Author Topic: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers  (Read 3077 times)

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RoaryMcTwang

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #60 on: February 21, 2023, 05:49:08 AM »
Yo is this thing already dead in the water before the first round has even begun or what? Come on slap!

matty_c

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #61 on: February 22, 2023, 02:26:31 AM »
It’s hard bro it would be easier if we were sitting round a table with a few drinks

It was sick how the judge geed everyone up to kill the preacher. I liked how later someone asks him something and he admits he never seen the bloke before and they all laugh and someone buys him a beer

I liked what Rory said about god doesn’t exist but the devil might. What happened so far is pretty much saying god is dead. I liked it how the kid and toadvine went and killed that other bloke and burned the hotel down. It’s like in this story one can do whatever and get away with it. You probably could do shit like that back in the day

Sorry for not putting too much effort into this I am rooted from work it was hot today. Hopefully we have more intelligent discussion as we get further into the book
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RoaryMcTwang

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #62 on: February 22, 2023, 05:13:13 AM »
It’s hard bro it would be easier if we were sitting round a table with a few drinks

It was sick how the judge geed everyone up to kill the preacher. I liked how later someone asks him something and he admits he never seen the bloke before and they all laugh and someone buys him a beer

I liked what Rory said about god doesn’t exist but the devil might. What happened so far is pretty much saying god is dead. I liked it how the kid and toadvine went and killed that other bloke and burned the hotel down. It’s like in this story one can do whatever and get away with it. You probably could do shit like that back in the day

Sorry for not putting too much effort into this I am rooted from work it was hot today. Hopefully we have more intelligent discussion as we get further into the book

No worries mate, much appreciated. A few more posts to get things going and then maybe we an develop some momentum with this

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #63 on: March 07, 2023, 05:14:02 PM »
Anyone still reading? I finally started getting into it. It's not what i was expecting but I'm enjoying it so far. I feel like it's hard to say much about a book when you're only 2 chapters in though.
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RoaryMcTwang

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #64 on: March 09, 2023, 11:52:59 PM »
Anyone still reading? I finally started getting into it. It's not what i was expecting but I'm enjoying it so far. I feel like it's hard to say much about a book when you're only 2 chapters in though.

I'm still down if other pals are. Who else is still on board?

pugmaster

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #65 on: March 11, 2023, 02:17:39 PM »
I read the first two chapters. After the first page, I found it really hard to keep reading. The lack of punctuation makes reading dialogue an arduous task. I'm trying to keep an open mind because I like westerns and whatnot. Hoping the kid comes across a prospector at some point. I'm also hoping the plot becomes more than a series of bar fights and description of the kid traveling to another place and meeting some random person.
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rawr1922

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #66 on: March 11, 2023, 02:42:55 PM »
Any recommendations on where I can read for free?

pugmaster

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #67 on: March 11, 2023, 03:03:06 PM »
Any recommendations on where I can read for free?

Check your PMs
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beatifk

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #68 on: March 11, 2023, 03:28:36 PM »
I read the first two chapters. After the first page, I found it really hard to keep reading. The lack of punctuation makes reading dialogue an arduous task. I'm trying to keep an open mind because I like westerns and whatnot. Hoping the kid comes across a prospector at some point. I'm also hoping the plot becomes more than a series of bar fights and description of the kid traveling to another place and meeting some random person.

Haha, it's a really difficult book to read. And it doesn't really go beyond descriptions of traveling around and various fights but rather it escalates to extremes. That's kinda the point of the book I think. There is a 'conflict' later in the book between characters but I think really the meat of the book is all the gruesome detail and relentless gore which was the foundation of the formation of the great country of the the U S of A.

I've read it twice and I don't really want to spoil it for those who are reading it currently, but I would recommend pressing on if you can. It is a very difficult book to read. It's not pleasant and it's not particularly 'poetic' or 'literary' but it does put you into a certain state of mind like a hypnosis or something.

No Country For Old Men is McCarthy's most beautiful and poetic book, but Blood Meridian is a book like no other, and therein lies its importance.

