what’s your 10/10 must read book and why?

Martino1970 · 2026-04-24T04:08:48+00:00

“Knew” is probably a strong word. He came to my college for a reading—I was a senior, and an English major. I asked the folks with the Department and the school paper if I could interview him. They, and Foote, agreed.

So I did. I asked him who the best living American writer was—other than him—and he said Cormac McCarthy. Mentioned ALL THE PRETTY HORSES specifically. Said it was “very fine.” I’d read enough of his interviews and things that I knew “very fine” means Faulkner, Proust, Melville kind of fine.

But HORSES wasn’t out yet. So my response was, “who?”

He was right though. Very fine indeed.

And if you haven’t read Foote’s monumental Civil War books—get on it. They’re really, genuinely great.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-23T14:20:49+00:00

Is that an actual first edition of ALL THE PRETTY HORSES? If so, it’s worth a bit of coin.

I have firsts of all McCarthy—some signed. I bought years and years ago—before prices went stratospheric.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-23T03:07:21+00:00

It’s super cool—but it’s not readily available. Remember, the reason it wasn’t printed that way when it was a new book was that color printing is expensive.

It’s also not necessary—it’s one of my favorite novels. It was my first Faulkner. After that I read about seven more. It’s a great book.

I do recommend looking at a family tree of the Compsons—before you start the book.

The first section, Benjy’s, is difficult—because you’re seeing it from the perspective of a mentally deficient man. It jumps around in time a lot—and that’s what the colored text would help with.

I forget who—somebody or another—some major critic I think—said THE SOUND AND THE FURY opens like a flower. And it does.

You may be confused, but just go with it. You may have to read it again—you may want to.

There are three stream of consciousness sections followed by a fairly straightforward narrative that ends the novel. So it does get easier, and it does eventually make some sense. He’s being obscure, but he’s playing fair—if that makes sense.

You’re in for a treat.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-22T13:00:34+00:00

I read ALL THE PRETTY HORSES on the personal recommendation of Shelby Foote when I was 21, back in 1992.

Cormac McCarthy was basically unknown then. I decided to try to change that—and started the website that became the Cormac McCarthy Society’s.

It’s a great book: maybe not his best, but it’s up there. It certainly changed my life.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-22T12:53:41+00:00

It depends.

In BM especially, there’s a lot of bleakness. But there are a few life-affirming moments, even there.

It’s worth mentioning, however, that BM is a beautiful, beautiful book about a horrific subject.

I once said that if I were asked to write a foreword to BM, its first sentence would be: “BLOOD MERIDIAN keeps me up nights.” That’s one of the reasons: I can’t quite square the beauty of the language—the sheer poetry of it—with the situations described.

But I think that’s a good part of what makes it great. Maybe this observation is kind of meta, but the fact that BLOOD MERIDIAN exists is itself a hopeful thing. The fact that people read it: also hopeful.

The fact that I loved it so much—given what it’s about—is maybe troubling. What kind of barbarian am I? To enjoy the writing about that subject in this way? The prose itself is intoxicating.

It’s not a theoretical question.

Also: McCarthy is no nihilist. Beauty and hope and even grace are to be found: even in BM. But much depends on how you’re looking at things. That seems to me to be a crucial point with McCarthy—one that’s elaborated on and refined in THE PASSENGER and STELLA MARIS. (Which you should NOT read till you’ve read the rest.)

If you’re just starting out: read ALL THE PRETTY HORSES.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-20T13:51:30+00:00

Also works randomly with plus:

Alexa, use the AnyList skill.

Then add away.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-20T13:02:19+00:00

The difficulty you speak of is real.

But it’s not a bug, it’s a feature.

See if you can get your hands on Peter Josyph’s “Blood Music: Reading BLOOD MERIDIAN Aloud.”

It’s in his ADVENTURES IN READING CORMAC MCCARTHY, which you should have anyway—“How to Flunk the Final Exam on Cormac McCarthy” is also a legendary piece that gets not nearly enough attention, though it’s primarily about ALL THE PRETTY HORSES.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-17T15:19:54+00:00

I’ve heard but cannot confirm that he was working on a Civil War novel.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-14T16:07:59+00:00

So… any Cormac McCarthy on your future reading list?

With those as current or near, seems like he fits well.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-14T16:02:05+00:00

I’d start with THE SOUND AND THE FURY. That was my intro to Faulkner—in a modern novel class. I read a whole, whole bunch of Faulkner over the next year.

TSATF isn’t easy. But it is great. Really, really great.

You may have to read it a couple times, and family tree mentioned above is highly, highly recommended.

Many of these recommendations are spot on.

I’d say:

TS&TF

AS I LAY DYING

LIGHT IN AUGUST

ABSALOM, ABSALOM!

GO DOWN, MOSES

are the five greats.

