Re-reading Sci fi?

[Paul]

I've read slaughterhouse Five and didn't particularly like it.(2*) However, so many people love this book I feel I must have missed something. Am I the only one that re-reads books other people tell me are great?

[Keith]

I'll do it if it's been a very long time since I've last read it. The more common thing like this for me is that a book doesn't grab me for the first big chunk I read from it and I'll put it down & move on to something else, but I'll see people pretty much love it across the board for a long time so I'll give it a second chance.

[Luke]

I read A Canticle for Liebowitz a second time, because I felt like I didn't get it the first time out. The second time it seemed to only affirm my previous views on it: Two thirds great and one third infuriating.

Use of Weapons by Iain M Banks was waaaay better the second time, but it's not as if I didn't like it the first. I just got way more out of it once I was clearer with the story.

I fucking loved Slaughterhouse-Five! However, I got stuck part way into The Sirens of Titan. I need to get back and start again, I guess, with a different mindset. I was expecting more of Vonnegut, but it reads like Kilgore Trout.

[Paul]

Luke wrote: " I fucking loved Slaughterhouse-Five! "
See!, It's exactly this sort of reaction that makes me feel I'm missing something. (and why I intend to re-read it)

[Rachel]

If Slaughterhouse is the only one you've read, I'd recommend trying one of his other books, maybe! I've been a big fan of Vonnegut and read almost everything he's written. For whatever reason Slaughterhouse Five is one of my least favorite of his books, despite generally being considered his best. I always was kinda stumped by that. But I highly reccomend Cat's Cradle or Sirens of Titan. They're more science-fiction-y then Slaughterhouse. Or Breakfast Of Champions is a favorite too.

Too answer yr question, tho, I don't think I have ever re-read something just because it is considered great...although its's been a long time, so now I'm thinking I should do a Slaughterhouse re-read myself...

[Paul]

Rachel, it's not Vonnegut that I want to read per se, but Slaughterhouse 5! (I do have 'Breakfast for champions' on my shelf)