Slaughterhouse-Five: Or The Children's Crusade | 
Starting a new buddy read with @Tanisha_A 🥰
I heard so much about this one- so happy I‘m finally getting to it!
pickI have a strong suspicion that anything I could say has already been said about such a renowned book. Except perhaps, that it's not my favourite Vonnegut, or the one that made the biggest impact. That award still goes to Mother Night. Slaughterhouse-Five doesn't simply wrap a tale of the travesties of war up in a 'might be sci fi - probably the effects of trauma on a veteran and POW' narrative with the aliens and the time travel. 1/?
“So it goes“
Choose 20 books that have stayed with you or influenced you. One book per day for 20 days, in no particular order. No explanations, no reviews, just covers.
7/20
Join if you would like!
#20Covers
pick
I really enjoyed Vonnegut‘s writing style and his take on a WWII story. Billy Pilgrim was a POW in Slaughterhouse-Five when Dresden was bombed. Vonnegut spins the story by using time travel to tell Billy‘s story during the war and his life before/after the war. He also adds a twist of an alien abduction. This book left me wondering how much actually happened and how much was in Billy‘s head, much like I felt after reading Life of Pi.
This is an excellent “comic”:
https://www.instagram.com/p/C3kswUuMjGN/?igsh=bHN6dmRwdjAzNjlt
#SundayFunday @BookMarkTavern
I have 2 -
“So It Goes“ that is in the steam off my coffee cup wich I got in Seattle - I absolutely love Kurt Vonnegut and his whole philosopy of life
And up my arm in with my travel tattoos is my little gnome reading a book which I got in Iceland.
I 💓getting when I travel, others are the Bohr model for oxygen my divorce 1, a sloth I got in San Jose Costa Rica & you can see a most of my CDMX roadrunner.
I‘ve toyed with the idea of getting a tiny “So it goes” on my arm (and “Let it be” in the same place on the opposite arm). Maybe someday. But I think my next tattoo will be a starfish, because I love the starfish story (“I made a difference to that one”). #SundayFunday
Happy Thanksgiving! Today I express my ongoing gratitude for book lovers. You‘re smart, friendly, empathetic, giving and all around good eggs!
pickWell, that was a wild and hallucinagenic ride—one which I really enjoyed I might add. Vonnegut‘s anti war classic about Billy Pilgrim‘s life is a fever dream of a story—a ridiculous, farcical, sad, funny, sublime, and an in your face story that is hard to put down. Fantastic book and while this was the first Vonnegut book I‘ve read (I know, I don‘t know how I went so long without reading any of his books), it won‘t be the last.
This book definitely falls into the “how is it possible I‘ve never read this book…because I haven‘t or, if I have, I don‘t remember doing so” category. That changes today as it‘s going to be my read for my commute downtown.
#OutAndAbout #ReadingOnTheTrain
pickIt‘s not often that I think a book deserves 5 stars but this one definitely does. The only way I can describe this book is cool. Like it was just so interesting. The way it played with the concept of time made me want to read this in one sitting. The first chapter is a little confusing but after that it gets so accessible and interesting. Yes of course there‘s also the horrors and atrocities but overall interesting
A few other unbelievable gems from Lilly Library in Bloomington, Indiana.
1) Illustrated Canterbury Tales from the 1400s
2) Tiny books
3) Sylvia Plath's hair (seriously creepy)
4) Vonnegut's own notes on his Slaughterhouse Five manuscript
pickThe best way I can describe this book is by the quote on the back cover- “a funny book at which you are not permitted to laugh, a sad book without tears.” I didn‘t really know what to expect going in to this, but Vonnegut really just solidified his place as one of my favorite authors. He is just able to bring to light some of the realest and most shocking human qualities in a satirically funny way. This is a book I definitely need to read again
pickI appreciated this iconic novel about the many horrors of World War II more than I enjoyed it. The (nonlinear) plot: Billy Pilgrim, the author stand-in, travels through time as he visits different eras of his life, including (but not limited to) the Allied firebombing of Dresden and an abduction by aliens. The reading experience was complex…powerful, unpredictable, funereal, brisk and confident yet thematically heavy as a sledgehammer.
^^p171 “Trout, incidentally, had written a book about a money tree. It had twenty-dollar bills for leaves. […] Its fruit was diamonds. It attracted human beings who killed each other around the roots and made very good fertilizer.
So it goes.”
