So it POLLS: The novels of Kurt Vonnegut

i've read all but maybe two of those, but only a couple in the last 10 years so it's hard to really be sure of my answer. i tend to single out Player Piano, Breakfast of Champions, Galapagos and Rosewater as favorites, though.

a thick red volume of 5 of these books (the first 4 plus Slaughterhouse-Five) was a very big deal to me in my middle school/early high school years.

Never read Slapstick, Jailbird, Deadeye and Hocus Pocus. Oddly, Bluebird was my first Vonnegut.

I voted for SoT because I like sci-fi.

ooh yeah i like that one a lot too

Mother Night is by far my favorite. Read a lot of Vonnegut and every book has its hilarious points and poignant moments throughout but none never quite gelled in the way Mother Night did IMO.

Cat's Cradle was my first and I still rate it the highest out of the 9 that I've read.

oh fuck, Cat's Cradle, i may have to vote for that. this is really hard!

throwing a bone to breakfast of champions which made me lol hard in a way slaughterhouse and cat's cradle did not.

I have only read Mother Night through Jailbird (weird, I didn't intend to read consecutive works), and I thought the best of those was Breakfast of Champions.

Bluebird was my first Vonnegut.

BlueBEARD

breakfast of champions is the craziest and thus my favorite

*

Breakfast of Champions is by far the funniest, however plotwise it's pretty lacking. Seemed a bit half-baked.

for better or worse that always seemed pretty deliberate to me. so wrong that they even tried to make a movie out of it, talk about unadaptable books.

The Sirens of Titan
Cat's Cradle
Slaughterhouse-Five
Breakfast of Champions

I have no idea how to pick out of these four; the one least likely to be my vote is S5

Anyone for Galapagos? It's the best of the post-BoC works I've read.

Which is to say it's better than Bluebeard and Timequake.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

This is really hard, but I think I'm going to throw my vote to rise water - not sure it's his best, but it's less likely to get votes than cats cradle and breakfast of champions

Yeah that should say "rosewater"

Mother Night is my favorite, but Galapagos has a special place too.

Cat's Cradle was my first and I still rate it the highest . . .

― EZ Snappin, Tuesday, October 9, 2012 9:23 AM (5 days ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Same. My HS boyfriend gave it to me and it was my very fav book for years and years. Like SD it's been AGES since I've read KV so I'm going to have to go with CC.

I went back and read Cat's Cradle not too long ago and it lost some of its luster. I need to get around to read Breakfast. I'll probably go with Schlachthof funf, but I kinda wish I could vote for Welcome to the Monkey House, with all the mentalist sci fi (Monkey House! Harrison Bergeron! Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow!)

I read a whole load of Vonnegut all at once about five or six or seven years ago, and as a consequence I can't really remember which is which, making it stupidly difficult to pick one. Characters appearing in multiple books doesn't make it easier! As a consequence, think I might vote S5, as it was the first one I read, and made me go "wow, why was I not reading this guy when I was a kid?!"

ooh i've only read slaughterhouse 5 but i loved it, so i'm voting for it regardless.

You should totally read some more.

Interestingly, tis is how he grades his own work:

Player Piano: B
The Sirens of Titan: A
Mother Night: A
Cat's Cradle: A-plus
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater: A
Slaughterhouse-Five: A-plus
Welcome to the Monkey House: B-minus
Happy Birthday, Wanda June: D
Breakfast of Champions: C
Slapstick: D
Jailbird: A
Palm Sunday: C

I'm pretty sure I've read:

The Sirens of Titan
Mother Night
Cat's Cradle
Slaughterhouse-Five
Breakfast of Champions
Galapagos
Hocus Pocus
Timequake

You should totally read some more.

― comedy is unnatural and abhorrent (Scik Mouthy), Monday, 15 October 2012 13:11 (5 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I totally should, but I'm still reading The Pale King (how is it taking SOOO LONG? I swear I read a good three to five pages on my commute every day and I'm only just halfway through... It's been months. Damn you ILX for being on my phone)..

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

That look's like a fair result for me - a solid handful of books all worth reading and all of a high quality.

Nine books on Kindle Daily Deal today. Got Mother Night and Player Piano.

Thinking about Sirens of Titan and Slaughterhouse Five.

Get Breakfast of Champions for the Armistice (Veterans) Day quote. Appropriate today.

Not on sale today, so it can wait. Mr. Rosewater is though.

He really gave Player Piano a B? Was he embarrassed that it was too genre?

I dunno, Sirens is the most genre thing he wrote and that (rightly) got an A.

there are a bunch of vonnegut novels in the november kindle sale (uk) for 99p each, specifically

Slaughterhouse 5
Bluebeard
Galápagos
Mother Night
Deadeye Dick
Breakfast of Champions
God Bless You, Mr Rosewater

I read a bunch as a teen - has anyone had a worthwhile middle-aged-adult reread?

Powerful essay on Slaughterhouse-Five at 50:

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/06/books/review/kevin-powers-kurt-vonnegut-slaughterhouse-five.html