Such things definitely are connected.Originally Posted by Brice
Both are signs of the world moving on.
Such things definitely are connected.
Both are signs of the world moving on.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Despite the duh-comment, Cormac is a great writer. I don't know what he's like personally. But he does have a 1,000-page-plus book to his credit. The Everyman's Library edition of The Border Trilogy (an omnibus collection of three novels) is 1040 pages.
It's not as if he's written a 1,000 page book by itself but rather three seperate novels that when combined amount to 1,000 pages.
But yeah, his comment is a bit silly. As long as the author is good enough people will read it.
Although I will admit if your name isn't J. K. Rowling or Stephen King, it might be harder to sell such a huge book to the publishers.
A hound will die for you, but never lie to you. And he'll look you straight in the face.
My Collection
or promoted by oprah the way cormac wasIt's not as if he's written a 1,000 page book by itself but rather three seperate novels that when combined amount to 1,000 pages.
But yeah, his comment is a bit silly. As long as the author is good enough people will read it.
Although I will admit if your name isn't J. K. Rowling or Stephen King, it might be harder to sell such a huge book to the publishers.
Spoiler:
if the worlds gonna end then let's get it over with, i got shit to do
I think we should all get together and throw all our thousand plus page books at Cormac.
Edit: I have MANY.I'll be the one in the front row shouting USE PUNCTUATION BITCH to the beat of each book hitting him.
and I won't say hate, because I have read one or two, but I dislike mysteries. They're just a notch up from romance novels.
"So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the King, obey the King, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the King? What if the King massacres the innocent? It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or another."
Hmmm.... I like real gothics which when properly done are often both mysteries and romances.
I think we should all get together and throw all our thousand plus page books at Cormac.
Edit: I have MANY.
damn dude, I literally laughed out loud on that one. I've got many as well, let's go find the fucker. While we're at it, I'll throw a thesaurus and a copy of my Redbook Grammar Study. It's about 3 pounds.
"So many vows. They make you swear and swear. Defend the King, obey the King, obey your father, protect the innocent, defend the weak. But what if your father despises the King? What if the King massacres the innocent? It's too much. No matter what you do, you're forsaking one vow or another."
Yeah, what's up with him and punctuation. Is there an interview where he expounds on that perhaps?
I think we should all get together and throw all our thousand plus page books at Cormac.
Edit: I have MANY.Great idea.
I have two complete encyclopedias including Britannica, Every version of the bible, and more novels then I can list that are 1,000+ pages... In short I have a library that will make our dear punctuation deficient friend VERY unhappy.I think we should all get together and throw all our thousand plus page books at Cormac.
Edit: I have MANY.
damn dude, I literally laughed out loud on that one. I've got many as well, let's go find the fucker. While we're at it, I'll throw a thesaurus and a copy of my Redbook Grammar Study. It's about 3 pounds.
I think we should all get together and throw all our thousand plus page books at Cormac.
Edit: I have MANY.
I have a lot of respect for Cormac, but I disagree with him here. Mainly because it doesn't matter how long a book is, if it's good, I'll read it. If it isn't, I won't. Not much more too it than that.
As for why he doesn't use traditional punctuation, I know he's addressed it on a few occasions but I can't really remember his exact reasoning. Something about how commas, quotation marks, etc. distract from the words and are unnecessary. It's definitely a unique way of looking at things. McCarthy has proved that he knows what he's doing, so it's really not that big of a deal, for me at least.
I am just finishing The Road, and the lack of quotation marked bothers me as well. And, its the only book that I have EVER read that seemed to have this glaring omission. (other McCarthy books excluded) Also, there is an overabundance of sentence fragments. I am all about poetic license, but sheesh, some of the stuff is downright unreadable.oh, don't even get bears or daghains started... it was so annoying...I've only read The Road and No Country for Old Men, but his lack of quotation marks disgruntled me.
