Bye, Mr. Vonnegut

Mostess · Post by **Mostess** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 8:53 pm

Time to reread Sirens of Titan. Pretty much the first book I ever loved.

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:03 pm

Dammnnnnnn.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Wed Apr 11, 2007 9:06 pm

Rented a tent.

Damn. Kilgore Trout and many others kept me laughing on endless subway rides. He struck many nerves. So it goes.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 1:50 am

I just re-read Player Piano over the Easter break.

That bloke was a dead-set champion. Very sadly missed

I tell you, we are here on Earth to fart around, and don't let anybody tell you different.
- KV.

Heather. Redmon. · Post by **Heather. Redmon.** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 3:44 am

He's my favorite. I'm glad he gave the world so many wonderful stories, for us to read and re-read for a lifetime.

Paco Del Stinko · Post by **Paco Del Stinko** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 4:24 am

Sorry to hear this. Interesting about the re-reading comments as how many books do you read more than once? I think that says a lot right there.

jimtyrrell · Post by **jimtyrrell** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:01 am

Got the news about Mr. Vonnegut* when I got in late last night. I looked through my bookshelf and realized I don't have many of his books anymore. I'll be going to the library for one, maybe Breakfast Of Champions. Goodbye, Kurt. And thank you.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 5:58 am

Just had to re-post this from this thread

roymond wrote:
Heather. Redmon. wrote:
tonetripper wrote: Kurt Vonnegut rules.
Of the four Vonnegut books I've read, Slaughterhouse Five, Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions and his most recent Timequake, I have enjoyed them all but I do think Breakfast of Champions is my favorite. I own a copy of Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout. I found it at a used bookstore in either Berkeley or Santa Monica. I think it's a really cool thing to have.
Well, to Caravan's earlier question about whether he is still with us, I just ran into him at lunch! His house is down the street from my office so I figured it was only a matter of time. He did look a bit fragile, so I just said "Hi" instead of kissing his feet and telling him I named my two cats Kilgore and Venus.
[/b][/url]. Has anyone read his other works? I have not.

..."just ran into him at lunch"!?!?

Champagne name-dropping Roymond! Well done! That made me so jealous. 8)

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:19 am

oh man, how unfortunate. i really have enjoyed the couple of books of his i've read. i think i have 'breakfast of champions' on my to-read shelves... i should get that out next.
-bill

j$ · Post by j$ » Fri Apr 13, 2007 3:37 pm

yeah, it's a big big loss. But when diesel sweeties gets there before me ... well ain't that the truth?

Deliberately badly drawn unfunny toss wins? It should at least have been Red Robot! Bonjour la tristesse.

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:34 pm

Is anyone else pissed off that anna nicloe smith got a milltion hours of coverage but vonnegut got practially nothing after death?

Märk · Post by **Märk** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:23 am

She had way nicer tits though.

roymond · Post by **roymond** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:21 am

Sven wrote:She had way nicer tits though.

At least his were real.

Post by jb » Sat Apr 14, 2007 11:38 am

fodroy wrote:Is anyone else pissed off that anna nicloe smith got a milltion hours of coverage but vonnegut got practially nothing after death?

Do you really want Kurt Vonnegut eulogized by Larry fucking King?

Let the fools bother themselves with each other.

JB

fodroy · Post by **fodroy** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:42 pm

I'm not asking for Larry King. I just want America to realize that Vonnegut actually contributed something of value to the world while Anna Nicole was a fucking leech who did nothing for anyone but herself.

Adam! · Post by **Adam!** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 2:52 pm

After hearing of his death, I realized I'd somehow never read Slaughterhouse Five. So last night I bought it, read it, and gave it away. It was good.

Mostess · Post by **Mostess** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 11:54 am

Puce wrote:After hearing of his death, I realized I'd somehow never read Slaughterhouse Five. So last night I bought it, read it, and gave it away. It was good.

You can always tell when someone has read Vonnegut recently. They write short, clear sentences. Now that's a force for good.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Mon Apr 16, 2007 1:43 pm

Mostess wrote:
Puce wrote:After hearing of his death, I realized I'd somehow never read Slaughterhouse Five. So last night I bought it, read it, and gave it away. It was good.
You can always tell when someone has read Vonnegut recently. They write short, clear sentences.

Or Hemingway. And then they die. In the sun. Like dogs.

Smalltown Mike · Post by **Smalltown Mike** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:06 am

I read an obituary that (lightly) suggested a lot of his books re-used some of the same themes. But thinking back about his books, a lot of them were so different. Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse 5, Galapagus, Deadeye Dick were all very different books, for example. Great stories. Hocus Pocus.

His last bit of fiction, Timescape, was sad in that he acknowledged throughout the book that he'd pretty much lost his ability to write. He was too old, he said, why should he still be expected to write like he did when he was younger?

So it goes.

Caravan Ray · Post by **Caravan Ray** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 5:34 am

Smalltown Mike wrote:I read an obituary that (lightly) suggested a lot of his books re-used some of the same themes. But thinking back about his books, a lot of them were so different. Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse 5, Galapagus, Deadeye Dick were all very different books, for example. Great stories. Hocus Pocus.

His last bit of fiction, Timescape, was sad in that he acknowledged throughout the book that he'd pretty much lost his ability to write. He was too old, he said, why should he still be expected to write like he did when he was younger?

So it goes.

I would agree that all of his books are very similar and re-used the same themes. Though he did spin good yarns, it isn't the stories that stuck in my head - it is the voice of the irascible old man pulling apart modern society with surgical skill. And it was that same voice - from Player Piano right through to Timequake (and especially in S5, BoC and Hocus Pocus) - that I loved about Kurt Vonnegut.

HeuristicsInc · Post by **HeuristicsInc** » Wed Apr 18, 2007 8:19 am

HeuristicsInc wrote:oh man, how unfortunate. i really have enjoyed the couple of books of his i've read. i think i have 'breakfast of champions' on my to-read shelves... i should get that out next.

okay, it's not BoC, it's Deadeye Dick, and I started it last night.
-bill