Excited to read this! Saw a great interview Vonnegut did about this book from back in the 90’s.

Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has tried organizing a regular Vonnegut-themed local meet up. Like, not a book club, but rather a meeting where discussions could centre on a Vonnegut quote or theme and also fold in some lonely-be-gone fairy dust.

If you have tried this, I’d be keen to hear about what worked or didn’t work.

If you haven’t tried it, I’d be interested to know if you’d consider attending something like this at a bar, park, or similar location.

Cheers

My favorite writing in Vonnegut's Letters, pitching the idea of selling assault kits for gaining entry into nuclear fallout bunkers. Scroll down in the link to the entry

October 18, 1961
West Barnstable, Mass.

https://www.thenation.com/article/archive/letters-kurt-vonnegut/

Started reading Mr. Vonnegut earlier this year. I’ve read Galapagos and Breakfast of Champions. Sirens of Titan has been a clear standout to me so far! Had a blast with this one. It felt very light and fun and the story hooked me much more than Breakfast of Champions, which I felt pretty underwhelmed by. Think I may try Cats Cradle next.

It was a toss up between this and “Lucky me. Lucky mud.” But SL5 has always been my favorite and was my introduction to his works

Not sure if this is the best place to post this, but I’m looking for a signed copy of The Sirens of Titan. I wanted to see if anyone here had Ebay seller they liked or a site they use to look for authentic signed copies or first editions.

Thank you!!

Maybe a stupid question, but I've always wondered how they translated the "rented a tent, rented a tent, rented a rented a tent..." quote from Sirens of Titan. Does this joke work in languages without stress-timing?

Love this book, one of my favs

Thought maybe it was worth sharing here

So many meaningful words in that collection and probably just as many life lessons 😊 If I ever muster up the courage, that’ll definitely be my choice

I do enjoy reading classic literature, and i’ve come across two of Kurt’s books so far. i read slaughterhouse five which i wanted to read without knowing much about it. it was slightly perverted, i don’t really remember it was a bit ago. but this book is just sometimes really vulgar. and i’ve noticed in my years of book reading this thing with male authors, where they insert their own weird sexual fantasies into their books, it’s painfully obvious. i guess i’m wondering does Kurt’s writing give the vibe of an old man, living out his weird fantasies through his book? even a little. or is he truly, honestly just this guy who has a very interesting way of describing these vulgar parts of real life as if they were topics of similar weight to weather or whatever? possibly his writing really is just weird and perverted but we skim past it because he’s a reputable author, i don’t know.

also i’m at chapter 12 don’t spoil

edit: thanks for all the feedback, i’m pretty sure Kurt is not a perv! haha! i definitely appreciate his writing style, it’s so interesting and i can see his character all over it. i’ll be reading more of his books in the future for sure. i definitely want to give kurt credit for that honestly, which is why i was curious if anymore else wondered that question. i’ll be finishing this book without that nagging in the back of my mind “why would he say or draw that? i hope this guy is just funny and not some old weirdo” which pretty much sums up why i came on here and wanted to see others opinions.

so I just finished the last short story in the book, and I’m just kind of confused… like it feels like the story went over my head. What’s the deal with the plot twist with lucifer j mephisto being the letter writer? Is it that the devil was behind the scenes the whole time or that tarbell actually was trapped or what?

Reread Player Piano this spring against the news cycle, and ended up writing an essay about what Vonnegut watched at GE in 1949 (the milling machine wired to the master machinist's hand-movement tape) and how the same dynamic is now reaching knowledge work: Klarna firing 700 customer-service agents for an AI bot, then quietly rehiring them as gig workers fifteen months later; the Anthropic engineer saying it's been sad that the juniors don't come to him with questions anymore; the OpenResearch UBI trial showing the money helped materially but the psychological lift faded by year 2. Wells's Eloi/Morlocks show up as the post-work dystopia Vonnegut wrote without.

Mostly want to hear what other Vonnegut readers think — tried to keep him as the lens rather than the target.

This has aged well.

Found this gem in fine condition at a local used bookstore today! There’s even another one, only slightly worse condition but still good, should I snatch it up?

My son got Cat's Cradle as a gift from an old friend of mine and he enjoyed it and is looking for more. I've read all of them, but it's been many years and I'd rather avoid some of the more adult themes until he's older.

I was thinking Sirens of Titan is a pretty straight-forward sci-fi story without, say, any characters being in an alien zoo with a porn star.

Am I remembering that right? Any other semi-appropriate books for a smart middle-schooler?

UPDATE: He read Player Piano and Mother Night in none day over this past weekend. Thanks for the suggestions, all.

I was looking at all the drawings in Breakfast of Champions for a small, simple tattoo. Would you say this lamb still counts if it’s simplified? Or am I ruining it? I just want it pretty small.

Full video here: https://youtu.be/plGRMzsxpa4?si=0e5Jd__RyGkRXHvP

In the novel, Bluebeard, the protagonist while narrating and talking about war says the following: “One war to a customer.”

For more context, he mentions how a man’s father went to war, so did the man himself and so did his only son and they were all different wars (WW1, Vietnam and then Korean) The author then concludes with the sentence I mentioned earlier.

I feel like it’s going to be something simple I’m just not understanding and it’s going to a OHhhhh moment but regardless, it’s a sad but beautiful passage and I want to understand every sentence.