Todays Territory comes as a last wave of hype that you have perhaps been inundated with during the past week. But OH MAN I HAVE BEEN SWITCHED ONTO A NEW AUTHOR AND IS HE GREAT. His name is Cormac McCarthy and the very fine Coen brothers turned one of his books into a film. The book I want to bring into the Territory this week is none other than No Country For Old Men NCFOM is a book I just finished and a movie I definitely plan to see. It will be interesting to see what the ol Coens do with this one. NCFOM drips with intensity with each page and is one of the better books I’ve read this year. Be ready to say good by to six hours and not realize it. McCarthy gets related to Faulkner a lot which I can understand but don’t think that McCarthy is just a rip off. He just can evoke the same feelings of intensity that Faulk can only McCarthy doesn’t go as in depth with his characters as those in Faulkner’s books. Where Faulkner’s books are mainly character driven McCarthy’s tread a fine line between being character and plot driven and leaves a lot to be open to interpretation. NCFOM is several characters different stories that revolve in and out of eachother as all parties have an interest in a briefcase with a few million dollars in it. There is some gruesome death and imagery in NCFOM but there is also a beauty in its simplicity and vision. If I were in High Fidelity and had to put McCarthy into a category based on other authors I would put him at a halfway point between Faulkner and Hemingway. Luckily I’m not in High Fidelity and can just recommend that Cormac McCarthy is definitely worth checking out no matter what books are in your collection. Good luck.

I don’t know why I started writing. I don’t know why anybody does it. Maybe they’re bored, or failures at something else.