Cormac McCarthy 1933-2023

We were devastated to hear about the passing of one of the greatest American writers to ever do it, Cormac McCarthy. A novelist and stylist who pushed the English language to its limits and reworked and exploded the myth of the American West. The list of writers he inspired is limitless. We'll be talking about his oeuvre until the end of time. RIP to an absolute legend.

"The candleflame and the image of the candleflame caught in the pierglass twisted and righted when he entered the hall and again when he shut the door. He took off his hat and came slowly forward. The floorboards creaked under his boots. In his black suit he stood in the dark glass where the lilies leaned so palely from their waisted cutglass vase. Along the cold hallway behind him hung the portraits of forebears only dimly known to him all framed in glass and dimly lit above the narrow wainscotting. He looked down at the guttered candlestub. He pressed his thumbprint in the warm wax pooled on the oak veneer. Lastly he looked at the face so caved and drawn among the folds of funeral cloth, the yellowed moustache, the eyelids paper thin. That was not sleeping. That was not sleeping." - All the Pretty Horses

Where to Start with McCarthy?

There are really three good points of entry into his work. What most people consider his masterpiece, Blood Meridianis a brutal, mythic tale of violence in the American West in the 19th century. This novel traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennesseean who stumbles into the nightmarish world where Indians are being murdered and the market for their scalps is thriving. Blood Meridian crystallizes a lot of McCarthy's style: the poetic, almost mythic feel, the long sentences, the apocalyptic descriptions of landscape. Though, the novel is extremely violent and isn't as accessible as the other books we'll recommend.

Another good starting point is All the Pretty Horses, an elegaic quasi-romance about a cowboy, John Grady Cole, and the rancher's daughter he meets in Mexico. This novel, the first in a loose trilogy called "The Border Trilogy" is beautifully, sensitively written, as evidenced by the quote from above. It's also a gripping recontextualization of what it means to be a cowboy. Here, McCarthy's prose gets more accessible, ever slightly more spare as he worries less about apocalyptic imagery and more about the feeling of ranching.

Finally, No Country for Old Men is a terrific entry point into his work. A lean, mean crime thriller about a man who stumbles across a drug deal gone bad and the bag of money left behind. Thinking he's finally made it and escape from poverty, he goes on the run, only to be pursued by what is easily one of the most chilling villains ever written. This is accessible, possibly to a fault, judging by some critics. No Country for Old Men is short and sweet, but still carries the philosophy, the beautiful richness of thought which characterizes all of his work.

Any of these would be perfect to start with. McCarthy's books are life-changing and we will miss him dearly.

Dune 101

What is Dune?

Dune is a science fiction novel published in 1965 by Frank Herbert. It was well received immediately, winning both the inaugural Nebula and sharing the Hugo in 1966. Dune is often called one of the bestselling science fiction novels of all time; it has never gone out of print.

The novel is set in the far, far future when interstellar travel is possible thanks to “melange” or spice, a consumable substance which allows a specialist guild to navigate the complexities of faster-than-light travel. Galactic society is feudal in structure, with large Houses competing for economic dominance, all of whom hope to control the planet Arrakis, the only place in the universe where the spice can be found. The beginning of the Dune saga follows House Atreides as they take over stewardship of the planet only to be dismantled from within by spies planted by rival House Harkonnen. Duke Atreides’ son, Paul, survives the attack and goes “underground,” where he is trained in the ways of the desert by the Fremen people, the original settlers of the planet thousands of years earlier. Paul Atreides grows in power, fulfilling a prophecy thousands of years old that a Messiah who can see and think forwards and backwards through time would unite the galaxy. But first he must defeat Baron Harkonnen and his House and free Arrakis from ecological collapse due to demand for melange.

Herbert’s masterpiece is deeply philosophical, rife with deep thoughts about the nature of power, politics, religion, free will, technology and ecology. Dune has often been credited with bringing explicit ecological concerns to the field of science fiction. A deeply humanistic novel, Dune tries to consider how power shapes individuals and how individuals can shape society, for good or for ill. 

Where Should You Start?

With the first book of course! Herbert’s universe is complex and somewhat daunting at first, but he lays out everything you need to know in the first few hundred pages of the first book. Armed with that knowledge you are ready to take on the rest of the action packed second half of the novel and the rest of the series. 

After Dune, What’s Next?

