The Room by Hubert Selby Jr is one of the few novels I admit that I struggled to finish.
Not that it was bad at all. Just so relentless that it made Cormac McCarthy read like Roald Dahl.
You know many of the difficult aspects of some of Cormac Mcarthy's works, can be removed by listening to them on audio book?
That way you dont have to struggle to try to make sense of the almost total lack of punctuation marks and quotes, as a good narrator does that for you, even having different voices for the different characters. So even Blood Meridian, which even 'experts' consider a difficult book, was one that I found relatively easy to follow. Not because I think I'm smart but because the audiobook format makes all the difference in the world. I mean I followed the book, on the surface level at least, easily enough, but I must admit I needed some background and guidance to start figuring out the deeper levels and stuff. But that's not too bad I guess, unless you're an expert reader or have a degree in literature or something, anyone is going to need some kind of background and context to get more out of the books?
I've read 2 or 3 Cormac McCarthy's now, and I definitely think "He's the Man!" (For me.)
His style is just so amazingly stylish!. I know that's bad English, but I think it conveys what I'm trying to say, better than anything else I can think of right now. He's just Jaw droppingly brilliant at times.
Must read / listen to more of his books.
But annoyingly I cant get his first book to complete the d/l of the torrent. Otherwise I'd have them all, and go through them all in chronological order.
I might have to get on of those audible trial offers again to be able to listen to it. I presume it will be on there.
I just cant read physical books any more for 3 main reasons. The mind wandering is uncontrollable. I literally cannot complete one sentence without the words causing multiple distracting trains of thought. Audiobooks force me to keep up and keep concentrating. The eye strain of reading books is also very uncomfortable for me. And finally I just fall asleep within 5 minutes maximum if I try to read a physical book.
I cant explain why I have none of these issues reading forums etc. I guess it's a more active form of reading? And not so potentially overwhelming, as most posts are brief and to the point. Rather than having a whole 400 page block of words to go through, which may be subconsciously putting me off.
lol.
