My favorite author, Kurt Vonnegut has passed away. I’m currently working my way through every novel he’s ever written. The things I’ve read are intend to read are listed below:

  • Player Piano: Loved his take on what a society that no longer needs manual labor does with itself. It was a little slow to get going, which is uncharacteristic of most of his novels.
  • The Sirens of Titan: This is a weird, weird book. There are a few themes here I like in the novel, but it’s not my favorite.
  • Mother Night: The first book I ever read by him. Really good take on who you think you are versus how people around you think of you.
  • Cat’s Cradle: Bokononism and Ice-9. A wonderfully strange bit of story.
  • God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: I loved his “Just be KIND” message. This book ask a lot of questions that seem funny, then you sort of wonder why no one else is saying the same thing about the world we live in today.
  • Slaughterhouse-Five: I’ve read this multiple times. I love this book so much. If there was ONE book you have to read by Vonnegut, this is it. Superb.
  • Breakfast of Champions: This book is very strange. A must for Kilgore Trout fans. He’s a character in a novel that finds out he’s a character in a novel. His one request, “Make me younger!”
  • Slapstick: Wow. This book is really strange in a good way. Very different. I’ll have to read it again. The stuff about inclusiveness seems to parallel the rise of blog-cliques very well.
  • Jailbird: I haven’t read it yet. I will purchase this on first sight.
  • Deadeye Dick: Currently reading this.
  • Galápagos: The human race evolves to live on the Galapagos islands as told by a ghost. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
  • Bluebeard: Meh. Abstract impressionism isn’t my bag I guess.
  • Hocus Pocus: I didn’t care for this story much.
  • Timequake: It’s an interesting twist on the idea of “fate”. Watching yourself make mistakes that you’ve already made in the past but are powerless to prevent seems like a special sort of hell.

A wonderful mind has passed away. He is one of my biggest influences as a writer, and I find his work a joy to read. Even at his strangest, his stories teach about mankind and morals that I thought were provoking and challenging. I’ll miss him dearly.