So, according to many of my friends, every moment that I'm using them for something other than reading a Cormac McCarthy book, I am wasting my eyeballs while simultaneously causing affront to one or many gods. I have thus far managed to avoid reading any material by him for the twin reasons of my preference of biographies over fiction and Oprah Winfrey's rabid endorsement of The Road.
[It may shock you to learn this, but I fit exactly ZERO aspects of the 'sassy inner-city black woman' demographic, and often feel compelled to do the exact opposite of anything she recommends.]
Still, my friends all assured me that even though I wasn't part of the Oprah-nation, I need to be reading Mr. McCarthy at every waking moment, even going so far as to drill two holes through the books ala Very Hungry Caterpillar so I can hold it up to my face and read while I drive, if necessary.
And still, I remained skeptical...
But a few things may have finally shoved me across the hearth and into the fire.
First, Ben Nichols of Lucero hammered out a seven-track album influenced by McCarthy's book Blood Meridian. The two tracks I've heard so far have made me want to reach for a bottle and/or a pistol, and while that remark might sound cutting, I personally don't know how to pay a higher compliment. I am a person that spends 99.9% of his time in a level, moderate-to-good mood, and when something shakes my emotional snowglobe (for better or worse), I tend to take notice. It's one of the reasons Bruce Springsteen's Ghost Of Tom Joad is one of my all-time favorite albums; that album is so damn gritty that I feel like I need to floss after listening to it.
Second, Amazon has an excerpt in the review for Blood Meridian that reads colder than a polar bear's crotch: "The men as they rode turned black in the sun from the blood on their clothes and their faces and then paled slowly in the rising dust until they assumed once more the color of the land through which they passed."
Oprah be damned, I might have to pick up a copy of that sumbitch to read on the plane Friday. I should probably get more floss too.
Ben Nichols - Toadvine
AND WELCOME NEW FOLLOWERS!
5 comments:
O just cave and read THE ROAD. Every single person I have forced to read has loved it. Let me rephrase that: LOVED IT.
Sometimes Oprah is correct.
BTW: you won the giveaway at my crib. Eme with your address.
we're not actually true followers until we stalk you for a while..
I know this group, trust me.
and here I am - it's your post titles that get me in and then the fact that you are just damn funny keeps me here - hee hee sassy inner city black chick - I'm not even sure if we have such a thing - for better or worse we are such a bunch of ole whities - multi cultural Brisbane ain't much of a reality ... patches here and there
Oh and once you do read it we will expect a review :) cheers le
My wife was on Oprah once. So was her Mom. Come to think of it so were my daughters
I'm an honorary sassy black chick, just in case your wondering.
I loathe the book 'Very Hungy Caterpillar'. Those drawing give me nightmares.
Let me know how the book turns out. I have no time for that shit called 'reading'.
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