabakov makes us sympathize with Humbert Humbert from the very beginning.

It's never too late! I have slowed down considerably in my reread as my brain has decided to shut down this week.

I think, Breakfast of Champions. Though correct me if I'm wrong.

Try to have it before the 13th of August, because that's the day,i believe, I go back to work.

I guess so, i saw the preview today before seeing Another Earth.

There's a movie adaptation of this coming out soon. here's a link to the trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oQFTEv...

you won't hear me complain about that. The roslyn area is incredible.