I never found BoC to be that weird. I felt like in terms of some of Kurt’s views, it was very straightforward and digestible yet funny. I think it’s my favorite.
I love that you gave Deadeye Dick its flowers, it's one of my favorite of his and I wish it got more attention. Its beauty is how understated it is, particularly compared to some of his zanier, more outlandish stories. It reads like the work of an experienced artist in full control of his abilities; subtle, funny, wise, and incredibly poignant. Great video!
I devoured Kurt Vonnegut‘s work with voraciousness when I was an undergrad and a grad in the late 70s and 80s. But other than slaughterhouse five, which I frequently taught to my advanced English students in the high school setting I haven’t really explored his books since then. Thank you for giving me some thing to check off my list in my retired teacher years. And thank you for an excellent and enthusiastic video that celebrates the essence of reading and thinking
I have read every Vonnegut novel except Deadeye Dick. My top three are Slaughterhouse Five , Cat’s Cradle, and Mother Night. Least favorite Slapstick. I have a sentimental favorite of Jailbird because it was the first Vonnegut novel I read in the 80s and I still remember the ditty with the clapping.
I was in journalism school USCA - Aiken , South Carolina. Kurt Vonnegut came to our campus in 1995. I had the opportunity to interview him for school newspaper; needless to say, it was intimidating. I asked , "What would be the outcome of a full-scale nulear war?" He says. " I believe any survivors would carry - on like our ancient ancestors with tribal groups of less than 30 people to share scare resources and reduce political friction with a smaller tribal grouping." An aside : Our interview was held in a classroom with other journalism students and large student audience. We ran over our allotted time, and an indignant art professor tried to kick us out of his upcoming class by yelling at us. KURT VONNEGUT gave the man a middle finger and told the professor to get the hell out here. What a memory. He was a cool cat, as they used to say.
My favorite for a long time was Breakfast of Champions. Now it is whichever book I'm reading. There was a large gap from the time I read some of the books until I reread them. It's very interesting how they affected me differently the second time around.
I have fond memories of breakfast of champions and jailbird, but they were the first two I read, so maybe that affects my ratings. I've never read a Vonnegut book I didn't like and didn't make me think.
I've read "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Mother Night". Both made me regret not reading him sooner. By the way, Vonnegut would be proud of your sponsor clip.
I've read all of his novels at least once, several twice. Easily one of my favorite writers. I don't think there's anyone that juggles rolling on the floor laughing at absurdity with rolling on the floor sobbing from grief as well as kurt. A note on slapstick, it's a very good read for anyone grieving from heartbreak. It helped me a lot when I was going through a divorce. I read it once as a teenager and only enjoyed it as a sort of silly sci fi what if. Got a lot more out of it the second time around.
Would you consider uploading a beginner’s guide to reading Kurt Vonnegut? Maybe separating by sub-genre or tone, and what a reader might want to get out of his novels?
If there’s enough interest I might. To start I’d recommend The Sirens of Titan for adventurous sci-fi, Slaughterhouse-Five for darkly humorous sci-fi, Cat’s Cradle if you want absurd comedy, and Mother Night if you want something heavy and less sci-fi.
Just read Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse V, Cat’s Cradle and Monkey House. There’s not some large, hard to digest meaning looming in delicate threads with his work. You’re not tackling Ulysses or Gravity’s Rainbow and you’re not commuting yourself to War & Peace or The Brothers Karamazov. You’ll get what’s being said, if you just read it. Vonnegut was largely a Humanitarian. When you read his books, you feel that. You feel it in a lot of ways, whether it’s the happiness of what is, or a broken hearted look at what is, or could have been. He’s not opaque. He’s genuine, just quirkily so.
Really like how you compared your rankings to a few others' and did a quick analysis of it! Clever! I haven't seen that much in ranking videos. Love it
I've only read Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, and Cat's Cradle, which I would rank in that order exactly. I find it intriguing that most reviews I've seen of Cat's Cradle are raving, but I found it just alright in comparison to the other works. Maybe I need to give it another go but I just couldn't come to appreciate the characters and humor of Cat's Cradle. The plot and themes were intriguing, so I still found it to be a good and worthwhile read. Soft 8/10 for me. I'm glad to see others appreciate Sirens of Titan. I read it all during a 12 hour car ride and the two acts in the book had me absolutely floored. One of the rare times I put a book down and was still thinking about the intricate details, allegories, foreshadowing, and dialogue months later. Easy 10/10 for me.
I've never really made it a point to read any Vonnegut, but this video has convinced that maybe I should add at least your Top 5 to my loose TBR interest list to get to Someday(TM).
I’ve read all the books up to and including Breakfast of Champions, but haven’t read any after that. My ratings are exactly in line with yours except I like God Bless you Mr. Rosewater a little bit more. You’ve inspired me to read more Vonnegut, especially Dead Eye Dick. But first, I need to re-read Sirens of Titan; I absolutely love that book and it’s been too many years since I last read it. Great video!
I feel like it’s time for me to reread Vonnegut again, in chronological order. For me, Timequake was my favorite. Reading Vonnegut always makes me feel like I’m sitting in my grandpa’s knee, and he’s telling me a tall tale… Timequake made me feel that the strongest. All of the characters from his previous novels come back in a beautiful way… it’s a great end-of-career novel.
Timequake is one of those stories that would make a great short story or episode of a sci-fi tv series, but as a novel or movie it just drags on and on, long after the point has been made, and I didn't get any more out of the book by the end than I'd already gotten out of the first quarter of it.
Thank you WordsInTime! I've read 5 of the 14 but I never know which to do next, now I'm all organized and I know! It's Deadeye next, then Sirens. See you on the other side
First of all, thank you for sponsoring bananas, and giving robot-content the air. Secondly, "Sirens of Titan" was my first Vonnegut. It was the Dell paperback cover from the 70's, with the 3 half naked ladies on the cover, which is what made my 14-year old self crack it open to start with. Third, thank you for putting "Mother Night" in A+. It's the first one I re-read after the great man's demise, and I was very touched by it all over again. BTW you should see, if you haven't yet, the movie, starring Nick Nolte. It's the best of the Vonnegut movie adaptations.
@@WordsinTime Thanks Jonathan for the recommendation! "The Sirens of Titan" purchased and it is currently 3rd on my TBR (behind Roadside Picnic and Blindsight) 📚
My top 3 would be Sirens of Titan, Cats Cradle and Player Piano although I haven't read them all. I find myself recommending Player Piano a lot recently. More relevant than ever. Great video :)
Shout out for the short story compilation 'Welcome to the Monkey House' some of the best. Also it IS a tough field to make these choices, but I would have breakfast of champs in A.