Sketch Hitchcock

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #69 on: March 11, 2023, 06:18:51 PM »
My copy’s on its way.  I’ll be playing catch up this week.

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #70 on: March 11, 2023, 07:55:03 PM »
If you're writing a post in this thread that contains spoilers you should alert people at the start of the post
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modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #71 on: March 14, 2023, 02:13:42 PM »
spoilers contained in this post I am at page 129.

I think I'm about a third of the way through right now.

This book is so gnarly. Although at times I'm finding the brutality is almost too much. Like when the group of Indian-hunters find that old village with the disheveled prospectors staying there and the Mexican child, then the next morning they wake up and the child is somehow dead and has his spine broken, and they just ignore it. How did that happen? He was alive the previous day and it was an uneventful night. There is just so much death and bloodshed. Or when the black guy cuts off his rival's head around the campfire and they all just kinda ignore it and ignore the corpse with blood spurting out of its neck. I suppose it's supposed to be just an overwhelming amount of death.

Overall I'm really enjoying it though. The lack of grammar was hard to read at first but I've gotten used to it now and it was definitely written in this way for a reason. The writing style of certain scenes has really portrayed how fast the bloodshed happens.

I'm waiting to see what kind of political angle this book will take. At this point it has painted a pretty nasty picture of the native Americans. We'll see where it goes though.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2023, 07:45:12 PM by modern life is war »
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pugmaster

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #72 on: March 14, 2023, 06:23:32 PM »
Thanks for putting the spoiler alert in your post. I wonder if it would be helpful to specify where the spoiler is located?

Something like, "Spoiler alert: Do not read unless you have read up to chapter 3" or something of that sort.

I don't want to avoid reading someone's contribution if I do not have to. I am enjoying hearing the different perspectives and takes that people have on the book so far.
« Last Edit: March 14, 2023, 07:31:25 PM by pugmaster »
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modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #73 on: March 14, 2023, 07:45:58 PM »
Thanks for putting the spoiler alert in your post. I wonder if it would be helpful to specify where the spoiler is located?

Something like, "Spoiler alert: Do not read unless you have read up to chapter 3" or something of that sort.

I don't want to avoid reading someone's contribution if I do not have to. I am enjoying hearing the different perspectives and takes that people have on the book so far.

Good idea, i edited my post to contain my current page number.
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peterpenis

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #74 on: March 15, 2023, 05:22:28 AM »
Shit Im in the middle of the passenger and might have to follow that up with his other new novel. But at the current pace of the thread I might be able to catch up later.
Read BM a few years ago. I enjoyed it but was casually reading with out thinking too much about it and in hindsight felt like i missed a lot. So Im looking forward to reading it again and forcing myself to actually write down a couple of thoughts per chapter. Only noteworthy thing I can remember is how there were hardly any insights on the thoughts or emotions of the characters, just a seemingly random stream of violence and the story still captivated me. Was my first book by McCarthy and it made me buy a few of his others (which all felt pretty different from BM)

Sketch Hitchcock

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #75 on: March 16, 2023, 04:55:55 PM »
Snagged the book from my library today, way thinner volume than I expected.  Excited to dig in.

pugmaster

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #76 on: March 16, 2023, 08:46:48 PM »
I don't want to rush anyone or exclude anyone from the conversation, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to have a general timeline as to when certain chapters are completed?  I keep checking this thread periodically and I don't really know if I should continue on or wait for people to catch up. This is @SneakySecrets thread, so I will leave that decision up to him. So far I am not enjoying the book much, but am willing to keep reading if I know there is a definitive "due date." I very much enjoy the communal aspect of a book club and hearing different opinions.
"...We got the nuclear worm over here..."

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matty_c

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #77 on: March 16, 2023, 10:54:48 PM »
It’s not the end of the world but I read it all to last few pages and then someone posted a review on here that tells the ending I was a bit salty about that haha

But the ending sounds like a good one I like the book
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SneakySecrets

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #78 on: March 17, 2023, 02:21:46 PM »
This is @SneakySecrets thread, so I will leave that decision up to him. So far I am not enjoying the book much, but am willing to keep reading if I know there is a definitive "due date." I very much enjoy the communal aspect of a book club and hearing different opinions.

