Tell me why you love Kurt Vonnegut?

[JitterbugPerfume]

I love him because along with Bob Dylan (they) gave me a whole new way of looking at things.They helped me to break away from Fundamentalism into a groovy new world--literally.

[villager]

1. For the same reasons we love Tom Robbins, too?

;-)

[JitterbugPerfume]

5. yes!

a whole new way of viewing the world:hi:

[angstlessk]

10. Early Tom Robbins..a STONE FOR DANNY FISHER my favorite

[JitterbugPerfume]

23. a wonderful book

but it was written by Harold Robbins

[deutsey]

2. He did the same for me, plus he really influenced my writing.

I remember how glad I was after I became a Democratic Socialist to learn that he was one too.

[Sonoman]

3. Because he has a Really Cool Name.

I am probably one of the very few (in my demographic, anyway) who have never read anything of his.

But I always thought he had a Really Cool Name.

Sonoman

[JitterbugPerfume]

9. you are missing some good stuff!

Slaughterhouse five , Cats Cradle , Breakfast of Champions , just to name a few

[11 Bravo]

4. Two words: Slaughterhouse Five

[angstlessk]

13. though I saw what happened....that whole thing was over my head

I know it was about more than I even thought about

[graywarrior]

6. He, and only he, was the reincarnation of Voltaire

[JitterbugPerfume]

14. wow! it is great to see you

:loveya:

[graywarrior]

15. I can't resist a Vonnegut thread started by an old friend

[existentialist]

7. reasons for appreciation of Kurt Vonnegut

"George Bush woke up from a drunk and decided that he had seen God. Other drunks have seen pink elephants."
Kurt Vonnegut

Actually that's only one of several reasons. Once I wrote a First Amendment Rights paper that in part discussed a case where a school board had voted to remove a Kurt Vonnegut work (Slaughterhouse Five) from its school libraries and the decision of the Board was overturned in the Courts, including after it went all the way to the United States Supreme Court. (Board of Education Island Trees)

In my high school humanities class Slaughterhouse Five had been assigned.

[rzemanfl]

8. I loved him even though we had to read "Report on the

Barnhouse Effect" in high school and I hated everything about high school, but not that. In his posthumous book there is a letter he wrote to his family after World War II. Anyone reading it, not knowing he wrote it, would say "Kurt Vonnegut wrote this letter."

On edit, Old Leftie Lawyer, Tangerine La Bamba Annette Appollo said she met him, not knowing who he was, when she was a teenager and was smitten.

[existentialist]

11. One also has to love him for his

cameo appearance playing himself in Back to School

[Kurovski]

12. First: The way he used language was new to me at fourteen years old.

The emotions were recognizable, and he made me laugh.

[ixion]

16. His sense of humor, his imagination and his understanding of the human condition

among many other things.

[thaddeus_flowe]

17. "The only proof he needed of God was music." - Vonnegut

N/T

[arcane1]

18. He's the only fiction author whose books I've read more than 3 times each

"Cat's Cradle" really did it for me, with "Galapagos" running a close second. I think that "way of looking at things" was what did it for me, too. Not that I began to look at things "his way", but rather helped me look at things my own way.

It surely didn't hurt that I was turned on to him by an awesome DUer, too! :toast:

[JitterbugPerfume]

22. ALWAYS trust a Duer

to turn you on to something cool!

[glinda]

19. Studied him in High School and his work supported my creative thinking skills.

[Rageneau]

20. Because everything he wrote was beautiful and nothing hurt.

Ol' Kurt is sitting up there in heaven with Isaac Asimov, smiling down on us.

[JitterbugPerfume]

21. smoking Pall Malls

[mtowngman]

24. One of my heroes in life

With Bob Dylan, George Carlin and John Lennon. I had the pleasure of reading "Sirens of Titan" as my first experience with Vonnegut when I was about 18. Saw him speak at an anti -nuclear demonstration and march on the capital in 1978 and even owned a paperback copy of "Venus on the Halfshell" by Kilgore Trout, sadly I traded it for a bag of weed a long time ago. Now that I'm thinking about it, next stop: amazon.

"Slaughterhouse Five" should be required reading for membership to the human race.

[JitterbugPerfume]

25. well in 1976

I would have probably traded it for a bag of weed too:evilgrin: :hippie:

[LWolf]

26. Welcome to the Monkey House.

Harrison Bergeron.

He challenged me.

[japple]

30. Harrison Bergeron--whoo, that one was a doozy! Loved Welcome

to the Monkey House, Sirens of Titian, Breakfast of Champions, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, Slaughterhouse 5.

[Forkboy]

27. because Bluebeard is the only novel that has made me break down and truly cry.

Among other reasons. When he finally describes the painting in the barn it is soul crushing. :(

[JitterbugPerfume]

28. I need to re read Bluebeard

it has been a long time:hi: :loveya: I had forgotten that!

[Forkboy]

29. His lesser known ones are the ones that stand out the most to me for some reason.

Deadeye Dick and God Bless You Mr. Rosewater are also among my faves of his. Not like you can wrong with any of them. :)

:loveya:

[OmahaBlueDog]

32. I love Kurt Vonnegut because of "God Bless You Mr. Rosewater"

Little known fact -- it was also made into a musical.

[BlueIris]

31. Stealthy and clever writer. Who also made some of the most helpful comments about writing.

"Being a good writer is like being a good date" is my favorite Vonnegutism. Also, "Guy gets in trouble, then gets out of it again. People love that story. They never get tired of it."

[pitohui]

33. kindness, humanity, simple use of the language to make magic

vonnegut was one of these whose writing was like clear crystal water

if you have ever picked up a quilt, hand sewn, and every stitch invisible...this would be vonnegut...you didn't see the effort although i'm confident that to create such an appearance of effortlessness must have been very challenging indeed

[JitterbugPerfume]

34. you summed it up beautifully

pitohui

[Wise Child]

35. I've only read Slaughterhouse Five,

Can someone please recommend what of his I ought to read next? Appreciate it.