This was a cool watch. I read 10 of these books in high school, but I haven't read anymore in the past decade. I guess I should finish off his bibliography 😅 Sirens of Titan was my favorite.
Yes he’s my favorite author now. I also watched the documentary about him and read man without a country and god bless you dr kevorkian (I just didn’t count them as novels technically). My Top five are 1. Mother Night 2. Slaughter House five 3. God Bless you Mr RoseWater 4. Cats Cradle 5. Jailbird.
I have yet to read The Sirens of Titans (among many others). I’ll likely fix that omission later this year. Great video, and I love how you used the ranking as green screen backdrop. 👏
Your review is timely for me. Having recently read Sirens and Breakfast I was wondering how to proceed. I feel an affinity with Mr. Vonnegut as his point of view reinforces my own on occasion (craziness included). For some strange reason, I have developed the urge to change his name to Kurt Von Negut. I wonder if he would mind? Thank you for a great review.
Hi, great video! I read all of his novels a few years ago. Mostly I agree with your grades, but here are mine: Player Piano, 1952 (B) The Sirens of Titan, 1959 (A+) Mother Night, 1962 (A) Cat’s Cradle, 1963 (B+) God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, 1965 (B+) Slaughterhouse Five, 1969 (A) Breakfast of Champions, 1973 (C-) Slapstick, 1976 (B+) Jailbird, 1979 (A) Deadeye Dick, 1982 (B) Galapagos, 1985 (B-) Bluebeard, 1987 (A) Hocus Pocus, 1990 (B) Timequake, 1997 (B-) My favorite books of his, in rough order, are The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, Bluebeard, and Jailbird. All of these I would consider genuinely great books. My least favorite by him is Breakfast of Champions, which is just so vulgar and scattershot that I found it a chore to read. In my opinion he was really trying too hard to write something completely different from Slaughterhouse Five and his other 1960s work, to its detriment. His most underrated novel is Bluebeard, which is amazing, but no one ever talks about, since it was from late in his career. Your video does make me want to give Cat's Cradle another try though!
I grew up in a very conservative small town in the 1970s, and accidentally discovered Vonnegut as a junior in high school around ‘77 or ‘78. Mother Night, Player Piano, Monkey House, etc., opened my mind to ideas…your ratings are pretty close to mine!
Timequake has a Kilgore Trout line I've never forgotten. He characterizes the kinds of job he used to get as "cleaning bird shit out of cuckoo clocks." Sorry to say, the notion had a lot of resonance.
Besides Timequake, which I read about 20 years ago, I haven't read a Vonnegut book in about 30 years ago! Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, and Mother Night, I always considered my favorites. Loved Galapagos and Sirens of Titan as well.
I re-read Timequake recently, having read it once a decade or so ago. I thought I'd like it upon re-read since I still remembered the premise so well, but it was a slog and a half. It's basically a great short story stretched out into a full novel that's mostly a grandpa with ADHD telling a meandering story that keeps going off on tangents.
I haven't read any Kurt Vonnegut but I know I should. I was looking for some huge world building fiction but I think I have changed my mind thanks to you. So, goal is to read Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five this month as I have a slow work month. Thanks for the recommendations. Now time to get off the youtube treadmill. Cheers.
@@tfmajka13 Cat’s Cradle is about science, free will and religion. Ice-Nine can be seen as allegorical for nuclear weapons and the consequences of scientists that aren’t interested in people.
@@solipsismworld If you’re not sure whether you’re going to like Vonnegut and you might only try one of his books, then I might not start with Player Piano because I think he has other books that are stronger. But if you’re committed to reading his bibliography and will get to all of them eventually, then I think it would be fun to read them chronologically so you can see the progression of his career.
My favorites are very similar to yours. Deadeye Dick & Slaughterhouse Five would swap places... I like Breakfast of Champions more than you & I'm not as quite as high on Hocus Pocus ... but otherwise pretty much the same. I mentioned that Deadeye Dick was the standout in your classic SF book haul comments - glad you liked it! I really think Player Piano deserves to be mentioned along the dystopian greats 'Brave New World', '1984', & 'Fahrenheit 451'. "Welcome to the Monkey House' is a great short story collection. Thanks for this video, Jonathan!
I have no idea how Vonnegut can be your favorite author and you put Slapstick at the bottom of your list. It's his most sincere and most Vonnegut-ish book he ever wrote. It's heart-breaking, it's beautiful, it's absolutely unhinged, it's his autoboigraphy for godsake! Good video but you *need* to re-read that book. It's the obvious winner.
@@soiboisixtnine8848 I like all of his books so unfortunately something has to be at the bottom. Vonnegut himself graded it as his lowest, but I still like it!
Vonnegut is a favorite of mine, and I'm pretty sure I've read all of these, but it's literally been decades since I read many of them. I honestly only have very clear memories of six of the fourteen, but those six are among the best and most memorable novels I've ever read. I guess I'm in agreement with you in general though, since all six of them are in your A+ or A tiers. I guess I should reread some of the ones that I can't remember too well, but honestly I don't read much fiction these days, mostly history and such. EDIT: BTW, my favorite Vonnegut quote is not from one of his novels but from one of his collections of essays and articles, "Wampeters, Foma, And Granfalloons": “Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on.” That last line makes me laugh out loud every time.
Hi Jonathan. Thanks for this Vonnegut overview. So far I've only read ...Mr. Rosewater. My rating was in line with your experience. I look forward to reading more Vonnegut in the coming days.
I wonder if you've read any Greg Egan? 'Permutation City' is a good starting point if you ever get a chance. 'Diaspora' or 'Quarantine' is probably a good second. He's definitely one of my favourite Sci-Fi authors of all time. As regards Vonnegut, I've only read Slaughterhouse and Sirens, but loved them both. They definitely get better on subsequent readings _(One of the benefits, I suppose, of not being Tralfamadorian)_ I shall pick up a couple more from this list... if only because I always have done. Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts : )
Loved this! My Vonnegut phase was during and right after college, but looks like I left some of the essential reads out! I might go: S: Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five A: Breakfast of Champions, Bluebeard B: Player Piano, Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, Galapagos I really need to try out Deadeye Dick, Sirens of Titan, and Mother Night!
Vonnegut is also my fave, have read every available word over and over since I first stumbled on his work at 14, just before his late ‘80s renaissance started, so it was pretty exciting getting those then new books hot off the presses. Agree Cat’s Cradle is tops, but personally Galapagos is my #2, and those two books pair well. Sure do miss KV. Is there any comparable contemporary author? What little I’ve read of George Saunders comes close wit-wise but falls short for me when it comes to the complete moral/ethical package.
