ray bradbury . . . . . fahrenheit 451 benjamin hoff . . . . . the tao of pooh kurt vonnegut . . . . . bluebeard kurt vonnegut . . . . . timequake oh, and fredx, i've just received at least $600 in graduation gifts, having just finally finished up high school. with your approval (note the sarcasm), i think it's permissible to spend around $100 of that on books to keep me literate over the next many months, and shove the rest into savings. anyways, at least i seem to have chosen good books, right? (right.) alright, so let's get the opinions flowing again! did i buy some gems this time, or some real stinkers? edit: punctuation.
Vonnegut's brilliant. I went through a phase where I read all his books in a couple of months and then was miserable when there were no more. If you intend to read more of Vonnegut, I'd recommend saving timequake till the end, as its his last.
i'm going to read palm sunday first because it's like autobiographical shit, and timequake last because it's his last. besides those two, i own cat's cradle and slaughterhouse-five, and fully intend to get more. i like everything i've read so far. jps - what are the best and worst vonnegut novels you've read? could you maybe rank them all, with a little reasoning behind it or something? i'd be interested to know your opinions... thanks dude.
Good show Most excellent choices. Just to be a snot, I'll throw in a couple to keep an eye for: - Vonnegut: Breakfast of Champions - Bradbury: Dandelion Wine Off your chosen themes, I might point to Aldous Huxley's Jesting Pilate, Salman Rushdie's Haroun and the Sea of Stories (a response to Khomeni), Umberto Eco's Foucault's Pendulum, and Randall Kenan's Let the Dead Bury the Dead. For entertainment value, Bradbury's companion novels Death is a Lonely Business and Graveyard for Lunatics are astounding; I read them in the opposite order, which has its merits. I think you'll find Bluebeard an amazing little read. I first met Rabo Karabekian in Breakfast of Champions, so I was thrilled when I came to Bluebeard. Let me say for the record that it's permissible to spend all that money on books if you really want to. For a slightly specialized palate I recommend Jack Cady. The Jonah Watch is an amazing little novel that you'll have to find in secondhand shops; it contains more than a few surprises for those who enjoy the mechanics of writing as well; it's a testament to subtle stylism. The Off Season is bizarre and hilarious; Inagehi dark; Street is downright disturbing - Cady lived out of his car for a year in order to get to know something of the street. The American Writer is a literary examination of American history, but boring for those not wrapped up in the arts. Artists will also find some refuge in Steven Brust's The Sun, the Moon, and the Stars. Joyce Carol Oates is mind-numbing; The Assignation is a stunning collection of not-quite short stories. They're disturbing enough in and of themselves. Her longer stories and novels can cripple your brain. On which note I ought to pitch Raymond Carver, and also Tim O'Brien's The Things They Carried, and then I can shut up .... :m:, Tiassa Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Yes, most excellent choices. Above all else I recommend Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, and The Venus Gospel. Also read Albert Camus' The Stranger. And read Stranger In A Strange Land by Robert Heinlein.
hm..I'll try. don't have anything better to do at the moment... Its been a few years.. alright..I don't think I can rank them in any real order..but, my favorite overall is Breakfast of Champions, the characters just fit together perfectly, and the perspective he uses in telling the story(his own, as the author) is unique as far as I know. I think these are his best. I may have mixed them up or rememberd details wrong in describing them: Slaughterhouse Five-Good, not too heavy handed message about war, coupled with his eyewitness experiences in WWII make this his best known book. I think it also points out what can potentially be a valuable way of looking at life. The Sirens of Titan-This seems to be sort of a mixture of a bunch of ideas thrown together(including the theme from his short story harrison begereon). Its more science fictiony than most of his other books(which is a plus for me), and is more light in tone(mostly) It also reveals to you the meaning of life in the end. Player Piano-I think this was his first novel. Its just a really good humanistic cautionary story of the problems that go along with advancing technology. Cats Cradle- I think what makes this one great is the religious aspect: the demonstration of useful lies. Galapagos- This book is written from the point of view that human intelligence was an evolutionary mistake. I think that made it for me. Slapstick-Just for sheer strangeness. One of the weirder books I've read. I liked these two, but they didn't strike me as much as the ones above: Hocus Pocus-This one didn't leave much of a lasting impression on me. I don't really know why. Jailbird-Nothing in this one struck me as standing out greatly from his other books. The ending seemed a little unreal to me as well. Deadeye Dick-I dont' remember this one very well..just remember that a lot of bad stuff happens to people... Timequake-This one really seems to be vonnegut saying goodbye more than anythign else and tieing up loose ends. great if you're already a fan and know the characters. but probly not his best on its own(althought i wouldn't know, having experienced it only the first way. Mother Night-an interesting concept, but it just didn't seem as deep as some of his others. Bluebeard-also didn't seem terribly deep to me. I'm not into the art world though. God Bless You Mr. Rosewater-I just rememberd this one, I liked it a lot, but its pretty overtly a political rant. the endings brilliant though. Some of the characters, like Kilgore Trout, and Eliot Rosewater show up here and there in a bunch of his books, so if you like the characters its worth reading all of them Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
speaking of vonnegut, just came across this speech by him regarding current events. http://www.wagingpeace.org/articles/03.05/0522vonnegut_weather.htm Even if you don't agree with him, you have to admit its impressive writing.
YOu got some gems. Can I suggest "the TE of piglet" next by Hoff. AS for Bradbury, fahrenheit 451 is good, not so sure about some of his otehr stuff. I reccomend also frank herbert, cos hes one of my favourite writers, and can keep you thinking. Perhaps also Heller. and umm, lets see.... As fo addiciton, you can be a bibliophile you know. You know your addicted when you buy books for anything from 10 pence to 20 pounds, from charity shops to bookshops, and will find yourself in a bookshop buying books wihtout actually intending to do so, you just happened to be passing by and got the call....... Big tip though is that for quantity, locate the nearest second hand shops. That way you get more books for your money, although it does mean you are more dependent on chance to find good books, which I htink is half the fun. Oh yes, and all aldous huxley is good, jsut remember to read "island", his last one, an antidote to "brave new world"
guthrie, yeah, i shop at half price books all the time. that's where i get all my stuff, and yeah, it's more fun trying to find cool new shit to read instead of just walking into b&n or something and buying it easily. there's a concept of reward involved. i've read more bad reviews than good on the te of piglet. check out amazon.com. i'm going to pass on that one for now. frank herbert is cool from what i've read (parts of dune), so i plan to read that entire book one day. i have catch-22 by joseph heller on my shelf right now, but haven't gotten around to it yet. good call. i didn't really enjoy brave new world, but i'll probably read it again someday. i'm going to read 1984 first, because it's similar in theme. i've read some of it before.