P29 “The most important thing I learned on Tralfamadore was that when a person dies he only appears to die. He is still very much alive in the past, so it is very silly for people to cry at his funeral.”
pickTime for this decade‘s visit to Tralfamadore & the ceremonial counting of the “so it goeses” (over 100!). Personality fracturing. Survivor‘s guilt. Simultaneity, getting unstuck in time. Outrageous, inane logic of combat. Luck, chance. Detachment in the face of brutality. “So it goes”=refrain for death of lice, death of novel, as much as for soldiers & civilians. Clever time travel trope, the everpresentness of traumatic event. Poo-tee-weet? 1968
Fellow Vonnegut fans, did you see this recent lovely tribute on Lit Hub?
https://lithub.com/how-to-celebrate-100-years-of-kurt-vonnegut/
@leftcoastzen @britt_brooke @callmeishmael
I did a thing today, I just so happened to be passing by Indianapolis for work so I took a little detour and it was amazing. @britt_brooke
🙌👍😱Wish I could go! Happy one hundredth! 💞 https://www.indystar.com/story/news/local/2022/11/04/kurt-vonnegut-centennial-mu...
panAlthough captivating at some points, the speaker's made-up fantasy world (upon his hospitalization) gets quite eccentric, yet dull, as if it's been overdone.
pickI think I am finally old (and cynical) enough to enjoy and appreciate Vonnegut‘s satire. 😂 Vonnegut‘s contemplations on war, life, time, and free will left me with all the feels. At turns hilarious and heartbreaking, the autobiographical elements with Vonnegut‘s own experiences as a WWII POW heighten the effect. It‘s easy to insert Vonnegut for the fictional Billy Pilgrim, and want to shield him from the absurdity that is life. So it goes. 4⭐️
This book has stuck with me for years. A definite must read!
#alphabetgame #letterS @Alwaysbeenaloverofbooks
pickVery apt and succinct anti-war read. Charming and witty
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I have no idea how to review this! It was my #LMPBC pick for a group reading classics and I had no idea what to expect. A largely satirical anti-war novel with some really fantastic writing. I have a hard time with fantastical stuff in books and there was a bit of that, but it moved fast and was a great read. A strong pick—I‘ll definitely add more Vonnegut in the future! @BeckyWithTheGoodBooks it‘s on its way to you!
This is great news. Vonnegut's words in the article on book censorship are well worth reading:
https://lithub.com/the-kurt-vonnegut-library-is-donating-1000-copies-of-slaughte...
#SlaughterHouseFive #KurtVonnegut #WorldBookDay #book #books #booknerd #booknerds #booknerdsunite #booknerdy #booknook #booknation #nerd #nerds #nerdsunite #nerdy #bookmark #bookmarks #bookmarket #bookmarkets #bookmoment #bookmoments #bookquote #bookquotes #bookqueen #bookquirk #quote #quotes #bookworm #bookworms #bookwormlife #bookwormproblem #bookwormproblems #bookworld #bookword #epicreads #bookend #Classics #Fiction #ScienceFiction 💕💕💕💕💕
pickI should have read this book back when I did drugs.
The prose, recurring elements and events are fascinating. A truly bizarre way to tell a story.
“Lot‘s wife was told not to look back where all those people and their homes had been. But she did look back, and I love her for that, because it was so human. So she was turned to a pillar of salt. So it goes.
People aren‘t supposed to look back. I‘m certainly not going to do it anymore. I‘ve finished my war book now. The next one I write is going to be fun. This one is a failure, and it had to be, since it was written by a pillar of salt.”
#roll100 @PuddleJumper
My picks for the month!
I said if I got a number I had already read (49) I would substitute the most recent “stacked”‘ so I will read a couple, at least, and not just stack infinite books.
Excited to add these to the mix!
pickI considered this novel a classic before ever opening it, and I was proven correct. The strong symbolism carries the story through war and the aftermath of war on a soldier‘s psyche.
bailedSometimes you read a book and realize it's just not for you. Since I don't feel obligated to read classics I'm not enjoying, I'm moving on. So it goes.
pickFinally got around to reading this classic. What a bizarre but compelling read. If you have an interest in the horrors of war, the bombing of Dresden in WWII, the aliens on Tralfamadore, or the nature of time. Give this a read. He doesn't pull any punches. Many people die. So it goes.
Barnes and noble has their hardcovers 50% off, so of course I had to go browse. Also grabbed a couple paperbacks 😃
#BookCoverChallenge
Day 103.
Here I will note 365 books (or as many as I will have before I get tired) that have shaped my taste in literature. No explanations, no reviews. Just the cover of the book.
I do not challenge anyone. You are all welcome to take part.
pick⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ “All this happened, more or less.“ My #favoritefirstline. I'm recycling an old photo, but like the book, and the opening line, it too is a favorite! I decided to #reread this after Tom Roston's recent “The Writer's Crusade“ - a thoughtful deep dive into Vonnegut's most famous work. I think I've read Slaughterhouse-Five more than any other book. It will ALWAYS hold up. I'm so grateful his Dresden story finally came to fruition.