@@robderiche I’m glad you also connected with Vonnegut! I’ve never read another author like him. I’ve heard him compared to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett but I don’t know if they are very good comparisons.
@@WordsinTime Got a kick out of Adams as a teen but haven’t revisited since. Pratchett came up recently in another context so maybe I’ll give him a shot. Thanks!
Ive read maybe half of these but pre 2000's so my appetite is whetted to reread and read for the first time. One question, you said that KIlgore Trout is a Vonnegit alternate character but theres also a (very funny) book "by" ahem "Kilgore Trout" called Venus on the Half Shell which is actually by Philip Jose Farmer. Do you know anything about how that works? Of the ones Ive read, Slaughterhouse 5 is the one that stands out, possibly helped by a film which AFAICR is very true to the book.
Kilgore Trout was created by Vonnegut and is his alter ego. Philip Jose Farmer asked Vonnegut for permission to write a book under the pseudonym of Kilgore Trout and Vonnegut agreed. Apparently some readers found it confusing so later editions put Farmer’s name on the cover in order to clarify.
After reading chapter 114 of Cats Cradle, where ambassador Minton delivers the speech about the 100 Martyrs of democracy, I had to set down the book for a minute and just think about what I had just read. In such a funny book, it might be one of the most moving things I have ever read.
This is really quite well done, and resonates with me. I completely agree with CC (all time favorite) and S'5, slightly disagree with B of C... and a few of them I've yet to read. Your analysis was interesting and insightful, and if you're not a professor, you should be. Many thanks for this! Cheers, -PROF ALAN
I remember in 1999 or so..walking down Madison Avenue in. NYC ..and seeing him walking along in his trench coat..I was so excited and when I went back to work I said to my coworker..you won’t believe who I just saw....and he thought for a second and said Kurt Vonnegut? I was like how did you guess that! And he said I’m reading one of his books right now..and I thought well maybe you know ..kismet…unreal..I still remember that all these years later.
Vonnegut is the best. Even when I read modern sci-fi, I often come away with the feeling that “Vonnegut already did that idea, and his book was much funnier and much shorter.” I would have bumped Galapagos up to A+ tier as it’s one of my personal favorites, but I respect your list, as Cats Cradle and Deadeye Dick are my other top favorites from Kurt.
Starting 45 years ago with Jailbird I've read everything but the one book of Vonnegut's that everybody has read, Slaughterhouse 5. I was lucky enough to see him in person talking about Slaughterhouse 5. Sirens/Breakfast, Galapagos, Jailbird my top 4.
I enjoyed this. Incidentally here is my own ranking, in ascending order by grade: C: Slapstick, Timequake B: Player Piano, Galápagos A: God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Deadeye Dick, Bluebeard A+: Sirens of Titan, Cat’s Cradle, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-5, Breakfast of Champions, Jailbird, Hocus Pocus
Yes! I didn’t include short stories, essays, and plays just because I wanted to compare apples to apples and didn’t want the video to be too long. But Welcome to the Monkey House is great!
I read Slaughterhouse 5 a couple of years after it came out, then read it at least 3 more times after that. Then came Sirens of Titan, which I also re-read often. I became a Vonnegut freak, buying all of the books as they came out in paperback in the UK. Later, I even started a Ph.D. comparing Vonnegut with the British writer Anthony Burgess (my UK university insisted I include an English author as I was working in the English department ...). Later still, I had the opportunity to teach Cat's Cradle to undergraduates and try to infuse some of my enthusiasm into them! I largely agree with your ranking, though I'd probably put Deadeye Dick lower, perhaps B or C, and raise both Breakfast of Champions (to B) and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater (to A). Mother Night has always been a critical favourite, and the story is loosely based on the British war time traitor William Joyce, nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, who broadcast to the UK from Germany during WWII. If you have the time, I recommend reading the volume of Vonnegut's letters. They start when he was young and his writing voice is there almost from the beginning, at least from his early 20s. He was very conversational in style even then. What a shame there'll be no more Vonneguts to read, eh? :( (There was a slim paperback of one of his plays, Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and I think a film was made of it, too. )
That’s awesome that you got write about and teach on Vonnegut! I have read some of his other works, but I will make my way through the rest slowly as I will be sad when I finish it all!
@@murraydrummond7013 I’m glad you enjoyed the video and you also love Vonnegut! I haven’t read Armageddon in Retrospect yet. There’s a couple of his essays and short stories that I’m saving and waiting a little longer to read because I know I’ll be sad once I’ve finished everything he wrote haha
Dude that is what’s up. I fucking love Sirens of Titan. It was so sad and I got this feeling while reading it that I’ve only felt a handful of times in my life. I had a similar feeling watching pulp fiction for the first time. Love it!
Weirdly, Slapstick and Breakfast of Champions were the first I ever read and they got me hooked. The reason must have been that they were the only available English books in the used books section of the small grocery shop in Germany I used to wash the windows for. So it goes. Most memorable now, after having read most of them, is Cat's Cradle. I have always envied Kurt Vonnegut for inventing such a unique style that you know it's him after the first couple of lines. Oh and... bananas don't need sponsoring. Papayas do.
I read "Breakfast of Champions" around the time it came out. I was 12 yo and I loved it. It confirmed for me what I'd thought about my country in the mid-70s. I then went and read all of the novels he had written up to that point I liked them all but my favorite was "Slaughterhouse Five.." Then as soon as "Slapstick" came out I read it and thought it was pretty bad. I never read another work of his. But that was OK because I think the perfect time to read Vonnegut is adolescence or slightly after, and I'd done that. I think Vonnegut appeals most to lonely, introverted teenage boys.
@@JeffRebornNow I enjoyed Vonnegut when I was 20 and enjoyed him now when I’m 35 so perhaps you might find something to enjoy in some of his other books as well.
When I frist read Cat's Cradle, I lived in a town called Bolivar with an old hirtorical site outside of town called Fort Lawrence (a very short step to San Lorenzo. Ice9 was also the Grateful Dead's music publishing company. I will alswys remember the 14th chapter of the Book of Bokonon. And the Lyman Boyd Johnso--LBJ) was pure magic I think this one is my favorite.
I read Cat's Cradle and absolutely loved it. Then I read Sirens of Titan, and it just fell flat for me. I don't even no why now, so I'm going to read it again, because obviously I missed something! And then I think I'll delve into more Vonnegut as well.
