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Kurt Vonnegut

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:06 pm
by Phaedrus
I suppose Kurt Vonnegut is a science fiction author.

So far, I've read Cat's Cradle and Player Piano, both of which have been just insanely brilliant. I love Vonnegut.

I can't help but reflect on how much better Player Piano depicts a mechanized society and revolt against it than certain other authors we might know about.

Anyone else here a fan? I'm about to read Breakfast of Champions, and I plan to get to Timequake and Slaughterhouse Five before long.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 4:46 pm
by Omphalos
I love Vonnegut too, Phaedrus, and he absolutely is a SF author (though he tried to keep himself on the fringes for economic reasons, not because he did not like the label personally). I have read almost everything that he has written. You may want to save Breakfast of Champions for later though. It is kind of a patchwork of characters from his other novels, and I liked it a lot more after I had re-read it after reading more of his earlier novels.

Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-5 are my favorite Vonnegut books, but there are a bunch of them pretty much all are good. I have Time Quake in the pile too, as well as a collection of essays that was published just recently. Cant remembe the title of htat one right now though.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:02 pm
by Phaedrus
Omphalos wrote:I love Vonnegut too, Phaedrus, and he absolutely is a SF author (though he tried to keep himself on the fringes for economic reasons, not because he did not like the label personally). I have read almost everything that he has written. You may want to save Breakfast of Champions for later though. It is kind of a patchwork of characters from his other novels, and I liked it a lot more after I had re-read it after reading more of his earlier novels.

Player Piano, The Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse-5 are my favorite Vonnegut books, but there are a bunch of them pretty much all are good. I have Time Quake in the pile too, as well as a collection of essays that was published just recently. Cant remembe the title of htat one right now though.
Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons? Or the new one, Armageddon in Retrospect?

I've read most of the former, and I almost bought the latter yesterday. The hardcover price turned me away, though. :cry:

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:05 pm
by Omphalos
Armaggeddon in Retrospect. I have a signed copy. :wink: I have a signed Easton Press copy of Sirens too. i hate that there is not gonna be anything new from him any more.

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 5:11 pm
by Phaedrus
A signed copy of a posthumously released book? That's impressive. =P

I remember getting really depressed when I heard he'd died. :cry:

Posted: Wed Jun 04, 2008 6:41 pm
by Omphalos
The authors sometimes sign title pages before they go to the binders. That, must have happened here.

Or, its another book. :oops:

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:05 pm
by Phaedrus
*Shrug* I don't really know what the story behind that one is, only that it's writings on war and peace that never got published while he was alive.

I speed-read through Slaughterhouse Five today. It was pretty brilliant. I'm about 11 chapters into Timequake, which is excellent if incredibly unconventional. I'm not sure if it's really a novel or just stuff Vonnegut was writing, but it's good either way.

Posted: Thu Jun 05, 2008 11:18 pm
by Omphalos
I was wrong. The signed one is Bagombo Snuff Box. The one you are asking about is unsigned. Duh. Sorry.

Posted: Thu Jun 19, 2008 10:55 am
by Ragabash
God, he was brilliant. I voraciously read his stuff as a teenager, but didn't really get the nuances; I was more into the high weirdness. I've reread some of his stuff recently (and plan to do more), and I've found a touching depth to his work that went over my head before. His sincere examinations of the human condition are astounding, made more poignant by the bizarre turns of plot he surrounds them with.

RIP, Kurt. You earned it.