First I want you to know that I am a manly man. Seriously. I am so manly that I could wear a pink George Michael T-shirt and sing "Never Gonna Give You Up". In broad daylight. Seriously. The orderlies would come later and put me in a straightjacket and tow me to the loony bin. But the passerby would just nod in acknowledgment of my courageous display of cojones. More often than not their bodies convulse in fits of laughter while they whip out their cell phones and record my bold statement (don't you dare to go to Youtube now).
But that's beside the point, entirely.
I have never read anything of the late Kurt Vonnegut, and it dawned to me that I, most probably, deserve to be stoned for that. I saw him speaking on youtube and the man is funny, charming and eloquent.
That scores a bajilion on my sexy-meter.
So I'd kindly ask you to give me a few recommendations. I've been thinking of picking up Slaughterhouse Five, but I don't know if that's a good place to start.
Posting this here since it get's more traffic.
KDW, if you want to move this topic feel free to do so.
Posted by BenjaminFarthing (Member # 9763) on :
Yes, start with Slaughterhouse Five. One of my favorite books. I started reading something else by him once. Don't remember what it was - it wasn't anywhere near as good as Slaughterhouse Five.
Posted by History (Member # 9213) on :
Yes, I'll second SLAUGHTER-HOUSE FIVE as KV at his best.
I've read nearly everything up until GALAPAGOS, though I still bought his other later books and have them on my shelf.
His earlier works are my preference.
Respectfully, Dr. Bob
Posted by babooher (Member # 8617) on :
I've always loved Vonnegut, but there's probably some Hoosier pride thrown into the mix.
And yeah, Slaughterhouse 5 is a great place to jump in.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
I was fond of Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions, which I read as a teenager. But, aside from some short stories---I'll recommend "The Barnhouse Effect" for your perusal, if that's the right title---I don't think I ever got around to reading any of his other novels. (Recently read a biography of Vonnegut, though...)
But...sexy? Can't see it...
Posted by extrinsic (Member # 8019) on :
Slaughterhouse Five performs revenue-wise best of Vonnegut's works. Breakfast of Champions, second best.
Vonnegut in my opinion peaked with Slaughterhouse Five, though Breakfast of Champions is a Postmodern epitome.
One of Vonnegut's most popular shorts is "Harrison Bergeron."
Personally, I recommend reading or sampling Vonnegut's body of work, beginning with "Report on the Barnhouse Effect," 1950, to follow how he grew as a writer into the powerhouse he became with Slaughterhouse Five. One noteworthy feature of the novel is how Vonnegut manages narrative distance, closer than most of his other works.
Posted by Robert Nowall (Member # 2764) on :
One of the points the biography of Vonnegut tried to make was that his work, and interest in it, peaked in the late 1960s, and it was all downhill from there. If Vonnegut noticed this, it must've been heartbreaking...