I decided I wanted to read something different, so I’m out, haha.  You all do what you want to, this belongs to you now.
When nothing in society deserves respect, we should fashion for ourselves in solitude new silent loyalties.

Sketch Hitchcock

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #79 on: March 17, 2023, 05:38:10 PM »
I havent read McCarthy before, just seen his work adapted for screen, and through two chapters, I’m certainly impressed with how rich his prose is, the economy of the storytelling, and McCarthy’s word choice for the most part, but…

SPOILER?

Damn, the amount of times the n-word gets tossed around is sort of astounding, and doesnt really seem character driven so much as McCarthy imposing his perceived sense of the time period, and for the shock value?  Maybe it’s a well-trodden topic on this book, I havent done my research, but I wonder if what flew in 1985 for a ‘beloved white novelist’ wouldnt fly today?  I personally couldnt rationalize the decision to use the word outside of dialogue here and there, and even then, I would do anything in my power to not use that word.  Just my two cents, but it’s pulled me out of the story a bunch so thought I’d bring it up.  Other than that, I’m enjoying this book quite a bit, in spite of my somewhat massive qualms, the writing is undeniably top tier.

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #80 on: March 17, 2023, 05:54:45 PM »
Expand Quote
This is @SneakySecrets thread, so I will leave that decision up to him. So far I am not enjoying the book much, but am willing to keep reading if I know there is a definitive "due date." I very much enjoy the communal aspect of a book club and hearing different opinions.
[close]

I decided I wanted to read something different, so I’m out, haha.  You all do what you want to, this belongs to you now.

damn. you made me read this bloodbath of a book for nothing.

i say next time we read theodore kaczynski's manifesto - industrial society and its future. someone mentioned it in another thread and i think it's a good idea to read it and have a discussion on what he got right/wrong etc because regardless of what you think of the man the manifesto is at least an interesting read. it also only takes an hour or two to read. so maybe that would get more people involved.
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modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #81 on: March 17, 2023, 06:00:08 PM »
I don't want to rush anyone or exclude anyone from the conversation, but I wonder if it would be a good idea to have a general timeline as to when certain chapters are completed?  I keep checking this thread periodically and I don't really know if I should continue on or wait for people to catch up. This is @SneakySecrets thread, so I will leave that decision up to him. So far I am not enjoying the book much, but am willing to keep reading if I know there is a definitive "due date." I very much enjoy the communal aspect of a book club and hearing different opinions.

i think rather than have a 'read up to page 25 by x date' people should just make posts with spoiler warnings and a page number as i did earlier. that way there can be an ongoing discussion and the thread can stay bumped. and then when the majority of regular contributors to the thread are finished we just move onto another book/essay/short story etc. idk, it's all a bit messy, but the idea of the book club in general is great.
You’re a Florida native, aren’t you?

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #82 on: March 21, 2023, 10:45:49 AM »
SPOILERS i'm up to approximately page 190

Wow so the whites are just as bad if not worse than the indians. How historically accurate do you guys think blood meridian is? Obviously i don't think the events actually happened but were there similar battles/massacres happening in this time period?

Also i should also mention that i did not grow up in the USA so my knowledge of american colonial history is pretty much non-existent
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Frank and Fred

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #83 on: March 21, 2023, 11:01:01 AM »
Yes. Apparently 'Blood Meridian' is loosely based on  Samuel Chamberlain's "My Confession: The Recollections of a Rogue" which details similar events.

A good fictional companion novel to Blood Meridian is Burroughs' "The Place of Dead Roads."

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Re: Slap Book Club: Blood Meridian, Chapters 1+2
« Reply #84 on: March 23, 2023, 03:26:53 AM »
I’m currently reading a bunch of books by famed pan africanist authors on how much shit crackers did to africa and the global south. Horrifying but very informative

Sketch Hitchcock

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Re: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers
« Reply #85 on: March 25, 2023, 08:23:30 PM »
I’m reading Jarett Kobek’s Motor Spirit: The Long Hunt for the Zodiac then hitting his How to Find Zodiac afterward.  Usually go through a library for my reads but had to go the used route on these.  I’ll update you guys if I make any breakthroughs on the case  ;)

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers
« Reply #86 on: April 03, 2023, 08:44:36 AM »
So is no one else still reading?

