tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post4494020648679252089..comments2023-08-19T14:12:52.220+02:00Comments on Reflection & Inquiries: Choosing what to readGeoffrey Foxhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-47911857647094550982011-10-04T16:02:41.919+02:002011-10-04T16:02:41.919+02:00If Dirk's effort has spurred you to make your ...If Dirk's effort has spurred you to make your own list, then it has achieved its purpose. I don't know what you mean by "American influenced." Dirk's list includes Russian, French, Chinese, Irish, English, German and Australian authors. I mentioned only two, one American and one Peruvian.<br />Thanks for your recommendation of David Mitchell's latest novel. I'll check it out.Geoffrey Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-39147658393844112902011-10-04T12:55:57.241+02:002011-10-04T12:55:57.241+02:00To what extent is your fiction choice American inf...To what extent is your fiction choice American influenced? I think I have read only 16 of the books on your list and 10 other books of authors mmentioned.<br />You have encouraged me to think about my own list - which certainly include 4 russian authors and a number of brits that don't feature on your list. <br />Looking at your criteria may I make one recomendation - David Mitchell "The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet"<br /><br />AndrewAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-15942910334174816732011-10-04T10:43:22.536+02:002011-10-04T10:43:22.536+02:00OK. I take your recommendations seriously, Dirk, s...OK. I take your recommendations seriously, Dirk, so I'll get <i>Blood Meridan</i> and read it. What I've read of his is <i>No Country for Old Men</i> and <i>The Road</i>; the unread McCarthy on my shelves includes <i>All the Pretty Horses</i>, <i>The Crossing</i> and <i>Cities of the Plain</i>, which I'll get to eventually if I live long enough.Geoffrey Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04041450398780043453noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4061009.post-25355253055013781362011-10-04T06:45:40.720+02:002011-10-04T06:45:40.720+02:00About: Cormac McCarthy. I've only read two of ...About: Cormac McCarthy. I've only read two of his books, Blood Meridian and The Road. I admired his prose, of course. There are paragraphs, particularly in Blood Meridian, where I would just stop reading and stare stunned at the page with amazement and admiration. It is breathtaking. But besides that there is something to be esteemed in his taking on a totally Hobbesian - society is not the right word, there ain't no social contract in the Sonora desert of Blood Meridian, not the faintest hint of one. And it is important and necessary to consider that possibility in human nature. I remember once I was at a reading by Robert Stone. Some one asked him why is books were always so depressing. He answered with words close to these, "The fact that terrible things happen and we can write well about them is not bad news." And it's no coincidence that the friend who put me onto Blood Meridian is one of the most thoughtful students I know of human nature, and one of the nicest guys.Dirk van Nouhuyshttp://www.wandd.comnoreply@blogger.com