I have made it 90% through Blood Meridian. Cormac McCarthy is a brilliant writer. His descriptions are poetic, the language is transporting. But, OMG, everything is so bleak. The violence is unsettling (as it’s supposed to be), the landscape is harsh and unforgiving. The only relief for some seems to come from alcohol. It’s sheer hell. No wonder I haven’t read him in more than 10 years. I don’t need to subject myself to it.