If there is a better living American author out there, I would like to know about him or her. Cormac McCarthy is just so good. Cities of the Plain is the third title in his Border Trilogy and is equally good as the first two books in series, All the Pretty Horses and The Crossing. As with the first two novels, you have a story set in the Southwest, near the Mexican border, where underspoken cowboys live in a changing world that is starting to phase them out. You also have McCarthy's standards: excuisite writing, a blind sage, brutal fights, and interesting asides into philosphy. This book brings together the main characters from the first two books--John Grady Cole from All the Pretty Horses and Billy Parham from The Crossing. John Grady falls in love with a young Mexican prostitute, who he wants to marry and bring back to the United States. He must wrest her away from her Mexican owner/pimp, however, which is not a rosy proposition. The story and the dialogue are always deceptively simple but endlessly interesting. I would love to read some literary criticism on McCarthy's novels because you always get the sense that there is more there than what you can get out of it on the first read.
In related news, McCarthy just came out with a new book called The Road, which is supposed to be awesome. We got it for Spencer for Christmas, so he'll have to let us know what he thinks of it.
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Oh to read a book again.... Since Roman was born I haven't read a thing. But I am starting back to work in February, and possibly working a lot of night shifts. So I'll have more time to read and I'll be asking for some suggestions.
I'll have to check him out. My favorite living author at the moment is Jonathan Safran Foer. He wrote "Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close"
It's just fantastic.
Amber, I checked out Mr. Foer on Amazon, and he sounds great! Have you also read his first book, Everything Is Illuminated? They both sound fantastic. I'll have to put those on my list. Thanks for the recommendation!
I've read both of Mr. Foer's books, but I like Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close the best by far. I don't want to spoil anything for you, so let me know when you're done so we can chat.
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