Daniel Taylor: Death Comes for the Deconstructionist
05/05/2020
I just finished this wonderful book. You should read it.
I'm busy with, among several other things, trying to put a mobile-friendly design for this blog into operation, so I'm not going to say a whole lot about it. I'll let the blurbs at the publisher, Slant Books, do that job for me: click here.
Well, of course I can't resist saying something. Imagine, if you will [Rod Serling voice], a murder mystery written by Walker Percy. Imagine that it's Percy at his wittiest and most surgically painful and merciful. Like I said, you should read it.
Any advantage to having read Willa Cather first?
Posted by: Craig | 05/05/2020 at 09:53 PM
'Daniel Taylor' is also the name of my second favourite countertenor. Probably the two 'Daniel Taylor's are not the same person, but wouldn't it be great if they were?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sfNn0s679uM
Posted by: Craig | 05/05/2020 at 09:57 PM
I'm obliged to admit that I haven't read Death Comes for the Archbishop. On the face of it I'd doubt much thematic connection, but I certainly could be wrong.
I'll have to wait till tomorrow to hear the (probably) other Daniel Taylor sing.
Posted by: Mac | 05/05/2020 at 10:51 PM
Thanks for this. I saw a review of this book a couple months ago, didn't note it and totally forgot about it. Adding to Amazon list immediately so as not to repeat above.
I'm currently reading Tim Powers' Alternate Routes. Not quite sure how I feel about it so far, but I'm only a third of the way in. More later.
Posted by: Rob G | 05/06/2020 at 09:06 AM
One of the many important things to note about the Taylor book is that it's often *really* funny. If I hadn't been (and still am) so busy I would have included an excerpt.
Posted by: Mac | 05/06/2020 at 10:07 AM
Death Comes for the Archbishop may have an occasional funny bit, but it definitely isn't a humorous book!
I like it a lot.
Posted by: Robert Gotcher | 05/06/2020 at 08:50 PM
One of these days I'll read Willa Cather...sigh....
Posted by: Mac | 05/06/2020 at 09:58 PM
Reading Death Comes. . . is not really the same as reading Cather. It's very different from her other books. I like her other books in the, "I can just read this if there's nothing else to read" way but I have read DCftA three times. It's very good.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 05/08/2020 at 11:42 AM
This book looks really interesting. I doubt if I can get hold of it, though.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 05/08/2020 at 11:43 AM
Cheap copies are available online. I ordered one a couple days ago for $3.98 with free shipping. It will most likely be a library cast-off or a remaindered copy, but as I'm not buying it as a collectible that doesn't matter much to me.
See Betterworldbooks.com, an outfit started by a couple Notre Dame grads, which sells remainders and library cast-offs cheap, and also donates a book to charity for every book purchased. They're running a 25% off sale right now -- a couple weeks ago I took advantage of this and got nine (9) books I wanted for the princely sum of $41.00, including shipping, which is free if you buy directly from what they have in stock.
Posted by: Rob G | 05/09/2020 at 09:09 AM
This reminds me that I haven't placed that Eighth Day Books order I was planning on.
Re this book, I'll be interested in knowing what y'all think of it. I do have one or two somewhat significant reservations about it, mostly about a certain plot development. But I'm sure I'll read it again, and these days that's a relatively unusual thing for me to say.
Posted by: Mac | 05/09/2020 at 12:23 PM
If you want to get an idea whether or not you would like this book, there is a large chunk of it on Google Books.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 05/14/2020 at 09:29 AM
Craig,
It doesn't seem to have any relationship to Death Comes for the Archbishop except the name.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 05/14/2020 at 01:18 PM
This is a really, really good book. Everyone should read it.
AMDG
Posted by: Janet | 05/17/2020 at 03:14 PM