Herbert took years and years to devise the sequels, Dune Messiah and Children of Dune, and the time and care he put into them show. Some folks argue all you need is the first Dune, but we think books 2 and 3 have their delights. Dune Messiah and Children of Dune should be read together, one after the other, not only because that’s the order they were published in, but because they were conceived as tightly bound, one plot flowing into the next. Dune Messiah follows Paul Atreides, the Muad'Dib, as the Emperor of the galaxy, but the remnants of House Harkonnen and new enemies conspire to remove him from power. Paul is tormented by foreknowledge: that he must do despicable things to set humanity on a millenia-spanning course with distant utopia as the goal. Dune Messiah is shorter than Dune, but more focused, with less worldbuilding and more intrigue and action. Children of Dune is longer, but not quite as lengthy as Dune. In it, Paul’s children have come of age and the religion around the Muad'Dib has coarsened and veered from the path Paul worked so hard to put humanity on; the utopia promised will never come to pass because Paul refused to make the necessary sacrifice. Leto, his son, has the same foreknowledge as Paul but does not shy away from what must be done. With Children of Dune’s denouement and end, the trilogy is complete, and the story can be closed.

Aren’t there more Books in the Series?

Yes, the fourth book is God Emperor of Dune, set 3,500 years after Children of Dune, with Leto still living as Emperor. This novel, published five years after the previous one, is a bridge between what Herbert envisioned as two trilogies: the first Dune trilogy, then a second, comprising Heretics of Dune, Chapterhouse: Dune, and Dune 7, which was left unfinished after Herbert passed away in 1986. Dune 7 was completed by his son, Brian Herbert, and his collaborator Kevin J. Anderson as two books, Hunters of Dune and Sandworms of Dune. While the reception to these last two was decidedly mixed, completionists may want to delve in just to see how Frank Herbert saw the series ending. 

Adaptations

There are quite a few adaptations of the books, despite their legendary status as impenetrable or difficult. First is David Lynch's 1984 version known simply as Dune. Critically reviled and disowned by its director, the 1984 version features Kyle MacLachlan as Paul and a score by the band Toto. Recently, the film was restored and reissued by Arrow Video in 4K UHD.

After that, the Sci-Fi channel did two TV mini-series with the intent of adapting the source material more closely. Frank Herbert's Dune and Frank Herbert's Children of Dune starred Alec Newman as Paul and then James McAvoy as Leto II, Paul's son. While these adaptations were closer to the book, a network TV-sized budget and rudimentary computer graphics held them back from being great.

Famously, Canadian director Denis Villeneuve adapted the novel into two parts: 2021's Dune: Part One and the forthcoming Dune: Part Two, starring Timothée Chalamet as Paul. Critical reception was high and more importantly, it reignited interest in the Dune books.

While the books have never been out of print, they have enjoyed a huge sales boost in the last two years and we hope to bring even more fans onboard! But how to start?

Read More...

The Booker Prize 2021 longlist

The 2021 Booker Prize longlist has been announced, and we are pleased to see two great Canadians made the list: Rachel Cusk for her novel Second Place and Mary Lawson for her novel A Town Called Solace.

The longlist includes:

• A Passage North, Anuk Arudpragasam (Granta Books, Granta Publications)
• Second Place, Rachel Cusk, (Faber)
• The Promise, Damon Galgut, (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
• The Sweetness of Water, Nathan Harris (Tinder Press, Headline, Hachette Book Group)
• Klara and the Sun, Kazuo Ishiguro (Faber)
• An Island, Karen Jennings (Holland House Books)
• A Town Called Solace, Mary Lawson (Chatto & Windus, Vintage, PRH)
• No One is Talking About This, Patricia Lockwood (Bloomsbury Circus, Bloomsbury Publishing)
• The Fortune Men, Nadifa Mohamed (Viking, Penguin General, PRH)
• Bewilderment, Richard Powers (Hutchinson Heinemann, PRH)
• China Room, Sunjeev Sahota (Harvill Secker, Vintage, PRH)
• Great Circle, Maggie Shipstead (Doubleday, Transworld Publishers, PRH)
• Light Perpetual, Francis Spufford (Faber)

Congratulations to everyone who made the list!

The finalists will be announced September 14, 2021, and then the winner will be revealed November 3.

Book Club Reading Lists Posted!

What do By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept, Autopsy of a Boring Wife, and Where the Crawdads Sing all have in common? They’re the September picks for three of our Community Classroom book clubs.

Reading lists for Hidden Figures, Read Between the Wines and Wendy’s Afternoon Book Club are now online. Looking to expand your reading list this year? Try a book club! Looking for your next great read? Check out these lists from some of our exceptionally well-read book club leaders.