Oh, right, the tree. BM is savage as anything.

He really only felt comfortable when he was playing his guitar. The man had a true calling.

Oh snap! I was referring to the section bfred mentioned. It's damn brutal and unforgettable, but also kind of a spoiler. Whenever I'm discussing the book I tend to mention that segment.

Man, as a fan who kinda climbed aboard in the 90's with Too High To Die and worked backwards, it's so awesome to hear from folks who saw em in their prime. Sounds like it would've been a wild spectacle to behold.

I had to think about it… There's a dead child in The Crossing, and the protagonists in All The Pretty Horses and The Crossing are minors. No dead babies per se though. Lots of hopeless suffering all around so it's still pretty McCarthy. All The Pretty Horses is McCarthy-lite (like, Cormac McCartney) after the hellride…

Well, you gave it a valiant effort. Certainly, not every section is Dr. Benway or purple-assed baboons. The more you learn about Burroughs' technique of circumventing the conventions of grammar/language (trying to subvert "the Word Virus") the more you can understand why he wrote like that. His later books—eg., The…

The section on OJ Simpson really had me going. I had forgotten how batshit insane it is that OJ wrote a book about "If" he did it.

Yeah, McCarthy's work can double as a series of dead baby jokes—though they get it the worst in Blood Meridian. The part you are alluding to is absolutely horrific.

Finished McCarthy's Border Trilogy, chased it with Klosterman's welcome return to pop culture ruminations I Wear The Black Hat, now partway into Peter Ames Carlin's Bruce. By no means am I a Boss fanactic, but this is a pretty engaging bio.

I've got a powerful trio of words for ya: The Meat Puppets.

Not bad! I'm glad that No. 1 in Heaven ranks so highly on your list. I was sort of under the impression that it is not overwhelmingly loved, but I think it might be my fave of their albums.

Thanks! I'm just about to start it, can't wait. Two badass protagonists in one great read.

I love reading threads like these. Saga, Prophet and MP are all killer classics. I was already a big BKV fan, but I would gratefully credit this site for turning me onto the latter two.

Goon Squad was awesome. I dug the ending a lot, actually! The babies and their "pointers" were fairly feaky. It certainly was jarring and I agree, did not easily/naturally mesh, but it was a pretty poignant extension of the stories.

Blood Meridian is a heavy book. Read it four years ago and its toll is still deeply felt. Damn, what an ending.

Well, I'm happy to weigh in that IV is truly awesome. Pynchon at his most entertaining. Granted I was already a big fan, but it's the most delightful and breezy of any of his books. Go for it.

Maybe it's because QTip's on one track, but it occurs to me that Paul's Boutique-Check Your Head-Ill Communication are a comparable triple play. Probably a bit obvious to say so, I guess. They even kind of mirror the 1. party album-2. more serious album-3. best of both worlds progression of Tribe's first three…

Killer Mike's R.A.P. Music is one of the best rap albums I've heard in recent years. It's still killer a year later.

Nobody better tell Nardwuar.

Amen. You'd think there'd be anti-backlash. She's a powerful artist and performer.