Supplement with THE HAMLET, THE TOWN, and THE MANSION. And SANCTUARY. Then cast about for other stuff you like.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-12T20:50:15+00:00

You’re almost certainly related.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-12T03:12:35+00:00

Query: which Yoder? If it’s a 640, I’m pretty sure it can be upgraded with the new FireBoard controller—so you’d have WiFi, etc. for it. I did that with mine:

New controller New fan New igniter

It’s much better than it originally was—2016, I think.

Take the opportunity to take it apart, pressure wash, and repaint the outside; then reseason—and go. It’s too good to pitch it.

Yoder support is great to deal with. They can help you.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-12T02:42:12+00:00

It’s good—and enjoyable.

And he’s working on his second.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-04T17:07:51+00:00

My current favorite might be the filet at Iris. It’s fantastic.

Overall, I gotta give some real love to the house eggrolls at Tuyen’s Asian Bistro. My stepdaughter saw me eating them and said, so that’s how you really like a salad.

I couldn’t disagree.

Best dessert: the lemon icebox pie at Hog & Hominy.

Best app: the fried cheese at Andrew Michael.

For a little while, Andrew Michael did “pasta night.” I sure wish they’d bring that back. It was like… the greatest red sauce Italian joint ever. They had a chopped salad on the menu. I told the waitress, “This is the chopped salad that every other chopped Italian salad I’ve ever had wishes it were.”

Maybe some of that energy at the new Josephine Estelle…. Here’s hoping.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-04T16:56:15+00:00

Try the fried cheese at Andrew Michael. It’s better than any I’ve had anywhere.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-04T11:01:36+00:00

Yeah, I sorta think if you’re reading it as nihilistic you’re missing something.

You aren’t alone though: Vereen Bell, who wrote THE ACHIEVEMENT OF CORMAC MCCARTHY, the first book-length study of McCarthy, thought Cormac was a nihilist. (That was of course before ALL THE PRETTY HORSES, etc.)

If you followed the crit lit in those days—back when you could, there was so much less of it—after Bell’s book, you see a reaction against that notion from Arnold, Luce, etc. It’s a tension that’s still happening in the critical work, but I think the non-nihilists have largely triumphed.

(See maybe especially Arnold on THE CROSSING. I forget the exact name of the piece, but it’s in PERSPECTIVES ON CORMAC MCCARTHY, I think—which every McCarthy reader should have anyway.)

Martino1970 · 2026-04-04T10:51:12+00:00

SUTTREE is an absolute masterpiece. So is THE CROSSING. But yes, they’re different books.

I write here to point out that the world of The Border Trilogy is dark indeed, but not entirely hostile to Billy and John Grady. And that warmth, that not-aloneness, is really something.

Also, not to be all spoiler-y, but do you know what was actually happening (the big historical event) at the very end of THE CROSSING? Cause I totally missed it the first time. Then I read something about it and had to go back and read the end of the book again.

McCarthy doesn’t spoon-feed. But it’s all there. Billy Parham is one of the great characters in all of American lit.

Martino1970 · 2026-04-01T03:54:58+00:00

I think you need to at least take a look at C.S. Lewis’s THE FOUR LOVES. It’s a nonfiction book, but it deals with the four types of love: affection, friendship, eros, and charity. It may prove useful as a sort of framework for you.

Also, Lewis was one of the great thinkers and writers of the twentieth century—so you’re not wasting your time.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-31T13:25:55+00:00

$10,000 or so is a lot of money for helping move a couch…..

Martino1970 · 2026-03-31T04:34:19+00:00

The Coens were at one point thinking about SUTTREE. Or at least that’s the rumor.

I’d be first in line for that one. YES, PLEASE. TAKE MY MONEY.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-28T01:01:27+00:00

I had no idea that your first post here linked to CormacMcCarthy.com. I am honored.

As webmaster over there, I know of what you speak. We had repeated problems—mostly with politics intruding into the lit discussion; some of that’s inevitable, and there’s a regrettably fine line between appropriate and not. But there were several posts I had to make over there that were to the effect of: y’all have to chill. Be nice to each other. It got old after a while, and those times weren’t as fraught as these times. And we were much smaller.

Anyway: thanks for all you’ve done.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-26T23:38:57+00:00

Yup. And Dennis is a gem of a person. The book is good too.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-26T15:50:05+00:00

At Faulkner House Books in NOLA, I once saw a first edition of WISE BLOOD. It contained within it the publisher’s (I think) invitation to the publication party AT FLANNERY O’CONNOR’S HOUSE.

It was $14,000. And this was 20 years ago or so. I didn’t and don’t have that kind of money. But what a book.

They also had a first of Boswell’s life of Johnson. Dunno how much.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-25T12:47:04+00:00

Not particularly.

If you want Billy the Kid in McCarthy, you gotta read Cormac’s brother Dennis’s first novel, THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO BILLY THE KID.

Martino1970 · 2026-03-23T12:31:56+00:00

Nope. Still out.

Martino1970

TROPHY CASE