Not sure you should read more McCarthy. I've read only "The Road" and didn't warm up to it, either. And McCarthy's writing seems too dystopian for the Nobel ideal of honoring "idealistic" books: i.e., that strike a blow for the good of humanity.

I'd have been fine with Rushdie, too, but Ernaux has been one of my favorites for the Nobel for years. She's been so worthy for so long, I'd assumed the Swedish Academy had ruled her out for an inscrutable reason, such as that it didn't want to honor autofiction or yet another European. My Pop Culture Shorts column on FanFare will deal on Monday with why her award is years overdue.