Aleksandar Hemon on Blood Meridian (and four other books) (via ewilcox)

It’s one of my favorite books of all time. And I read it through as quickly as you can while still allowing time for (disturbed) sleep and work. But I’ll still say it’s a book I was barely able to finish.

(via tragos)

it wasn’t until the 3rd or so read that i finally adjusted my reading skillset to accommodate his writing depth in full. to be perfectly honest, the first time i read the book was like the first time i read shakespeare; an hour of reading would go by, i would have read six pages (each paragraph twice), i could only recall what had occurred on an expositional level —any major depth of what had transpired over any given six pages seemed to fry my neurons as i attempted to wrap my brain around it.

now, 12 or so reads later, i can quote entire passages in the book and all other fiction seems feeble-minded, sophomoric, and half-cocked/slapdash in its psychological meanderings. blood meridian should come with batteries, it takes energy on the reader’s part to actually get through it and get ALL of it (this is no kid’s book, it’s written by a really intelligent adult —for really intelligent adults).

which is to say that the book is a masterpiece of recent fiction and i have read no other book that handles such amazing concepts so easily and no other book as beautifully written.

one last thing. there’s a passage in the book wherein the judge describes war as always here, waiting for men “before man was, war waited for him. the ultimate trade awaiting its ultimate practitioner.” [pg. 248]
i am of the opinion that the english language itself sat waiting for this author and this novel…

i’ll post some of it later.