Brain Snacks: Tasty Tidbits of Knowledge
Cormac McCarthy used to live on Coffin Street in El Paso, TX. That's right, Coffin Street. (source)
McCarthy's legal name is "Charles, Jr. McCarthy." The name Cormac is the Gaelic equivalent of Charles. (source)
The 2006 Knopf hardback edition of The Road has this typo: "They ate the little mushrooms together with the beans and drank tea and had tinned pears for their desert" (69.1). As your middle school English teacher probably drilled into you, a "desert" is a dry place; a "dessert" is something sweet.
McCarthy once refused to be interviewed for $2,000 even though he and his wife were completely broke at the time. (source)
In his 2005 interview with Cormac McCarthy, Richard B. Woodward said of the reclusive author "it is impossible to imagine him chatting with Oprah or Charlie Rose." To the surprise of many of his fans, McCarthy was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey on June 5, 2007. (source)
McCarthy based the character of The Boy on his son John Francis. (source)