In the Distance by Hernan Diaz. Unique take on American West in the mid-19th, gave me some McCarthy vibes. (m)
Posted on August 7, 2026 at 10:14:56 AM by gbmcq
A young Swedish immigrant finds himself penniless and alone in California. The boy travels East in search of his brother, moving on foot against the great current of emigrants pushing West. Driven back again and again, he meets naturalists, criminals, religious fanatics, swindlers, Indians, and lawmen, and his exploits turn him into a legend. Diaz defies the conventions of historical fiction and genre, offering a probing look at the stereotypes that populate our past and a portrait of radical foreignness.
Hernan Diaz is the author of Borges, Between History and Eternity (Bloomsbury 2012), managing editor of RHM, and associate director of the Hispanic Institute at Columbia University. He lives in New York.
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Thread:
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What is the best book you’ve read so far in 2026?*
- By Poster P
August 7, 2026 at 10:07:32 AM
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Either the Insatiable Machine by Trevor Jackson (new book) or if we’re counting old books i read for the first time, the first half of the Travis McGee books by John MacDonald (very old detective mysteries; mid to late 1960s)*
- By brick
August 7, 2026 at 01:58:05 PM
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Things That Disappear, Jenny Erpenbeck*
- By ralphie
August 7, 2026 at 01:33:07 PM
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Nuclear War: A Scenario by Annie Jacobsen.*
- By Frank3
August 7, 2026 at 11:17:25 AM
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Naomi Klein, Doppelgänger***
- By Craig
August 7, 2026 at 11:12:23 AM
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I am in the middle of the Southern Reach Trilogy by Jeff Vandermeer (Annihilation was the first book, Authority the second)*
- By ajs
August 7, 2026 at 11:00:32 AM
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There Are Rivers In The Sky - Elif Shafak
- By ricomontoya
August 7, 2026 at 10:59:30 AM
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"The Fort Bragg Cartel: Drug Trafficking and Murder in the Special Forces" by Seth Harp.*
- By kccambo
August 7, 2026 at 10:56:48 AM
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In the Distance by Hernan Diaz. Unique take on American West in the mid-19th, gave me some McCarthy vibes. (m)
- By gbmcq
August 7, 2026 at 10:14:56 AM
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