The Vonnegut Reading Group discussion
New to this app!
date
newest »
newest »
message 1:
by
Kevin
(new)
Oct 11, 2013 11:44AM
Hi everyone! I'm new to this app and was setting up my profile and all. This is the first group I joined because Vonnegut is by far my favorite author. I have read Slaughterhouse 5, Breakfast of Champions, Timequake, Sirens of Titan, Cat's cradle, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, almost all of Welcome to the Monkey House, and I am currently finishing up Galapagos! (Oddly enough in that order lol) my dad and I have read some of these together (since we live 10 hrs away) because we both love his writing, but I sometimes lack the ability to talk about these novels with people. I even manage a bookstore too! I thought this would be a fun group to join. What are y'all currently reading/talking about?
reply
|
flag
Welcome Kevin. Vonnegut is my favorite author as well. I'm worried that he is becoming less popular now that he has been gone for so many years, and because so many people I encounter have never even heard of him. But maybe we can do something about that, right?The group has been pretty quiet since I joined a few months back. As far as I know, no one is reading anything in tandem. Do you have a suggestion for something we could all read together?
Welcome Kevin,Kurt still sells .25 million books annually, on an international basis. More scholarship about him is showing up more than ever, and my own second edition of The Vonnegut Encyclopedia is awaiting valley corrections. You will have plenty of opportunity for conversation.
Marc
Those are encouraging sales numbers. He is an undiscovered treasure among my circle of friends, but I've been pushing them to try him.
Thanks for the welcome, Kevin! I would agree with Marc with the statistics. As a used bookstore manager, I see Vonnegut books consistently fly off the shelves at high prices (in comparison to other prices within my store). His appeal is alive and well! I have actually just finished Galapagos, and as with each novel of his that I have read thus far, I adored it. If this is one you have not read yet, I highly recommend it. He takes on the difficult task of narrating over the course of a million years to witness the evolution of the human race. As always, the way he does so is unlike any other author I have read. Since I am usually reading one of his novels, even while reading other authors, I have chosen to read Jailbird next, which I have yet to dive into! I'm excited, as always, and confident that it will be yet another work of his that I will enjoy. What are y'all reading?
I've read them all, except the first and last book that came out last year. Jailbird is a fun novel, especially the opening few chapters.
That's awesome! I'm sure I will have read them all pretty soon. I'm addicted.
One time at a party, I spoke with a guy that shared an interest in Vonnegut, and he recommended a book called Mayer's Tongue by Nathaniel Rich. Has anyone ever heard of this? He had been to prison and said he read it and related to it from that point of view and had a KV kinda feel. I've been intrigued ever since.
Looks interesting. I'll have to check that out.I finished Gavin Extence's The Universe Versus Alex Woods over the summer. The main character, a kid, starts a Vonnegut book club and reads through all of his works. It was pretty good, though a little heavy handed in places. Very PC, which is strange considering the heavy Vonnegut influence. But I enjoyed it and would recommend it.
Even more enjoyable, to me anyway, was Last Night In Twisted River by John Irving. Irving, who attended Vonnegut's writing workshop in real life, had his main character do the same. This character interacted with Kurt and the reader got to experience Vonnegut's workshop through Irving's eyes. I love this (admittedly small) part of the novel.
It's amazing how influential Vonnegut has been to the current and previous generation of authors. He's usually not in the top 10 of those "100 greatest novels of the 20th century" lists, but I'll be he's at or near the top of the list for influential writers. He's certainly been a major influence on me.
Thank you so much for those recommendations! I will definitely check those out as well. The premise of involving Kurt's workshop is really intriguing. I agree, his influence is undeniable. I'm not sure if you heard, but there is talk of a remake of his Slaughterhouse 5 film! I was excited to hear that the writer of eternal sunshine of the spotless mind and adaptation (Charlie Kaufman) will be doing the remake. I'm definitely a fan of his and feel he may do it some justice. I enjoy the original film, but would love to see a modern adaptation of his masterpiece.
My wife and I just attempted to watch the movie of Breakfast of Champions. I really like Bruce Willis and Albert Finney, but this movie...The words are so vital to any Vonnegut story, it is difficult to translate into film. The original Slaughterhouse movie was quit good, and I also enjoyed Mother Night. Fingers crossed that if they make a new one, it will be better than Breakfast of Champions. =)
Haha you know, I've never watched the breakfast of champions movie, but I've known all about it for quite some time. I listened to the breakfast of champions audiobook, which was performed wonderfully by Stanley Tucci, and at the end there is an interview with Vonnegut. He addresses the movie, exclaiming how terrible it was. Ha! He also praises the SH5 film adaptation. I agree that it is next to impossible to translate his novels into film because of his unique commentary/narration that he weaves into his plot. This is especially true in breakfast of champions, because of the way he writes himself into the story and presents himself to Trout at the end. This was done beautifully I might add. Even though I know the movie is terrible and couldn't possibly be done well as a film, I've still always wanted to see how they tried to do it. And of course I also like Bruce Willis. I've also heard Mother Night is good too, though I still haven't seen that either. I would want to read it first, but that's still one of his I've yet to knock off the list. In time!
Albert Finney does an exception job as Kilgore Trout considering what he had to work with. Just go into the movie expecting a 1-star and you will be pleasantly surprised.
Well, I got the chance to watch "Breakfast of Champions" only recently, and I'm lucky I record most everything I watch on the telly, 'cause I fell asleep halfway through the first attempt :)Yes, it's a "difficult" book to render visually, but the result is pretty bad all the same, although I agree Kilgore Trout works.
Speaking of movies, anyone seen "Harrison Bergeron"?
I just noticed there's a 2006 movie remake, haven't seen that one, I'm referring to a 1995 TV movie which is pretty good, once you get used to the idea that the 7 feet tall protagonist of Vonnegut's short story has turned into Sean Astin who, as we all know, is really a hobbit... ;)
I recall the 1995 Harrison Bergeron to be pretty good. There was also a TV show or mini-series or something of Welcome to the Monkey House, hosted by Kurt Vonnegut. They adapted a few of his short stories. I recall the one about playing chess with real people. The show was ok, but not outstanding. Overall, I think Mother Night is my favorite film version of a Vonnegut story.
I love the Von' (yes I just made that up) but I have to say... I never want to see a film based on one of his books. I love films, love tv, but I just don't see his books translating well to those media. I think it's because I find his humor and actual story-TELLING to be his chief assets, much less than the plots or characters. Plot and character are more important for film and tv though. I just don't want to see it translated into that. Too much to be lost in translation.
