My dad gave me this book from his bookshelf over the holidays. I'm not ready to read it yet, so I'll probably send it around on a bookring.

From the back cover:

"The book reads like a conflation of the Inferno, the Iliad, and Moby Dick... an extraordinary, breathtaking achievement." John Banville, The Independent (London)

"Blood Meridian is an epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, brilliantly subverting the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the 'wild west.' Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, it traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into a nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving."

This book is going out on a bookring. Here is the list of participants:

1. weeblet, VA
2. DopeyK17, PA
3. cyber-librarian, IL
4. Tish2002, MO
5. back to me, DC

When you receive the book, please post a journal entry that it has arrived and PM the next person on the list for her/his address. When you finish reading, make another journal entry (or else edit the first one) with your comments. No need to post a release note when mailing the book - please just note the next recipient in your journal entr(ies).

Enjoy!

Sending this out today to weeblet, along with a little surprise.

i'm reading as fast as i can!!
anyway, got it, will move it on asap. thanks sugarkane!

hmmm....
p.40
"The wrath of God lies sleeping. It was hid a million years before men were and only men have the power to wake it. Hell aint half full. Hear me. Ye carry war of a madman's making onto a foriegn land. Ye'll wake more than the dogs."
-the Mennonite

whew. this was *not* the feel good book of the year, by any means. i was slated to read steinbeck after this, but had to delay it for my mental health :)
an unapologetic and eerily unemotional account of the bloodlust/survival/murder for hire stain on that portion of our countries history. only one of many stains, sadly.
blood meridian is populated by a couple of standouts: glanton- seemingly the only character with *any* emotion, and it is directed at (some) animals. the judge- whoo-ee! a col. kurtz-ian fellow of singular appearance. towns he has recently vacated always seem to be missing a child...
this book was so hard to read... like a car wreck you know is coming: you just have to watch. the writing is descriptive and usually beautiful...
i'm interested in reading what everyone else has to say :)
thanks for sharing, sugarkane!
mailing 2/06...

Received this book a few days ago. I've got one or two books ahead of it, but will try to pass it along as soon as I can. Very much looking forward to reading it.

Just a quick update to let everyone in line know that I have begun reading this and hope to get it out to the next person within the next two weeks. I apologize for the delay. Unfortunately, my reading hours have been precious few the past month.

I received this in the mail today from DopeyK17 in PA ... as part of a bookring. I have 5 ahead of it and received 3 today. Murphy's Law that they all arrive at the same time. I will read this and send it on asap. You can check my bookshelf profile and see the status.

c. 1985 -- 337 pages -- Trade Paperback -- #54 on the Modern Library Reader's 100 Best Novels list

UPDATE: will start reading tomorrow 5/13

I finished reading this on 5/21 ... and plan to take it to the post office today. This had too much blood and gory details for my taste. I actually liked McCarthy's Border Trilogy better (which I've read All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing). I had a little trouble finding the point of the book ... it was almost like following a gangster's life or seeing how many scalps you can get to turn in for money. They were pratically as bad as the Indians. 'The kid' should have stayed home and never ran away. ;-) It was interested to follow the character development of the judge and the expriest. There definitely was too much violence for me.

Quote (page 168): "... was widely read in the classics ..." ;-)

I normally make release notes (cuz I consider the USPS the wild LOL) ... but I won't this time upon florafloraflora's request. I'm mailing this to Tish2002 today 5/24.

I got this today. I will journal again when I finish it.

This wasn't one of my favorites. It was quite brutal. Unfortunately, with recent events in Iraq and Saudi Arabia, you can witness the same kind of disregard for human life in the news. I think I need to find something a little lighter to read next.
I am mailing this back to florafloraflora next week.

7/27/04
This was mailed 6/28/04

This has arrived back home. Thanks, everybody, for taking good care of my book (especially to the person who replaced the original copy with one of her own: accidents will happen, and it was very nice of you to keep the book going). I will read this... at some point (although I have to admit, the bleak reviews aren't encouraging). Maybe it will go to my husband first.