By the way, Dmitry Bykov - my favorite author of those currently writing in Russian - comes up with another 1,500-page-long novel every two years or so... and they are not mysteries... and I'm not even mentioning I've read every one of them at least three times (because bears may be weird), but only saying that his popularity is steadily growing with people, too, and this in our difficult times...
Edit: And, I am pretty sure he made up a good deal of the vocabulary.
Sloth Love Chunk
Loved:
THE ROAD
NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN
ALL THE PRETTY HORSES
First, I take his statement to be a generalization, not meaning the "nobody" as literal.
Second, this is a fan website dedicated to a writer of some long books, and the site is specifically dedicated to a series of seven novels that tell one long story. We're not a representative sample of readers from the general populace. Therefore I do not believe that we, in and of ourselves, disprove his statement.
I'll play the Devil's Advocate for McCarthy and say that I can understand what he's trying to say. Modern readers have evolved (or devolved) in the last century, and the onset of Faulkner and Hemingway paved the way for more mainstream authors (like Stephen King). Most writers nowadays don't employ the flowery, almost turgid prose of, say, Nathaniel Hawthorne... and if they do, they don't write a 1000-page work in it. McCarthy's right, at least in the fact that people's patience has changed radically when it comes to literature.
"I aim to misbehave."
-- Malcolm Reynolds
"I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I soar."
-- Hoban Washburne
"What does that make us?"
"Big damn heroes, sir."
"Ain't we just."
-- Malcolm Reynolds and Zoe Washburne
The only book I read of Cormac's was The Road and I was disapointed by his writing style. However, he is probably right as it relates to sales of long novels. As far as the punctuation issue, I'm currently reading The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood, and its told from a narrator's standpoint and no quotes are used.
I don't think he actually means no one. He's generalizing about the readers of mass-market and trade paperback fiction, i.e. most of the literate public, and to a large extent, I agree. This is the same class of people-albeit more affluent-that novelists like Dickens & Co. were writing for in their day, but the culture they inhabited has been completely eradicated.I'm in with the others here. Comments like this irritate me - give readers a little credit, would ya? Maybe there are a lot of people who wouldn't even consider a 1,000 page novel, but to flat say "Nobody will read it." is pure ignorance. Perhaps McCarthy was speaking of his own readers?
I don't know if you've read Neil Postman's Amusing Ourselves to Death, but it essentially states that the linear, rational society we once had has been completely obliterated in the post-industrial age. Communication is no longer dependent upon the construction of linear, rational, persuasive arguments, but by the conveyance of a series of episodic, dramatic images and sounds. It was written a decade before the Internet Age so I'd imagine his conclusions were only reinforced by subsequent events.
I explained the plot of The Dark Tower to a friend of mine online a while back, and after a while she discovered that it was over 2,500 pages-long. If her reaction can be distilled into a few snippets of Internet jargon it would be, "OMG, WTF??!"
I figured that one out when I got married.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Sloth Love Chunk
Two new books coming this Fall. Wow.
all those people in 2009 who wanted to throw 1000 page books at Cormac McCarthy?
Just looking at his picture on a dustjacket makes me think he could whip all of their asses!
Wanted
CD Carrie Portfolio 719
Dark Tower S/N LE's 171 or 203
ANY Stephen King S/N LE #171 or 719
A Storm of Swords #218 or 346
Ancillary Justice #455
American Gods (+ SC Reader copy) #624
Michael Whelan original art
DT VII: Michael Whelan Remarque
Not to judge a book by its cover, but I really don't care for the version being shown by B&N which I assume is the final version. Seems more appropriate for a Murakami-type novel. The plot doesn't sound all that intriguing, but I guess we will see. Hope springs eternal.
I’m looking forward to these books it’s been a long time coming.
Though I’m having some trouble finding a site to pre order the US editions.
My usual is book depository but they don’t seem to be listed. Maybe I’m too impatient.
If anyone knows of a site who can deliver to the UK with adequate packaging I’d appreciate it.
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