A random book from the collection looks interesting: Correction by Thomas Bernhard.
Described as “a mesmerising, claustrophobic novel about obsession, genius and the impossibility of perfection. Structured in two enormous, uninterrupted blocks of prose, it follows an unnamed narrator reconstructing the life of his dead friend Roithamer, before becoming absorbed in his manuscripts. Sentences spiral, repeat and contradict themselves, creating the sensation of being trapped inside an endlessly turning mind. Roithamer is modelled partly on Ludwig Wittgenstein, particularly his intellectual austerity and obsessive pursuit of perfection, reflected in his design of an extraordinary house for his sister. A darkly comic, exhilarating and exhausting masterpiece.”
McCarthy made his famous dismissal of Proust and Henry James in the NYT in 1992 and in the Oprah interview, on the grounds those writers didn't deal with deep issues of life and death. But from all that has been revealed about his personal library, including this Bernhard book, one wonders if that was a put-on.
fallinditch 2 hours ago [-]
From Amazon:
Customers say
Customers have mixed reactions to the book's content, with one finding it mesmerizing while another describes it as excruciatingly tedious.
!
20 minutes ago [-]
blightful 2 hours ago [-]
I like Bernhard. I also recommend The Lime Works and wittgenstein’s nephew if you like correction. I found Bernhard through Thomas Ligotti. For Ligotti I recommend teatro grottesco and if you want to dive off the deep end the conspiracy against the human race.
UncleOxidant 2 hours ago [-]
> 10 Days to Faster Reading
He's got so many books, did it work?
cellsstudio 2 hours ago [-]
Side question: how grim is the the Road? I've been meaning to pick it up because I love No Country but I've heard that the Road is just bleaker than bleak.
brudgers 26 minutes ago [-]
I read it when it came out in a day or two.
Then I tried to read it again a few years later but my boy was about that age and I could not put myself through what reading it was taking out of me.
eks-reigh 40 minutes ago [-]
It's a very grim book, but it's also fundamentally about the goodness of people. The setting and the plot are bleak, but its outlook is, in a way, hopeful.
At least that's my takeaway. If someone else found it purely depressing I would understand, but I feel differently.
1 hours ago [-]
beepboopboop 1 hours ago [-]
Not that grim. As a dad it brought me to tears. It’s so good.
derektank 1 hours ago [-]
Bleaker than bleak is an accurate description but it actually ends on what I would consider to be a hopeful note, a moment of true kindness. Worth the read.
BoofMcQueen42 1 hours ago [-]
It’s been a decade but from what I remember, it is very dark. It was my first McCarthy book and have been hooked since.
Cormac McCarthy's personal library - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45444694 - Oct 2025 (138 comments)
Described as “a mesmerising, claustrophobic novel about obsession, genius and the impossibility of perfection. Structured in two enormous, uninterrupted blocks of prose, it follows an unnamed narrator reconstructing the life of his dead friend Roithamer, before becoming absorbed in his manuscripts. Sentences spiral, repeat and contradict themselves, creating the sensation of being trapped inside an endlessly turning mind. Roithamer is modelled partly on Ludwig Wittgenstein, particularly his intellectual austerity and obsessive pursuit of perfection, reflected in his design of an extraordinary house for his sister. A darkly comic, exhilarating and exhausting masterpiece.”
Adding to my ‘want to read’ list now …
A review: https://proletarianpolyglot.substack.com/p/correction-by-tho...
Customers say
Customers have mixed reactions to the book's content, with one finding it mesmerizing while another describes it as excruciatingly tedious.
!
He's got so many books, did it work?
Then I tried to read it again a few years later but my boy was about that age and I could not put myself through what reading it was taking out of me.
At least that's my takeaway. If someone else found it purely depressing I would understand, but I feel differently.