I read that one years ago, but the first sequence is still so vivid to me. The rest of the book is now, as it probably was as I was reading it to some degree, a blur.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Dev wrote:I just finished Blood Meridian. Quite the ending on this one.
Yea! One of the greats. That ending is fucking twisted, it still haunts me...
For my money, All the Pretty Horses is the best Cormac MccCarthy. The language is
breathtaking, and his usual darkness is reserved for a couple choice scenes;
contrasted with the overwhelming beauty of the story, it makes those rough patches
feel all the worse, even though they are relatively tame (compared to his other works).
I prefer The Crossing over All the Pretty Horses by a slight margin.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
E.H. Ruddock wrote:I enjoyed it. But I'm somewhat of a McCarthy apologist
How so? I just regard him as an exceptionally talented writer who took a while to let go of his "lurid is compelling" streak that marked his earlier works. Once he stopped trying to challenge me with gross out scenes, his books became top-shelf.
I read a few of his books and just loved them. After that he could just not write anything bad in my eyes
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 6:08 pm, edited 1 time in total.
VinylGuy wrote:its really tiresome to see these ¨good guys¨ talking about any political stuff in tv while also being kinda funny and hip and cool....its just...please enough of this shit.
Dev wrote:I just finished Blood Meridian. Quite the ending on this one.
I swear I'm the only person in the world who didn't like this one.
Not true.
Many, many, MANY people don't like it.
Renouned critic and scholar, Harold Bloom actually hated it and stopped reading on his first attempt. It took him three times before he was able to finish the novel. He now calls it the best novel in the Western cannon, though. But the point still stands. It took him several looks before he even liked the thing.
Same with me. I got about 100 pages in and just fucking stopped. Because it's terrible. Hopefully, buy my third time, I'll be able to appreciate the thing.
Steve Albini wrote: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.
Last edited by tragabigzanda on Sun January 11, 2026 6:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.