I think his authorial voice comes through in all of his books, but some have slightly different style so you may enjoy some more than others, but I liked pretty much all of them haha
After reading all his novels in the 80s and 90s, I am going through them again on Audible. On the revisit, Mother Night has moved up significantly. Just starting Jailbird on the random walk through.
I never found BoC to be that weird. I felt like in terms of some of Kurt’s views, it was very straightforward and digestible yet funny. I think it’s my favorite.
@@htmmt-podcast I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I read all the Vonnegut I can get my hands on, and Breakfast of Champions is by far my favorite.
It's definitely weird, but that's what I love about it.
@@MrKurtrisserI'm totally on board with you.
Great video. Was surprised to recall how many of these I had read (all but 2!). I love how you included a passage from each.
@@landcatI’m glad you liked the video. Hope you enjoy those last two books
I love that you gave Deadeye Dick its flowers, it's one of my favorite of his and I wish it got more attention. Its beauty is how understated it is, particularly compared to some of his zanier, more outlandish stories. It reads like the work of an experienced artist in full control of his abilities; subtle, funny, wise, and incredibly poignant.
Great video!
@@joshuaanderson4285 That’s a perfect description of Deadeye Dick! I’m glad you also connected with it!
I devoured Kurt Vonnegut‘s work with voraciousness when I was an undergrad and a grad in the late 70s and 80s. But other than slaughterhouse five, which I frequently taught to my advanced English students in the high school setting I haven’t really explored his books since then. Thank you for giving me some thing to check off my list in my retired teacher years. And thank you for an excellent and enthusiastic video that celebrates the essence of reading and thinking
@@EdmondGuay Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you also connected with Vonnegut and hope you enjoy whatever you read next!
The Sirens of Titan is one of the few books that has left me in tears at the end.
It made me tear up too!
FWIW, when the man himself signed my copy, he said it was the best thing he ever wrote.
This is an every few years sort of book to me. And as much as i live reading, that says a lot.
Thanks for the overview! I do want to read more Vonnegut and this is very helpful.
Cheers Josh! I hope you enjoy them as much as I did!
@@WordsinTime you also gave me the idea of shooting with the green screen the next time I do a tier list. This was so much more interesting visually!
@@RedFuryBooks Haha awesome, glad you liked it!
This was really good Jonathan! I had no idea he’d rated his own books lol. Cats Cradle and Slaughterhouse 5 are both on my list of books I must read.
Haha yeah it’s kind of funny that he did that. I hope you enjoy them!
Amazing video. Great concept and effort to rank an author's complete works. Gotta read more Vonnegut for sure!
I appreciate it Cristian! I hope you enjoy them!
@@WordsinTime
What happened to "Welcome to the Monkey House"?
Slapstick actually started me on my Vonnegut journey. Its so absurdly beautiful!
@@Station_AI I’m glad you connected with it!
I have read every Vonnegut novel except Deadeye Dick. My top three are Slaughterhouse Five , Cat’s Cradle, and Mother Night. Least favorite Slapstick. I have a sentimental favorite of Jailbird because it was the first Vonnegut novel I read in the 80s and I still remember the ditty with the clapping.
It looks like we have some similar picks. I hope you like Deadeye Dick!
I still remember that too! Sally in the garden….
I was in journalism school USCA - Aiken , South Carolina. Kurt Vonnegut came to our campus in 1995. I had the opportunity to interview him for school newspaper; needless to say, it was intimidating. I asked , "What would be the outcome of a full-scale nulear war?" He says. " I believe any survivors would carry - on like our ancient ancestors with tribal groups of less than 30 people to share scare resources and reduce political friction with a smaller tribal grouping." An aside : Our interview was held in a classroom with other journalism students and large student audience. We ran over our allotted time, and an indignant art professor tried to kick us out of his upcoming class by yelling at us. KURT VONNEGUT gave the man a middle finger and told the professor to get the hell out here. What a memory. He was a cool cat, as they used to say.
@@davidwhite4820 Hahaha this is amazing. I love this story.
My favorite for a long time was Breakfast of Champions. Now it is whichever book I'm reading.
There was a large gap from the time I read some of the books until I reread them. It's very interesting how they affected me differently the second time around.
@@davebegley3022 I’m looking forward to re-reading some of these!
I have fond memories of breakfast of champions and jailbird, but they were the first two I read, so maybe that affects my ratings. I've never read a Vonnegut book I didn't like and didn't make me think.
I've read "Slaughterhouse Five" and "Mother Night". Both made me regret not reading him sooner. By the way, Vonnegut would be proud of your sponsor clip.
@@vhescalante Haha thank you!
I've read all of his novels at least once, several twice. Easily one of my favorite writers. I don't think there's anyone that juggles rolling on the floor laughing at absurdity with rolling on the floor sobbing from grief as well as kurt.
A note on slapstick, it's a very good read for anyone grieving from heartbreak. It helped me a lot when I was going through a divorce. I read it once as a teenager and only enjoyed it as a sort of silly sci fi what if. Got a lot more out of it the second time around.
@@DomWrath I’m glad you connected with Slapstick as well as Vonnegut as a writer!
Would you consider uploading a beginner’s guide to reading Kurt Vonnegut? Maybe separating by sub-genre or tone, and what a reader might want to get out of his novels?
If there’s enough interest I might. To start I’d recommend The Sirens of Titan for adventurous sci-fi, Slaughterhouse-Five for darkly humorous sci-fi, Cat’s Cradle if you want absurd comedy, and Mother Night if you want something heavy and less sci-fi.
Just read Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse V, Cat’s Cradle and Monkey House.
There’s not some large, hard to digest meaning looming in delicate threads with his work. You’re not tackling Ulysses or Gravity’s Rainbow and you’re not commuting yourself to War & Peace or The Brothers Karamazov. You’ll get what’s being said, if you just read it.
Vonnegut was largely a Humanitarian. When you read his books, you feel that. You feel it in a lot of ways, whether it’s the happiness of what is, or a broken hearted look at what is, or could have been.
He’s not opaque. He’s genuine, just quirkily so.
Really like how you compared your rankings to a few others' and did a quick analysis of it! Clever! I haven't seen that much in ranking videos. Love it
@@CMBlue Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks!
@@Beoduck That’s much appreciated! I’m glad the video was helpful!
@ The video was fair which I think is a greater achievement than helpfulness.
@@Beoduck Thanks for the kind words, I appreciate it!
