What are you currently reading?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[4/5]

I was thinking of reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time. Should I? Where do people recommend starting?

All the Pretty Horses
Blood Meridian
The Road
No Country For Old Men

All four of these are masterful. The first two are much more verbose; the latter two are very sparse. I would rank them in that order as far as the enjoyment I got out of them, but YMMV.

ATPH is his lightest, most "upbeat" (relatively speaking)
Blood Meridian is really dark, but also really fun
The Road is BLEAK
No Country is a ripping good yarn

Nice. Thanks for the response.

[wease]

Hoping to finish Bossypants while Papa Wease is in surgery

how is it?

Finished it.

It was quite enjoyable. Funny, informative. Highly recommended.

[epilogue]

I was thinking of reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time. Should I? Where do people recommend starting?

All the Pretty Horses
Blood Meridian
The Road
No Country For Old Men

All four of these are masterful. The first two are much more verbose; the latter two are very sparse. I would rank them in that order as far as the enjoyment I got out of them, but YMMV.

ATPH is his lightest, most "upbeat" (relatively speaking)
Blood Meridian is really dark, but also really fun
The Road is BLEAK
No Country is a ripping good yarn

Nice. Thanks for the response.

The Road is completely brilliant.

Blood Meridian is completely impossible. And dudes way smarter than me have abandoned it several times before finally "getting" it and finishing it. I got about 100 pages in and had to bail. Maybe some day I'll revisit.

I haven't read anything else by him because he's kind of an insufferable wang and I got better things to do and limited time to waste. But the two new ones he just dropped seem interesting and I'm thinking about picking those up.

[The Argonaut]

I failed at reading Blood Meridian at least two or three times over the course of ten years before finally succeeding a couple years ago. I was 100 pages in and realized I had no idea what was going on. After finally getting through it, I can definitely say it is worth it. It's a beautiful book, unique, sticks with me.

I wouldn't necessarily start there, though

[BurtReynolds]

I was thinking of reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time. Should I? Where do people recommend starting?

All the Pretty Horses
Blood Meridian
The Road
No Country For Old Men

All four of these are masterful. The first two are much more verbose; the latter two are very sparse. I would rank them in that order as far as the enjoyment I got out of them, but YMMV.

ATPH is his lightest, most "upbeat" (relatively speaking)
Blood Meridian is really dark, but also really fun
The Road is BLEAK
No Country is a ripping good yarn

Nice. Thanks for the response.

That's a pretty good order. I'm not the biggest fan of No Country, because some of the dialogue is unbearable. But it's fine. The Passenger is a weird one, but I like it. It covers a lot of the area I grew up in, and has the second funniest character in fiction (the first is Harrogate from Suttree).

[VinylGuy]

i read No Country and The Road and both were good.

[blueviper]

I was thinking of reading Cormac McCarthy for the first time. Should I? Where do people recommend starting?

All the Pretty Horses
Blood Meridian
The Road
No Country For Old Men

All four of these are masterful. The first two are much more verbose; the latter two are very sparse. I would rank them in that order as far as the enjoyment I got out of them, but YMMV.

ATPH is his lightest, most "upbeat" (relatively speaking)
Blood Meridian is really dark, but also really fun
The Road is BLEAK
No Country is a ripping good yarn

Nice. Thanks for the response.

That's a pretty good order. I'm not the biggest fan of No Country, because some of the dialogue is unbearable. But it's fine. The Passenger is a weird one, but I like it. It covers a lot of the area I grew up in, and has the second funniest character in fiction (the first is Harrogate from Suttree).

I'm halfway through The Passenger, is this funny person

Spoiler: show

The Thalidomide Kid?

[epilogue]

Starting Virtuoso by Yelena Moskovich

[BurtReynolds]

Certainly gives a rosy outlook for the US! Somehow every future disaster benefits us and only us. Maybe it's true. I dunno.

I suspect some globalist neolib chicanery and hijinks here, but I haven't looked into it.

Good book though. Worth the read.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[BurtReynolds]

From what I remember (And i kinda blitzed through it), Australia will starve to death (and have to deal with Asian disintegration).

Japan has no resources and hostile countries between it and those resources.

Canada is just The US, Jr., so they'll be fine. Mexico might be, too. Maybe Argentina.

France and Turkey will be ok.

BTW, how much of a scam is green tech?

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[BurtReynolds]

A lot of the book hinges on demographic collapse. I'm not expert enough to comment, but it seems like it could be overblown. I've heard for decades about how Japan is about to collapse, but they're still here.

Plus, for all I know countries will start growing humans in vats at some point.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[tragabigzanda]

Whenever there's active promotion on the part of somebody else, whenever I see somebody all dolled up for a fancy photograph and someone's handing out flyers or whenever there's active promotion for something like that, as an imposition on my day, I hate all those people and I want them to fail. I have a visceral reaction to advertising and promotion. There's just something about salesmanship that grates on me on a very base level and I react very negatively towards it. I want those people to suffer and I want their enterprises to fail.

[BurtReynolds]

Yeah. Birthrates are definitely cratering, and it's not good, but I just wonder if it's really as apocalyptic as everyone says it is (outside of maybe Korea and Japan). Plus, it seems like the countries that could survive it would be in great shape once they get over the hump.

Increasing access to childcare seems like the wrong way to go. The point should be to find time for parents to actually raise and enjoy their children. They'd have to upend their whole culture to do that I guess.

[4/5]

I ordered All the Pretty Horses, thanks again.

Currently reading

[dad]

I'd completely forgotten that I'd been gifted The Border Trilogy for Christmas. Might try to start that one after I finish The Sun Also Rises.

[The Argonaut]

I've only read All the Pretty Horses in that trilogy, not sure why I never made my way into the others. Wilkerson is another obvious lacuna. I must rectify both