A Man without a Country came out september 15th of last year...

i've read two of his books, i was somewhat underwhelmed by Cat's Cradle but i thought Breakfast of Champions was pretty good...we'll see how i like Slaughterhouse-Five which is pretty high in my long, long queue (6 books away, in fact...)

Everyone who has not done so should read Sirens of Titan. It may or may not be better than Slaughterhouse Five, but it is certainly a fucking incredible book.

Vonnegut is one of my favorite authors. Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, and Breakfast of Champions are all highly recommended reading.

When he was on the Daily Show a while ago promoting this book, he had an awesome quote about the war in Iraq. Something along the lines of "Sure let's teach them democracy--First, you're allowed slaves for the first 100 years, then after 150, the women get to vote..."

kind of old news, yeah. read the book a few months ago. it's a'ight. pretty good if yr really into reading new vonnegut, just something to read if you are really into reading. basically a rehash of observations he's scattered throughout all his books, sometimes repeating himself a lot within this one, and spouting his woes about the current state of affairs which i guess is good for the sake of having 2k5 vonny insights in print. i love vonnegut. some people just can't help but. however, this one isn't what i'd call a superblowout finish of a career... pretty much in there with that other shitty shitterson essay collection with him in a bed of flowers on the cover. zoinks. hey speaking of which!!!!!

what the fuck idoes he call it when people are like in the same pocket of life? you know!! you know!! my boyfriend and i have been trying to remember this for the last several months! we thought it was in breakfast of champions but i can't find it when i'm just flipping through!

kenoki wrote:what the fuck idoes he call it when people are like in the same pocket of life? you know!! you know!! my boyfriend and i have been trying to remember this for the last several months! we thought it was in breakfast of champions but i can't find it when i'm just flipping through!

Karass?

Cat's Cradle is the origin of most of his made up words.
http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/personal/bokonon.html#words

Speaking of his retirement, anybody read timequake? the book he wrote just before retiring? I remember it being Ok, slightly depressing, slightly half assed, but in an ok meta-fiction kinda way.

The premise was appropriate for a retirement work as well, Time slips and the world is condemned to repeat itself for 20 (i think) years, making the same godamned mistakes and everything all over again without any controll, but with the concious knowledge that these are the times and mistakes that you have allready lived.

-K

In celebration of Herr Vonnegut's return, I submit one of my all-time favorite short stories, "Harrison Bergeron".

http://instruct.westvalley.edu/lafave/hb.html

Didn't know about "Man w/o a Country" or "Timequake", either. Will investigate. Thanks

-r

thebookofkevin wrote:Everyone who has not done so should read Sirens of Titan. It may or may not be better than Slaughterhouse Five, but it is certainly a fucking incredible book.

I never read slaughterhouse five, but Sirens of Titan is prolly my second favorite book.

scelops wrote:Speaking of his retirement, anybody read timequake? the book he wrote just before retiring? I remember it being Ok, slightly depressing, slightly half assed, but in an ok meta-fiction kinda way.

Yeah! Totally halfassed but pretty durn excellent I thought. You were ill, but now you're well, and there's work to be done. Like the literary version of Escape from New York.