I've only read Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, and Cat's Cradle, which I would rank in that order exactly. I find it intriguing that most reviews I've seen of Cat's Cradle are raving, but I found it just alright in comparison to the other works. Maybe I need to give it another go but I just couldn't come to appreciate the characters and humor of Cat's Cradle. The plot and themes were intriguing, so I still found it to be a good and worthwhile read. Soft 8/10 for me. I'm glad to see others appreciate Sirens of Titan. I read it all during a 12 hour car ride and the two acts in the book had me absolutely floored. One of the rare times I put a book down and was still thinking about the intricate details, allegories, foreshadowing, and dialogue months later. Easy 10/10 for me.
@@jeretavius I’m glad you enjoyed them, especially The Sirens of Titan!
I agree about Cat’s Cradle. I like it a lot (I’d give it a B), but it’s not his best.
Just read Sirens of Titan a few weeks ago and I’m about to start Cats Cradle next. Loving Vonnegut and I wish more people talked about him!
@@nicholas7695 That’s awesome! Hope you enjoy!
0:02 In that case, I'm surprised you haven't also done one of these for Tom Robbins.
@@rockets4kids I mostly read science fiction but have heard good things about Tom Robbins.
@@WordsinTime If you are a fan of Vonnegut I can pretty much guarantee you'll like Tom Robbins.
Thus was fantastic! Makes me excited to read some more Vonnegut!
That makes me happy to hear! This was a special video for me, so I’m glad if it inspires people to read more Vonnegut!
I've never really made it a point to read any Vonnegut, but this video has convinced that maybe I should add at least your Top 5 to my loose TBR interest list to get to Someday(TM).
I think he’s a genius. I hope you enjoy them (someday)!
I’ve read all the books up to and including Breakfast of Champions, but haven’t read any after that. My ratings are exactly in line with yours except I like God Bless you Mr. Rosewater a little bit more. You’ve inspired me to read more Vonnegut, especially Dead Eye Dick. But first, I need to re-read Sirens of Titan; I absolutely love that book and it’s been too many years since I last read it. Great video!
@@jthornburg12 That’s great to hear! I enjoyed Vonnegut’s 80s books so I hope you do too!
I feel like it’s time for me to reread Vonnegut again, in chronological order.
For me, Timequake was my favorite. Reading Vonnegut always makes me feel like I’m sitting in my grandpa’s knee, and he’s telling me a tall tale… Timequake made me feel that the strongest. All of the characters from his previous novels come back in a beautiful way… it’s a great end-of-career novel.
@@thejontao That’s a great way of looking at it!
I second Timequake as being my favorite. Less story, more valuable insights
Timequake is one of those stories that would make a great short story or episode of a sci-fi tv series, but as a novel or movie it just drags on and on, long after the point has been made, and I didn't get any more out of the book by the end than I'd already gotten out of the first quarter of it.
LOVED Vonnegut in college (many moons ago!) Thx for putting me back in touch.
@@johnkolinski8298 Happy to help!
Thank you WordsInTime! I've read 5 of the 14 but I never know which to do next, now I'm all organized and I know! It's Deadeye next, then Sirens. See you on the other side
@@amoskane Haha I’m glad the video was helpful! I hope you enjoy them!
I need to read Vonnegut finally. I already have Slaughterhouse 5, Cat's Cradle and Sirens of Titan. Cool that they are all A+ in your ranking.
Those three are a good place to start!
Special (second order) Mention: PJF's "Venus on the Half-Shell" as inspiration for Hitchhiker's.
I’ve heard of it but haven’t read it. Glad you liked it!
Kilgore Trout!! Had a copy, once...loved the photo on the back cover😀
Fun book the original cover fits so well. An amusing read.
I loved the idea of the book more than the actual book, but it’s the only PJF book I ever read.
First of all, thank you for sponsoring bananas, and giving robot-content the air.
Secondly, "Sirens of Titan" was my first Vonnegut. It was the Dell paperback cover from the 70's, with the 3 half naked ladies on the cover, which is what made my 14-year old self crack it open to start with.
Third, thank you for putting "Mother Night" in A+. It's the first one I re-read after the great man's demise, and I was very touched by it all over again. BTW you should see, if you haven't yet, the movie, starring Nick Nolte. It's the best of the Vonnegut movie adaptations.
@@originalhgc I’m glad you also connected with Mother Night! I’ll have to look up the film.
I agree with Deadeye Dick being top tier. I think I enjoyed Breakfast of Champions more than you did.
@@jakeheninger7938 They’re hard to rank because they’re all good haha. I’m glad you also loved Deadeye Dick!
I’ve never read any Vonnegut, but am eager to do so. Which book would you recommend for my first one?
I think The Sirens of Titan is a good place to start!
@@WordsinTime Thanks Jonathan for the recommendation! "The Sirens of Titan" purchased and it is currently 3rd on my TBR (behind Roadside Picnic and Blindsight) 📚
@@TokraRoch Those are all great and quite different!
Breakfast of Champions!
My top 3 would be Sirens of Titan, Cats Cradle and Player Piano although I haven't read them all. I find myself recommending Player Piano a lot recently. More relevant than ever.
Great video :)
Awesome! I’m glad you also enjoyed Player Piano!
My favorites. Slaughterhouse five. Slapstick. Cats cradle.
Now I want to read some more of his.
@@kendavis5853 Awesome! Hope you enjoy!
Shout out for the short story compilation 'Welcome to the Monkey House' some of the best.
Also it IS a tough field to make these choices, but I would have breakfast of champs in A.
@@johnjaques7642 Welcome to the Monkey House is great!
Is that why this video was sponsored by bananas?
Well reviewed and inteelligently ranked. K V shaped my brain and im grateful. Time for a re read
@@DonWhisner Thanks for the kind words! I’m glad you also connected with Vonnegut!
Nice one! Love me some Vonnegut.
I’m glad you love him too Wally!
This was a cool watch. I read 10 of these books in high school, but I haven't read anymore in the past decade. I guess I should finish off his bibliography 😅
Sirens of Titan was my favorite.
@@Goblin-Nixon I’m glad you enjoyed The Sirens of Titan and hope you like the others you haven’t read yet!
I was looking for a video just like this- you did a very nice job. Thank you
You’re welcome! I’m glad it was helpful!
@@WordsinTimeI actually now have read 11 out of these since commenting. Enjoyed comparing notes on them.
@@somewhereupstateproduction8915 That’s amazing! You must be having a good time with them!
Yes he’s my favorite author now. I also watched the documentary about him and read man without a country and god bless you dr kevorkian (I just didn’t count them as novels technically). My Top five are 1. Mother Night 2. Slaughter House five 3. God Bless you Mr RoseWater 4. Cats Cradle 5. Jailbird.
I have yet to read The Sirens of Titans (among many others). I’ll likely fix that omission later this year.
