The Road, Cormac McCarthy

 "He walked out in the gray light and stood and he saw for a brief moment the absolute truth of the world. The cold relentless circling of the intestate earth. Darkness implacable. The blind dogs of the sun in their running. The crushing black vacuum of the universe. And somewhere two hunted animals trembling like ground-foxes in their cover. Borrowed time and borrowed world and borrowed eyes with which to sorrow it."- Cormac McCarthy, The Road

       I recently finished Cormac McCarthy's The Road. It was definitely a heart-wrenching read, never mind that I was nearing the book's conclusion during Thanksgiving break. I certainly maintained my Clean Plate Club status with The Road in mind.
        Sometimes when I reach the end of a book I like to read the final pages out loud. I sat upright on the edge of my bed reading the end of this book choking and blinking to see past my tears. McCarthy's brief, stunning sentences turned what I intended to be a 25 page reading into a 75 page one, leading to me finishing the novel. This book wrung me out and I lay on my bed afterward like a crumpled sweater subjected to the weak Mount Holyoke dryers (that cost $1.50 a load, mind you). I went to the bathroom for tissues and made awkward eye contact with floor mates. Feeling expository I explained, "I just finished a book. I AM AN ENGLISH MAJOR." I don't know what reaction I thought that might get me... I blame the earth shattering encounter with loss I had just experienced for my delusion.
        Anyway, I then told every person I came into contact with how important it was that they understand how shaken this book had left me. It was horrifying. It was so beautiful. Parts of the story made my stomach feel like gelatinous cranberry sauce from a can, swaying in its perfectly disgusting mold of the aluminum can it called home for probably much longer than I as a consumer would like to believe. Other parts left thousands of paper cuts on my center and serated my sternum with brutal rusting tragedies.
        This book ruled. You should read it! I rated it four stars on goodreads (and in my heart.)
I'm hoping to read Blood Meridian, or The Evening Redness in the West soon, which is one of my brother Alexander's favorite books. My favorite passage from The Road is up at the top of this post.

Thanks for reading!
-M


**Shout out to Carter for lending me his copy of the book!

Introduction / About the Blogger!

Hey y'all!

        I figured it would make sense for me to write up a li'l introduction and include some details about myself!
        At this very moment I have just taken a relaxing lemony bath after a long day of finishing final papers and packing to leave school for winter break. I am a sophomore at Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts and I study english. I hope to work in publishing children's literature someday. I also aspire to become a certified-trained doula. I like animals, plants, vegan food, punk stuff,  and learning.
        I am starting this blog as a sort of archive of things I read and the impact they have on me. I hope that this blog will be a cure to a case of reader's block I have had for some time, during which I have had so much trouble being able to read for pleasure or to document outside of papers the influence books I have read have had on me. I had a blog similar to this one that I ran in middle/high school wherein I reviewed books as well as albums. I am hoping that this will serve a similar purpose to that blog as a collection of my thoughts and feelings on literature that moves me or helps me to grow in some way or another. This blog is probably going to be very informal, I just want to have fun and that requires my being honest and true to myself and my personality / opinions. (I.e. weird). Posts here may not have perfect grammar or spelling, I may make strange references or tell silly anecdotes. I have no quota of books I plan to read, but I do hope to read 50 books in 2014. I am also currently trying to read 3 books before the end of 2013, but we will see how that goes!

Hmm, I suppose that's all for now!

Thanks for stopping by,
-M

Also, here is the link to my GoodReads, where I will be tracking and rating books I've read / want to read/ am reading. Friend me!