Spoiler: I'm up to page 265.

Chapter 17 probably has some of the best conversations in the novel and it's my favorite part of the book so far. It reminds me of the way Dostoevsky explores philosophy by having two characters discuss the topic, except it's savages in the American desert.

Here's a quote from the judge in this chapter which I had seen before but never knew the origin of:

'It makes no difference what men think of war, said the judge. War endures. As well ask men what they think of stone. War was always here. Before man was, war waited for him. The ultimate trade awaiting it's ultimate practitioner. That is the way it was and will be. That way and not some other way.'

This was the peak of this section for me but it goes on to the judge discussing this in more depth, and the implication (at least from my reading) that men engage in war to prove to themselves that they do have free will, and that by engaging in war they ascend above humans and animals that can not prove this to themselves, thus reaching divination. It reminds me a lot of ideas proposed by Nietzsche and further developed by Evola, especially in Metaphysics of War.

Another quote from earlier in the chapter that I had to read several times to comprehend:

'That night Glanton stared long into the embers of the fire. All about him his men were sleeping but much was changed. So many gone, defected or dead. The Delawares all slain. He watched the fire and if he saw portents there it was much the same to him. He would live to look upon the western sea and he was equal to whatever might follow for he was complete at every hour. Whether his history should run concomitant with men and nations, whether it should cease. He'd long forsworn all weighing of consequence and allowing as he did that men's destinies are given yet he usurped to contain within him all that he would ever be in this world and all that the world would be to him and be his charter in the urstone itself he claimed agency and said so and he'd drive the remorseless sun on to its final endarkenment as if he'd ordered it all ages since, before there were paths anywhere, before there were men or suns to go upon them.'

This quote made no sense to me when I first read it but after the Judge's later speech it makes sense that Glanton is subconsciously realising all that the Judge already knows.

I'm anxious to continue reading but at this point it feels like this chapter was really the culmination of all the brutality before it in this book and the thesis is being shown - men kill to prove to themselves that they are god.
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Mr. Kamikazi

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Re: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers
« Reply #87 on: April 03, 2023, 02:17:21 PM »
Anyone have any interest in a slap book club?  Like stuff that isn’t related to skating.


This rules.

Tip top choices, especially Animal Farm. Never heard of that one by Vonnegut but know he’s a gem.

modern life is war

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Re: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers
« Reply #88 on: April 07, 2023, 07:26:03 AM »
Finished it. Probably one of my favorite books I've ever read. I actually plan to read it again straight away because I know there is a lot of stuff I missed which I will pick up on in a second reading.

 SPOILER
The ending is pretty ambiguous and I will definitely need to read the last chapter again, maybe several times to understand what happened.
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Slap GPT

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Re: Slap Book Club: Like Reading Rainbow but with Sk8ers
« Reply #89 on: April 11, 2023, 02:23:21 PM »
Blood Meridian is a haunting and brutal masterpiece of American literature, written by Cormac McCarthy. The novel follows a teenage runaway known only as "the kid" who joins a group of ruthless scalp hunters led by the enigmatic and terrifying Judge Holden. Set in the 1850s on the Texas-Mexico border, Blood Meridian is a dark, visceral, and unflinching exploration of the human capacity for violence and the darkness that lurks within the American frontier.

McCarthy's writing is rich, poetic, and often bleakly beautiful, but it's also incredibly violent and disturbing. The novel is filled with graphic descriptions of violence and brutality that can be difficult to read at times. However, despite its challenging subject matter, Blood Meridian is a profoundly moving and thought-provoking work of literature that continues to captivate readers today. If you're a fan of Westerns or literary fiction that explores the darkest aspects of the human psyche, Blood Meridian is an essential read.