Kurt Vonnegut

[SDNess]

It is about time I read more Vonnegut. I've only read Slaughterhouse Five, and that was over a year ago. Is there any order I should read them in? Which ones are definitely his best?

 

[Leto]

Cat's Cradle

 

[ravenus]

Dunno other stuff but I read Bluebeard and I found it to be a very ho-hum read.

 

[dwndrgn]

I've never read any Vonnegut but I've heard good things about The Sirens of Titan.

 

[BAYLOR]

By him ive read Breakfast of Champions
Cast Cradle
Slaughterhouse Five

 

[Rodders]

Vonnegut's one of those classic SF authors that I have been meaning to read, but haven't quite gotten around to it.

 

[Dave]

I've read a lot of Vonnegut. Some of it was excellent, some was hard-going. I wouldn't say there was any preferred reading order, however, if you have never read Cat's Cradle before then that is obviously top of the list.

 

[BAYLOR]

Vonnegut's one of those classic SF authors that I have been meaning to read, but haven't quite gotten around to it.

He's worth reading .

In 1972 they did big screen adaptation of of novel Slaughterhouse Five . The film doesn't quite work.

 

[Stephen Palmer]

I enjoyed Galapagos.

 

[Vince W]

I really enjoy Vonnegut and alway recommend everyone at least reads Slaughterhouse Five. What I really need to read is Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip Jose Farmer writing as Kilgore Trout.

 

[Finch]

What I really need to read is Venus on the Half-Shell by Philip Jose Farmer writing as Kilgore Trout.

I'm currently reading, Welcome to the monkey house, a collection of short stories A good read for any short story lovers. I have an original Venus on the half-shell. It was a spoof book and I believed it was the real thing. It has lovely green page edges. The more recent publication has Farmer's name on the cover. It is a sf comedy, a sort of flesh Gordon meets Hitchhikers Guide.

 

[BAYLOR]

I'm currently reading, Welcome to the monkey house, a collection of short stories A good read for any short story lovers. I have an original Venus on the half-shell. It was a spoof book and I believed it was the real thing. It has lovely green page edges. The more recent publication has Farmer's name on the cover. It is a sf comedy, a sort of flesh Gordon meets Hitchhikers Guide.

I wonder if Douglas Adams was influenced by Vonnegut?

 

[BAYLOR]

I've read a lot of Vonnegut. Some of it was excellent, some was hard-going. I wouldn't say there was any preferred reading order, however, if you have never read Cat's Cradle before then that is obviously top of the list.

I thought the whole Ice Nine concept in the Cat's Cradle quit nasty.

 

[Vince W]

Adams on his literary influences:

Other funny writers, of whom the chief is P.G. Wodehouse, who is, in my opinion, one of the greatest-ever users of the English language -- he's sort of the Mozart of the English language, I think. I particularly admire funny writers, because I know how incredibly difficult it is. Evelyn Waugh is very high up there, and Jane Austen. People have this idea that humor is in some way a sort of lesser emotion, which I don't accept at all. I think that good, funny writing is amongst the finest writing of any type, which is why I think that Wodehouse is one of the finest writers who ever lived.

Futher:

Vonnegut is another favorite of mine. I deliberately put him low on the list, though, because I get embarrassed by people trying to draw comparisons between him and me -- on one very, very superficial level, it's an easy comparison: he writes stuff that is a) funny, and b) uses science fiction to make its points, and I write stuff that is funny and uses science fiction to make its points.

But that's the only level of comparison. Vonnegut is essentially a deeply serious writer. Obviously a major part of his world view, if you like, comes from the experience he describes in Slaughterhouse Five of being a Prisoner of War in Dresden during the fire-bombing. And I don't have any experience like that to draw on, you know, nothing remotely approaching that.

So Vonnegut is essentially a deeply serious writer who uses comedy to make his points, and I am essentially a comic writer who occasionally tries to slip a point about something or other "under the counter," so to speak, and so from that point of view, I find the comparison embarrassing because he's a great writer, and I think I'm essentially a frivolous one, I'm afraid.

I've lost the link to the full article.

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Who influenced Douglas Adams? - BBC Sounds

 

[BAYLOR]

Adams on his literary influences:


Futher:


I've lost the link to the full article.

Great stuff Vince.


I wonder if they ever met face to face . Both brilliant men , Image the kinds of conversations those two would have had? . I would love to have been in the room for that one.

 

[Vince W]

Another article where Adams mentions Vonnegut:
Darker Matter - Exclusive Interview with Douglas Adams from 1979

I don't think they ever met. However, if they had I doubt Vonnegut would be easy to get to know, something that might have irritated Adams.