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Rongi · #1

i would post this in the reading forum, but no one ever posts there

i dont understand why people thought cat's cradle was funny. i thought it was one of the most pessimistic books i've ever read. one part i did find really funny though was when the midget's brother said he's matured a lot and the narrator points out that it was at the expense of the entire human race

i'm reading sirens of titan now, and i might rent out breakfast of champions even though i heard it wasnt a good book

kahljorn · #2

I've heard breakfast of champions is a very very good book from somebody who reads books alot and was in honors english soooo...

mburbank · #3

Breakfast of Champions is awesome BUT...

I think you may be missing the concept of 'black comedy', and if pessemism is not your cup of Tea, quit now. Pessemism with a smile is Vonnegut. You may not be inlcined to like this writer. I think that means you'll be missing one of the great Americcan voices, but not everybody likes everything.

Preechr · #4

Quote:

Originally Posted by mburbank

...but not everybody likes everything.

I do!

Rongi · #5

its not that i dont find black comedy funny, i just dont see how people thought cat's cradle was laugh out loud funny. at most i got a few chuckles out of it. i found the theme of mankind's impending doom due to it's own apathy to be too scarily true to life to be humorous. i can only imagine how scary reading that book was during the arms race

i am enjoying sirens of titan though. i thought the ten commandments countdown was pretty hillarious

Rongi · #6

i am almost finished with sirens of titan, which i have enjoyed much much more than cat's cradle

i find it very interesting that despite the fact that rumfoord can see into the future and see that everything is pretty much planned out, the basis of the religion he makes is that humanity has free will and god does not do anything for us. i am not finished with the book yet, so maybe there is something i'm not seeing

Rongi · #7

i finished sirens of titan sunday, and just took out slaughter house five from the library

i thought the part where malachai said the point of living was to love every person around you was very unusual for a vonnegut book, but very lovely none the less

i'm still unsure if the message was that man has free will or not

kahljorn · #8

I thought slaughter house five was funny ;(
there's this part with kilgore trout and he's talking to some woman at a party and it fucking kills me. I picture that scene as what Max Burbank is like in real life. i dont want to ruin that scene let me just say the key words salmon egg and a word starting with a C.. hope anybody who has read it gets the idea ;(

Rongi · #9

i can barely put this book down, slaughter house five is so incredibly entertaining

i have enjoyed sirens and am loving slaughter house, perhaps cat's cradle just wasnt my thing

Esuohlim · #10

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rongi

for some reason i never found kurt vonnegut's writing to be funny or interesting. i tried to read slaughterhouse five and cat's cradle, but i quickly lost interest

This is from the what are you reading thread after I mentioned reading Slaughterhouse Five. I'm glad you regained interest, because recently Kurt Vonnegut has become one of my top-five favorite authors. I've read four of his books so far, and my next one is Breakfast of Champions

Rongi · #11

some of my favorite books the first time i tried to read them, i ended up losing interest and putting them down only to read them months ( or even years ) later. this happened to me with Neverwhere by Neil Gaimen. the first time i tried to read it i hated it, and now i'd say it's one of my favorite books

kahljorn · #12

Did you get to the part i was talking about yet, Rongi? DID YOU? that part kills me

Rongi · #13

no

i'm up to part where he's at the POW camp with all the looney british people

kahljorn · #14

This makes me want to read vonneguht again

Rongi · #15

i find it interesting that you dont see that many books or movies that show a negative view of WWII. it's just like nancy says in the beginning, most films or books about WWII are very macho portrayals of heroism and victory

KevinTheOmnivore · #16

Thin Red Line. I know there are other obvious ones, they just escape me right now.

Rongi · #17

i read a synopsis on the thin red line, it sounds like a very interesting book. i'll have to check it out after i rent out breakfast of champions

Rongi · #18

i finished slaughter house and just started breakfast of champions, which is utterly hillarious and fantastic

kahl, the way kilgore completely fucked with that girl's head was hillarious

thin red line was rented out