Great video, and I love how you used the ranking as green screen backdrop. 👏
Thanks Bart! I hope you enjoy The Sirens of Titan!
Your review is timely for me. Having recently read Sirens and Breakfast I was wondering how to proceed. I feel an affinity with Mr. Vonnegut as his point of view reinforces my own on occasion (craziness included). For some strange reason, I have developed the urge to change his name to Kurt Von Negut. I wonder if he would mind? Thank you for a great review.
@@pretzelogic2689 Haha I don’t think he would mind. I hope you enjoy whichever book you read next!
The best thing about Cats Cradle is it inspired Joe Satriani to Ice-9😮
Nice! 🧊
Hi, great video! I read all of his novels a few years ago. Mostly I agree with your grades, but here are mine: Player Piano, 1952 (B) The Sirens of Titan, 1959 (A+) Mother Night, 1962 (A) Cat’s Cradle, 1963 (B+) God Bless You Mr. Rosewater, 1965 (B+) Slaughterhouse Five, 1969 (A) Breakfast of Champions, 1973 (C-) Slapstick, 1976 (B+) Jailbird, 1979 (A) Deadeye Dick, 1982 (B) Galapagos, 1985 (B-) Bluebeard, 1987 (A) Hocus Pocus, 1990 (B) Timequake, 1997 (B-)
My favorite books of his, in rough order, are The Sirens of Titan, Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, Bluebeard, and Jailbird. All of these I would consider genuinely great books. My least favorite by him is Breakfast of Champions, which is just so vulgar and scattershot that I found it a chore to read. In my opinion he was really trying too hard to write something completely different from Slaughterhouse Five and his other 1960s work, to its detriment. His most underrated novel is Bluebeard, which is amazing, but no one ever talks about, since it was from late in his career.
Your video does make me want to give Cat's Cradle another try though!
@@asymptoticspatula Thanks! That’s awesome to see how you also connected with Vonnegut. And I agree that Bluebeard is underrated!
I have only read Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse and loved both of them, especially Cat's. Your video makes me want to pick up a couple more. Thanks.
That’s great to hear Carlos! I hope you enjoy them!
I grew up in a very conservative small town in the 1970s, and accidentally discovered Vonnegut as a junior in high school around ‘77 or ‘78. Mother Night, Player Piano, Monkey House, etc., opened my mind to ideas…your ratings are pretty close to mine!
@@wayneu1233 I’m glad you enjoyed Vonnegut’s examinations of people and the world!
Timequake has a Kilgore Trout line I've never forgotten. He characterizes the kinds of job he used to get as "cleaning bird shit out of cuckoo clocks." Sorry to say, the notion had a lot of resonance.
@@Struwwel2 Hahaha
I totally agree with your #1 and #2 picks. From there we start to diverge a little. But they're all worth reading.
@@stevenworden1802 I’m glad those two also resonated with you!
Besides Timequake, which I read about 20 years ago, I haven't read a Vonnegut book in about 30 years ago! Breakfast of Champions, Cat's Cradle, and Mother Night, I always considered my favorites. Loved Galapagos and Sirens of Titan as well.
Those are all great!
I re-read Timequake recently, having read it once a decade or so ago. I thought I'd like it upon re-read since I still remembered the premise so well, but it was a slog and a half. It's basically a great short story stretched out into a full novel that's mostly a grandpa with ADHD telling a meandering story that keeps going off on tangents.
Thanks for these helpful summaries. I have never read any Vonnegut but he always sounded like an interesting writer.
@@edwardfreeman7512 You’re welcome! I hope you enjoy whichever book you try!
I haven't read any Kurt Vonnegut but I know I should. I was looking for some huge world building fiction but I think I have changed my mind thanks to you. So, goal is to read Cat's Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five this month as I have a slow work month. Thanks for the recommendations. Now time to get off the youtube treadmill. Cheers.
@@yanmcrae6106 Those are two great picks. I hope you enjoy them!
Love Vonnegut. Haven’t read his ‘80s books need to check them out.
@@procopiusaugustus6231 I’m glad you love him too. I think he wrote some of his best books in the 80s so I hope you like them too!
Where would you place "Welcome to the Monkey house" his collection of short stories?
@@1iguerra It would be around an A- for me!
I just read Cat's Cradle, my first Vonnegat book and I didn't really get it. Can someone tell me what I'm missing. I like the part about ice-9.
@@tfmajka13 Cat’s Cradle is about science, free will and religion. Ice-Nine can be seen as allegorical for nuclear weapons and the consequences of scientists that aren’t interested in people.
Do you think there would be any value in reading them in chronological order?
@@solipsismworld If you’re not sure whether you’re going to like Vonnegut and you might only try one of his books, then I might not start with Player Piano because I think he has other books that are stronger. But if you’re committed to reading his bibliography and will get to all of them eventually, then I think it would be fun to read them chronologically so you can see the progression of his career.
My favorites are very similar to yours. Deadeye Dick & Slaughterhouse Five would swap places... I like Breakfast of Champions more than you & I'm not as quite as high on Hocus Pocus ... but otherwise pretty much the same.
I mentioned that Deadeye Dick was the standout in your classic SF book haul comments - glad you liked it!
I really think Player Piano deserves to be mentioned along the dystopian greats 'Brave New World', '1984', & 'Fahrenheit 451'.
"Welcome to the Monkey House' is a great short story collection.
Thanks for this video, Jonathan!
That’s awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed Deadeye Dick too!
I have no idea how Vonnegut can be your favorite author and you put Slapstick at the bottom of your list. It's his most sincere and most Vonnegut-ish book he ever wrote. It's heart-breaking, it's beautiful, it's absolutely unhinged, it's his autoboigraphy for godsake!
Good video but you *need* to re-read that book. It's the obvious winner.
@@soiboisixtnine8848 I like all of his books so unfortunately something has to be at the bottom. Vonnegut himself graded it as his lowest, but I still like it!
Vonnegut is a favorite of mine, and I'm pretty sure I've read all of these, but it's literally been decades since I read many of them. I honestly only have very clear memories of six of the fourteen, but those six are among the best and most memorable novels I've ever read. I guess I'm in agreement with you in general though, since all six of them are in your A+ or A tiers. I guess I should reread some of the ones that I can't remember too well, but honestly I don't read much fiction these days, mostly history and such.
EDIT: BTW, my favorite Vonnegut quote is not from one of his novels but from one of his collections of essays and articles, "Wampeters, Foma, And Granfalloons":
“Artists use frauds to make human beings seem more wonderful than they really are. Dancers show us human beings who move much more gracefully than human beings really move. Films and books and plays show us people talking much more entertainingly than people really talk, make paltry human enterprises seem important. Singers and musicians show us human beings making sounds far more lovely than human beings really make. Architects give us temples in which something marvelous is obviously going on. Actually, practically nothing is going on.”
