Kurt Vonnegut fans [Archive]

phishmarisol

11-16-2008, 12:57 AM

What are your favorite books, lines, characters, drawings, etc.? I consider myself to be a huge fan but in fact I've only read a handful of his books (Slaughterhouse-Five, Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, Bluebeard, A Man Without a Country, and God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian.)

I think I'm going to read the rest in chronological order. My favorite is Slaughter-House Five so far and probably will still be once I finish all of them.

A few of my favorites (from books I've read):

Everything was beautiful, and nothing hurt.

Live by the foma* that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.
- The Books of Bokonon 1:5
*Harmless untruths

Roses are red
And ready for plucking
You're sixteen
And ready for high school.

http://sepans.com/images/intrests/kurt.jpg

jzgtrguy

11-16-2008, 01:46 AM

denver.p

11-16-2008, 01:47 AM

I sometimes consider myself a Bokonist.

phishmarisol

11-16-2008, 02:25 AM

That's amazing. That is my favorite line from Kurt Vonnegut too! After I read the book I wrote a ballad called, "Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt" It uses a lot of Minor/major 7th chords. I really like Vonnegut

I also have a song called "Everything was Beautiful and Nothing Hurt". Actually most of my song titles are lines from his books.

I sometimes consider myself a Bokonist.

Perhaps you are in my karass. :cool:

Smakutus

11-16-2008, 04:58 AM

My fave by Kurt is Slapstick..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slapstick_(book)

Jeff

Zelja

11-16-2008, 05:07 AM

I sometimes consider myself a Bokonist.

"Busy, busy, busy"

Have read Slaugherhouse 5, Cats Cradle, Jailbird, Deadeye Dick with S5 the favorite, but all were very good or more. Probably need to revisit these works & read a few others, so thanks to the OP for the reminder.

"...she was ransacking her mind for something to say, finding nothing in it but used Kleenex and cotume jewellery"

I loved this little guest appearance in the Rodney Dangerfield film "Back to School":

http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=tQnAhSzb4gY (warning: a few profanities in the last few seconds as can be expected from RD)

"So it goes"

Bones

11-16-2008, 05:47 AM

Bluebeard and Breakfast are my favorites, I used to see him on a regular basis out here when he was alive, often ended up standing in line with him at a particular delicatessen.

Smakutus

11-16-2008, 11:53 AM

Bluebeard and Breakfast are my favorites, I used to see him on a regular basis out here when he was alive, often ended up standing in line with him at a particular delicatessen.

I was heading to NYC in 1988 and saw Kurt at Metro Airport in Deetroit. The guy that was dropping me off also knew who he was and we both gave Kurt that "oh my gawd that is Kurt Vonnegut!" look. Kurt looked down and walked away as fast as he could.. <g>

So there's two flights heading out to NYC at about the same time. I watch him get on one, and I get on the other. I get to Kennedy and the first thing my friend there says is "Guess who I just saw!"

Jeff

Kingbeegtrs

11-16-2008, 12:40 PM

KIlgore Trout fan club.

Looking for a hard back copy of "welcome to the monkey house" if anyone has one...let me know

Scott Miller

11-16-2008, 01:02 PM

I just finished "Wampeters, Foma, and Granfalloons." I've read it a few times.

trumpus

11-16-2008, 01:04 PM

I got into Kurt Vonnegut in high school when I read Slaughterhous 5 and Breakfast of Champions. Those books changed my life and made me really enjoy reading. I went to Cornell and felt I had a KV connection. I was sad when he passed.

I've read most of his books and essays at one point or another, but Slaughterhous 5 is still my favorite, too...

Suproman77

11-16-2008, 01:29 PM

Unclemeet

11-16-2008, 01:36 PM

[after Diane gives Thornton an 'F' for his report, which was actually written by Kurt Vonnegut]

Diane (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001419/): Whoever did write this doesn't know the first thing about Kurt Vonnegut!

[cut to Thornton's dorm suite]

Thornton Melon (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001098/): [on the phone] ... and another thing, Vonnegut! I'm gonna stop payment on the check!

[Kurt tells him off]

Thornton Melon (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001098/): F*ck me? Hey, Kurt, can you read lips? F*ck you! Next time I'll call Robert Ludlum!

[hangs up]

Oddly enough, one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies.

Also a huge fan as well. Got into Kurt while in high school while holed up with a bad case of mono. S5, God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Deadeye Dick, Mother Night, Bluebeard, Breakfast of Champions.

If you haven't seen them, check our the movie versions of Breakfast of Champions and Mother Night, they're pretty good.

jaimo

11-16-2008, 02:01 PM

Cat's Cradle - my all time fave. The one that I can't believe hasn't been made into a movie.

Slaughterhouse-Five - read several times

The Sirens of Titan - possibly one of the most heartbreaking works I've read about the human condition and what it means to be humane. Written with humor, but the truth of it may hit you hard.

rhinocaster

11-16-2008, 02:05 PM

Breakfast of Champions had a line (and I'm paraphrasing here):

He was really scared. His sphincter looked like this *.

