Afternoon, everyone.
I hope you've all had a chance to get your books. I heard of some problems so I waited a few days to start this post. If you do have it, feel free to start. I think the best way to do this book is going to do it in two halfs, three weeks for each half. If you someone could see a good halfway point, let me know in the post and we'll settle it from there.
I'm also going to be making periodic posts regarding the book and the author to give us some more insight or perspectives or just know the author's mind some more. I encourage everyone to do the same because it really adds to the atmosphere. For example, here's a *Science Friday* podcast with Cormac McCarthy, Werner Herzog, and Lawrence Krauss that I found fascinating.
Enjoy!
EDIT: My formatting didn't work from my phone, so it lost the list and link. Here's the Science Friday link: http://www.sciencefriday.com/segment/04/08/2011/connecting-s...
eightbitsamurai, StJohn, DiamondLou86, AnSionnachRua, _refugee_, minimum_wage, flagamuffin, fuffle, b_b, hugitout, JakobVirgil, zebra2, AdSeriatim, mk, thenewgreen, SufficientGrace, ecib, kleinbl00, cliffelam, hootsbox, lil, rezzeJ, cgod, blackbootz, onehunna, AshShields, BLOB_CASTLE, insomniasexx, kuli, cowboyhaze, louderwords, Floatbox, maynard, hiss, NikolaiFyodorov, Meriadoc, wasoxygen, BlackBird, jayfixkleenit, crimsonlight, Kaius, spearhard
@eightbitsamurai@, @StJohn@, @DiamondLou86@, @AnSionnachRua@, @_refugee_@, @minimum_wage@, @flagamuffin@, @fuffle@, @b_b@, @hugitout@, @JakobVirgil@, @zebra2@, @AdSeriatim@, @mk@, @thenewgreen@, @SufficientGrace@, @ecib@, @kleinbl00@, @cliffelam@, @hootsbox@, @lil@, @rezzeJ@, @cgod@, @blackbootz@, @onehunna@, @AshShields@, @BLOB_CASTLE@, @insomniasexx@, @kuli@, @cowboyhaze@, @louderwords@, @Floatbox@, @maynard@, @hiss@, @NikolaiFyodorov@, @Meriadoc@, @wasoxygen@, @BlackBird@, @jayfixkleenit@, @crimsonlight@, @Kaius@, @spearhard@You may want to "shout-out" to those that said they'd like to participate. Out of site, out of mind.
No, I mean to username -shout out to all that said they wanted to participate. For example thenewgreen, insomniasexx, StJohn etc… edit: Now I see that you have. Did you before? I didn't get a notification if you did.
If anyone was wondering about the "latterday republic of Fredonia" that he mentions in passing, it's got a pretty interesting Wikipedia page. Always loved little stories like this.
That is extremely helpful, thank you. I had never heard of this uprising and anyone that is going to read this book ought to check out that link. Some nice framework for what you are about to read.
Is there supposed to be a link for the Science Friday thing? I'll share my thoughts on Blood Meridian soon. Bad news is that I just started it yesterday. The good news is that I was trapped for a long stretch with nothing to do but read, so I killed 100 pages.
It starts slow (slow as in not all that compelling, not slow as in slow-paced) and it's hard to get a grip on what is happening, as the scenes flash by in a quick and matter-of-fact way. About 80-100 pages in it gets good. Chillingly good. I can't really put it down at this point, even though the descriptions of depraved violence (even toward children) get quite detailed at some points. I'm hooked.
VERY new! Regardless, there's no minimum time to be included, so I've added you to the list. You haven't been around for the other book clubs, but there aren't really any rules, but we do ask that you try your best to keep up and be involved in the discussion. This time we are going to do the book in two segments, with an appropriate midway point still to be determined. Most of the changes come from the group as a whole and you'll find them in the conversations more than my posts; mine are just a guideline for the reading and a way to set a destination for conversation. The first list you see is there to make sure everyone gets the posts and are included in the conversations, the second is for copy-pasta when making your own post regarding the book. You're allowed to make any post at all regarding the bookclub and use that to make sure everyone gets it. Other than that, enjoy!
Absolutely. The Hubski Book Club is open to all. It will be nice to have someone so familiar with the book. What promoted you to read this book twice?
A few reasons, firstly i'm a pretty big Cormac McCarthy fan and have read several of his novels: All the pretty horses, No country for old men, The Road. The first time I read Blood Meridian I really enjoyed it but had the constant feeling that there was a lot more to this book, hidden depths I guess. There is an old Irish saying "Uisce ag sileadh faoi an talamh" which translates as water flowing under the ground... On the surface it was a violent wild west saga full of cruel and weird characters but there was always a sense that I was missing something. And indeed I was. I started searching around and found out a few things that opened my eyes, the first of which was the Yale analysis class on Blood Meridian. Probably best left until you have finished the book. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FgyZ4ia25gg http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7ZFmf4T5L3o So once I understood what McCarthy was trying to accomplish I reread the novel a couple of years later and enjoyed it again in a whole new light.What promoted you to read this book twice?
I'm just at page 100 and after reading last night, I looked up images of scalped people/native americans. I could have done without the actual images and should have stuck to my imagination. This book is already pretty gruesome and to think that it gets more so is rather incredible.
Yea its pretty tough, all I can say is stick with it. There is a lot of debate over whether the violence actually represents anything or not. The book opens with 3 epigraphs: It is not to be thought that the life of darkness is sunk in misery and lost as if in sorrow. There is no sorrowing. For sorrow is a thing that is swallowed up in death, and death and dying are the very life of the darkness
– Jacob Boehme Clark, who led last year’s expedition to the Afar region of northern Ethiopia, and UC Berkeley colleague Tim D. White, also said that a reexamination of a 300,000-year-old fossil skull found in the same region earlier shows evidence of having been scalped
– The Yuma Daily Sun, June 13, 1982 Personally I think he is setting the tone here by saying "Humans are violent, we have always been violent". I'll let you come to your own conclusions.Your ideas are terrifying and your hearts are faint. Your acts of pity and cruelty are absurd, committed with no calm, as if they were irresistible. Finally, you fear blood more and more. Blood and time
– Paul Valery
I know that people might not be at this point yet, but there are a lot of things that I'm unsure of visually in this book. Anyway, when I got to the line below, I did a search. The image is NSFW, though not too graphic (no closeup of syphilitic genitalia or anything). "many of them were lovely and many more bore the marks of syphilis."
Ooh, I'm so excited. Could someone who has read it suggest how we break it down and discuss it?
There seems to be a natural break about half way through when the group of riders changes from being heroes to murderers. I think the point after (without trying to give any spoilers yet) the band of apaches are slaughtered is basically half way. The book is much darker after that (which doesn't really seem possible until it is).