That last line makes me laugh out loud every time.
@@ZigbertD Haha that’s a great one
Really love me some Vonnegut, he’s one of the most underrated GOAT’s. Don’t sleep on his short stories either, they’re fantastic!
I’m glad you love him too! And yes, I have Welcome to the Monkey House and it’s great!
Hi Jonathan. Thanks for this Vonnegut overview. So far I've only read ...Mr. Rosewater. My rating was in line with your experience. I look forward to reading more Vonnegut in the coming days.
You’re welcome Curt! I hope you enjoy whatever you try next!
Bluebeard is by far my favorite.
@@garyhoutz1540 It’s amazing! More people should read it!
This is most helpful 👍
That’s great to hear! You’re welcome!
I wonder if you've read any Greg Egan? 'Permutation City' is a good starting point if you ever get a chance. 'Diaspora' or 'Quarantine' is probably a good second. He's definitely one of my favourite Sci-Fi authors of all time. As regards Vonnegut, I've only read Slaughterhouse and Sirens, but loved them both. They definitely get better on subsequent readings _(One of the benefits, I suppose, of not being Tralfamadorian)_ I shall pick up a couple more from this list... if only because I always have done.
Thanks for taking the time to share your thoughts : )
@@garychap8384 I love Greg Egan! I gave Permutation City a 10/10. I also liked Diaspora and recently purchased Quarantine. Looking forward to it!
Loved this! My Vonnegut phase was during and right after college, but looks like I left some of the essential reads out!
I might go:
S: Cat’s Cradle, Slaughterhouse Five
A: Breakfast of Champions, Bluebeard
B: Player Piano, Welcome to the Monkeyhouse, Galapagos
I really need to try out Deadeye Dick, Sirens of Titan, and Mother Night!
That’s awesome! I hope you like them!
Vonnegut is also my fave, have read every available word over and over since I first stumbled on his work at 14, just before his late ‘80s renaissance started, so it was pretty exciting getting those then new books hot off the presses. Agree Cat’s Cradle is tops, but personally Galapagos is my #2, and those two books pair well. Sure do miss KV. Is there any comparable contemporary author? What little I’ve read of George Saunders comes close wit-wise but falls short for me when it comes to the complete moral/ethical package.
@@robderiche I’m glad you also connected with Vonnegut! I’ve never read another author like him. I’ve heard him compared to Douglas Adams and Terry Pratchett but I don’t know if they are very good comparisons.
@@WordsinTime Got a kick out of Adams as a teen but haven’t revisited since. Pratchett came up recently in another context so maybe I’ll give him a shot. Thanks!
Ive read maybe half of these but pre 2000's so my appetite is whetted to reread and read for the first time. One question, you said that KIlgore Trout is a Vonnegit alternate character but theres also a (very funny) book "by" ahem "Kilgore Trout" called Venus on the Half Shell which is actually by Philip Jose Farmer. Do you know anything about how that works? Of the ones Ive read, Slaughterhouse 5 is the one that stands out, possibly helped by a film which AFAICR is very true to the book.
Kilgore Trout was created by Vonnegut and is his alter ego. Philip Jose Farmer asked Vonnegut for permission to write a book under the pseudonym of Kilgore Trout and Vonnegut agreed. Apparently some readers found it confusing so later editions put Farmer’s name on the cover in order to clarify.
I love that Vonnegut signs his books with the asshole sign...
@@DWHarper62 Haha
Hearing “and now a word from our sponsor “….. me: ohh god…
Hearing the word from your sponsor… me: OH GOD!
Hahaha
Oh boy. Just finished a book. Guess who's about to read every Vonnegut book.
@@JazzDino Haha welcome to the club!
After reading chapter 114 of Cats Cradle, where ambassador Minton delivers the speech about the 100 Martyrs of democracy, I had to set down the book for a minute and just think about what I had just read. In such a funny book, it might be one of the most moving things I have ever read.
@@rylanhislop8889 That’s amazing! That makes me want to re-read it!
This is really quite well done, and resonates with me.
I completely agree with CC (all time favorite) and S'5, slightly disagree with B of C... and a few of them I've yet to read.
Your analysis was interesting and insightful, and if you're not a professor, you should be.
Many thanks for this!
Cheers,
-PROF ALAN
@@Alan-h9p5z Haha I am not a professor but I appreciate the kind words! I’m glad you also connected with Kurt Vonnegut’s work!
No GBY Dr Kevorkian?
@@joshuateubanks4302 That’s not a novel, but one that I also want to read!
Still yet to read any Vonnegut, but I do own Cat's Cradle, Slaughter House Five, Siren of Titan and Galapagos. I think I'll start with Cat's Cradle.
That’s great! I hope you enjoy!
I remember in 1999 or so..walking down Madison Avenue in. NYC ..and seeing him walking along in his trench coat..I was so excited and when I went back to work I said to my coworker..you won’t believe who I just saw....and he thought for a second and said Kurt Vonnegut? I was like how did you guess that! And he said I’m reading one of his books right now..and I thought well maybe you know ..kismet…unreal..I still remember that all these years later.
@@peterrex8191 Haha I love this story!
Vonnegut is amazing. We read Mother Night when I was in high school and I’ve been a fan ever since. Great list!
That’s awesome Paul, I’m glad you connected with him too!
my favorites of his are Breakfast, Dead Eye Dick, and Galapagos
@@maeamaille Nice! I’m glad you also enjoyed Deadeye Dick!
I know this was just a ranking of his novels, but the short story collection Welcome to the Monkey House is a gem.
@@jrendt2157 It’s great!
Well done!
@@cnew4342 Thanks!
Vonnegut is the best. Even when I read modern sci-fi, I often come away with the feeling that “Vonnegut already did that idea, and his book was much funnier and much shorter.”
I would have bumped Galapagos up to A+ tier as it’s one of my personal favorites, but I respect your list, as Cats Cradle and Deadeye Dick are my other top favorites from Kurt.
@@caseyfergus6614 Haha very true! I’m glad you enjoyed those too!
Starting 45 years ago with Jailbird I've read everything but the one book of Vonnegut's that everybody has read, Slaughterhouse 5. I was lucky enough to see him in person talking about Slaughterhouse 5.
Sirens/Breakfast, Galapagos, Jailbird my top 4.
@@charlesandrews2360 Wow, that’s cool that you got to see him talk in person!