Bradd

11-16-2008, 04:00 PM

I've read slaughter-house five probably a half dozen times and am getting ready to read it again. One of my all time favorite books and should be manditory reading for every human.

Kingbeegtrs

11-16-2008, 04:03 PM

Slaughterhouse V has to be my favorite, however Jailbird and Galapagos come in a close second and third. Welcome to the Monkey House has a really cool story about a musician...anyone read it?

waltkh5

11-16-2008, 04:10 PM

Sirens of titan. I have read and re-read this book dozens of times.

"It is always pitiful when any human being falls into a condition hardly more respectable than that of an animal. How much more pitiful it is when the person who falls has had all the advantages."

Marty s Horne

11-16-2008, 06:04 PM

My favorites are Cat's Cradle, Breakfast of Champions, and Deadeye Dick.
"We doodlely doodlely do what we muddily muddily must until we bodily bodily bust."
"Why don't you take a flying f##k at a rolling doughnut; why don't you take a flying jump at the moon."
"Nice, nice very nice, so many people in the same device."

Bones

11-16-2008, 06:07 PM

Slaughterhouse V has to be my favorite, however Jailbird and Galapagos come in a close second and third. Welcome to the Monkey House has a really cool story about a musician...anyone read it?

Jeez, I forgot about Galapagos, that was a really good one, I guess i need to re-read it.

RickC

11-16-2008, 06:11 PM

Welcome to the Monkey House has a really cool story about a musician...anyone read it?

"The Foster Portfolio" - it's haunted me for decades

:dude

DaveF

11-16-2008, 06:24 PM

related content:

http://www.finallyequal.com/

waylay00

11-16-2008, 07:22 PM

I just wrote a paper on Slaughterhouse 5 for my AP English class. I've read it twice now, and I really want to read Sirens of Titan.

Tonefish

11-16-2008, 07:51 PM

I enjoyed break fat of Champions and still get a kick out of the whole " * " thing.:rotflmao

Kingbeegtrs

11-16-2008, 07:55 PM

"The Foster Portfolio" - it's haunted me for decades

:dude

that's right! I read that book a long time ago and that was the one story that stood out to me.

Kingbeegtrs

11-16-2008, 07:58 PM

I just wrote a paper on Slaughterhouse 5 for my AP English class. I've read it twice now, and I really want to read Sirens of Titan.

it has a George Orwell vibe to it...a little harsh though.

speaking of which...I'm probably the biggest Vonnegut fan on earth and the one book that Orwell wrote that I enjoyed was Down and Out in Paris and London...

anybody read it?

phishmarisol

11-21-2008, 01:28 AM

it has a George Orwell vibe to it...a little harsh though.

speaking of which...I'm probably the biggest Vonnegut fan on earth and the one book that Orwell wrote that I enjoyed was Down and Out in Paris and London...

anybody read it?

Only Orwell I've read is Animal Farm but I'll read more of his stuff sometime.

Tiger got to hunt
bird got to fly
Man got to sit and wonder, 'Why, why, why?'
Tiger got to sleep
bird got to land
Man got to tell himself he understand.

Rob Sharer

11-21-2008, 07:08 AM

Tingaling!!!

Jon Silberman

11-21-2008, 07:43 AM

I've read and enjoyed all of his books but the best memory I have of him is seeing and hearing him speak live, in 1977 in D.C., at an anti-nuclear energy rally on the National Mall.

For my dark horse, I'll pick Venus on the Half Shell, nominally by Kilgour Trout. Yeah yeah, I know it was actually written by Philip Jose Farmer, not Vonnegut, but it's a tribute, see? :D

rah3

11-21-2008, 08:00 AM

I love the Teleplay "Between Time and Timbuktu". The title refers to the word "Timid" as found in the dictionary at that time. All the characters created up to that point appear throughout the play. The "Bob and Ray" segments are hilarious. The cereal contest to enter the chrono-synclastic infundibulum is unforgettable.

-RAH3

Valve

11-21-2008, 08:14 AM

Some of my favorites, though I don't remember from which books they come, and these may not be 100% correct:

We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.

God da** it, you have to be kind.

But my favorite memory is when I went to a presentation when he was making the rounds pushing a book, probably Timequake. He took questions afterward and I asked him what his least favorite book he'd written was. He said it was probably the one he was promoting and that he'd really lost it. I said, "It was good while it lasted" and he said, "That's very kind, God bless you."

ocripes

11-22-2008, 10:04 AM

I sat on the sidewalk outside an auditorium at the University of Florida, listening to him on a crappy speaker because the place was packed. Once, I sat in the lobby of a hotel for hours where the NYS council on the arts was meeting because I wanted to catch a glimpse of him.

My hero for years.