@@WordsinTime I was/am in awe of him. There will never be another like him.
If this vid gets just one person to read their first Vonnegut, it's done the job!
@@bodine57 I’d love to be able to help introduce more people to Vonnegut!
Good ranking. Agree with most of it. Kurt's books should be compulsory in every high school in the world, and the world would be a better place.
@@olpoe1549 Agreed! ❤️
Thanks for this
@@michaellasumiso3462 You’re welcome Michael!
I liked Breakfast of Champions. Of course, I was a teenager when I read it so...
@@robertsouth6971 I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I enjoyed this. Incidentally here is my own ranking, in ascending order by grade:
C: Slapstick, Timequake
B: Player Piano, Galápagos
A: God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Deadeye Dick, Bluebeard
A+: Sirens of Titan, Cat’s Cradle, Mother Night, Slaughterhouse-5, Breakfast of Champions, Jailbird, Hocus Pocus
@@findlesplurb Haha that is a lot of deservedly A+ books
It is more the knowledge I gathered than the story itself I cherish from KV. Although his stories characters etc have greatness in them
@@Brian-nt1hh That’s a great perspective!
Some awesome shorter works as well. Welcome to the Monkeyhouse has to be 1 of my favorite collections.
Yes! I didn’t include short stories, essays, and plays just because I wanted to compare apples to apples and didn’t want the video to be too long. But Welcome to the Monkey House is great!
I read Slaughterhouse 5 a couple of years after it came out, then read it at least 3 more times after that. Then came Sirens of Titan, which I also re-read often. I became a Vonnegut freak, buying all of the books as they came out in paperback in the UK. Later, I even started a Ph.D. comparing Vonnegut with the British writer Anthony Burgess (my UK university insisted I include an English author as I was working in the English department ...). Later still, I had the opportunity to teach Cat's Cradle to undergraduates and try to infuse some of my enthusiasm into them! I largely agree with your ranking, though I'd probably put Deadeye Dick lower, perhaps B or C, and raise both Breakfast of Champions (to B) and God Bless You, Mr Rosewater (to A). Mother Night has always been a critical favourite, and the story is loosely based on the British war time traitor William Joyce, nicknamed Lord Haw-Haw, who broadcast to the UK from Germany during WWII. If you have the time, I recommend reading the volume of Vonnegut's letters. They start when he was young and his writing voice is there almost from the beginning, at least from his early 20s. He was very conversational in style even then. What a shame there'll be no more Vonneguts to read, eh? :( (There was a slim paperback of one of his plays, Happy Birthday, Wanda June, and I think a film was made of it, too. )
That’s awesome that you got write about and teach on Vonnegut! I have read some of his other works, but I will make my way through the rest slowly as I will be sad when I finish it all!
Vonnegut also my favourite author, really enjoyed the video! One of my absolute favourites is ‘Armageddon in Retrospect’ what are your thoughts on it?
@@murraydrummond7013 I’m glad you enjoyed the video and you also love Vonnegut! I haven’t read Armageddon in Retrospect yet. There’s a couple of his essays and short stories that I’m saving and waiting a little longer to read because I know I’ll be sad once I’ve finished everything he wrote haha
I read all of his books in college. Let's see if I agree with the rank.
@@anthropomorphicOrange You can’t go wrong with Vonnegut, they’re all good haha
Dude that is what’s up. I fucking love Sirens of Titan. It was so sad and I got this feeling while reading it that I’ve only felt a handful of times in my life. I had a similar feeling watching pulp fiction for the first time. Love it!
@@bibbywing I’m glad The Sirens of Titan also resonated with you!
Weirdly, Slapstick and Breakfast of Champions were the first I ever read and they got me hooked. The reason must have been that they were the only available English books in the used books section of the small grocery shop in Germany I used to wash the windows for. So it goes. Most memorable now, after having read most of them, is Cat's Cradle. I have always envied Kurt Vonnegut for inventing such a unique style that you know it's him after the first couple of lines. Oh and... bananas don't need sponsoring. Papayas do.
@@MarinusVesseur I’m glad you also connected with Cat’s Cradle. I’ll have to reach out to the papaya communications team.
My first KV read was Mothernight and it lead me to read all of his books. For me, Mothernight was the most memorable.
@@user-pg3pe4gx4p One of my favourites!
I’ve read 7 of 14. Galapagos was my first and will always be special to me. I’ve read SH5 twice but Mother Night is my favorite.
@@1ncredulous Those are all great!
I read "Breakfast of Champions" around the time it came out. I was 12 yo and I loved it. It confirmed for me what I'd thought about my country in the mid-70s. I then went and read all of the novels he had written up to that point I liked them all but my favorite was "Slaughterhouse Five.." Then as soon as "Slapstick" came out I read it and thought it was pretty bad. I never read another work of his. But that was OK because I think the perfect time to read Vonnegut is adolescence or slightly after, and I'd done that. I think Vonnegut appeals most to lonely, introverted teenage boys.
@@JeffRebornNow I enjoyed Vonnegut when I was 20 and enjoyed him now when I’m 35 so perhaps you might find something to enjoy in some of his other books as well.
The real answer is - whichever title I'm reading at the moment, but Galapagos is the one I return to most often.
@@SuperJinkyO Haha yes they’re all great. Glad you love Galapagos.
When I frist read Cat's Cradle, I lived in a town called Bolivar with an old hirtorical site outside of town called Fort Lawrence (a very short step to San Lorenzo. Ice9 was also the Grateful Dead's music publishing company. I will alswys remember the 14th chapter of the Book of Bokonon. And the Lyman Boyd Johnso--LBJ) was pure magic I think this one is my favorite.
That’s awesome! I’m glad you loved it too!
Amazing video! 👏🏼🇧🇷
I’m glad you enjoyed it!
I enjoyed your review, but was surprised to see my all time favorite Breakfast of Champions rated so low.
@@MrKurtrisser They’re all so good!
I read Cat's Cradle and absolutely loved it. Then I read Sirens of Titan, and it just fell flat for me. I don't even no why now, so I'm going to read it again, because obviously I missed something! And then I think I'll delve into more Vonnegut as well.
I think his authorial voice comes through in all of his books, but some have slightly different style so you may enjoy some more than others, but I liked pretty much all of them haha
After reading all his novels in the 80s and 90s, I am going through them again on Audible. On the revisit, Mother Night has moved up significantly. Just starting Jailbird on the random walk through.
@@rthompsonmdog Awesome! I hope you enjoy your re-reads. Mother Night is excellent!
شكرا جزيلا ❤❤❤
❤️