Some authors appear on this list a lot. An awful lot. Here is how many I still have to read for some of those repeat offenders.
Phillip Roth = 4
Kurt Vonnegut = 1
Henry James <1 (since I’m reading the final one for him at the moment; fist pump!)
Charles Dickens = 2 (fist pump!)
J.M. Coetzee = 5 (gulp)
Salman Rushdie = 3
Virginia Woolf = 7 (gulp)
Ian McEwan = 3
Kazuo Ishiguro = 2
Margaret Atwood = 3
D.H. Lawrence = 3
Showing posts with label Kurt Vonnegut. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Kurt Vonnegut. Show all posts
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Monday, May 16, 2011
I haves been in a bit of a dry spell lately, I think. Fortunately, I now seem to have passed that. Captain Corelli's Mandolin was definitely a favorite, and as a bonus it is one that I would recommend to other people. Score! Seriously, though, I have some pretty warped tastes, so it's always nice when I hit one that I liked and I think others will as well.
The novel works as an enjoyable love story (though SPOILER ALERT, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the ending; it sort of worked, but it also felt a little too cheery in some ways), a thought-provoking historical drama, and even a semi-literary piece. You can fall in love with the characters, the lush descriptions, or the ideas.
The story explores several themes, such as the impact of various forms of totalitarianism on the human spirit, and the consequences of war and violence on soldiers and civilians alike. You could do a lot with those various themes, but I was particularly interested in its exploration of various kinds of love, the relationship between love and identity, and the meaning of family. He explores those in large-scale and intimate ways. For example, we have a pine marten that is treated like a cat, and we have an occupying soldier serving a fascist country who ultimately is the hero of the story. And music, of course, plays a huge role in the story, both in terms of character progression and narrative.
I haven't seen the movie, but I haven't heard good things about it, so we might skip that one.
Keeping going with the "Vonnegut Faze," I next read Good Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. I don't have too much to really say about that one. It was pretty hilarious in parts. I laughed out loud at the telephone conversation between the father and the son; so funny. It was a very quick read. I definitely get Vonnegut's style now. I'm not sure how many of his I have left to go. Yep, that's all I've got.
The novel works as an enjoyable love story (though SPOILER ALERT, I'm not exactly sure how I feel about the ending; it sort of worked, but it also felt a little too cheery in some ways), a thought-provoking historical drama, and even a semi-literary piece. You can fall in love with the characters, the lush descriptions, or the ideas.
The story explores several themes, such as the impact of various forms of totalitarianism on the human spirit, and the consequences of war and violence on soldiers and civilians alike. You could do a lot with those various themes, but I was particularly interested in its exploration of various kinds of love, the relationship between love and identity, and the meaning of family. He explores those in large-scale and intimate ways. For example, we have a pine marten that is treated like a cat, and we have an occupying soldier serving a fascist country who ultimately is the hero of the story. And music, of course, plays a huge role in the story, both in terms of character progression and narrative.
I haven't seen the movie, but I haven't heard good things about it, so we might skip that one.
Keeping going with the "Vonnegut Faze," I next read Good Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. I don't have too much to really say about that one. It was pretty hilarious in parts. I laughed out loud at the telephone conversation between the father and the son; so funny. It was a very quick read. I definitely get Vonnegut's style now. I'm not sure how many of his I have left to go. Yep, that's all I've got.
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
You'll say that we've got nothing in common/No common ground to start from/And we're falling apart
Truly, I don't think Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day and Cat's Cradle have ANYTHING in common, at all. Well, aside from the fact that I rather enjoyed both of them. But thematically and stylistically, they are rather dissimilar.
First, dear Miss Pettigrew. What a fun read. I had seen the movie before, (and reading this again annoyed me that it is not available on Netflix Instant Watch, because I have such a hard time working through my DVD queue, and Pushing Daisies is available to watch instantly and I don't care about that; sigh). This is one of those ones where there were aspects of each that I enjoyed, but neither is the obvious winner of being superior. For example, I liked that some of the characters in the book were more nuanced, but I enjoyed the romance more in the movie.
There isn't really all that much to say about it, though. It's a very fun read, but that's really it. Many laugh-out-loud moments, and some very clever dialogue, but not much to really reflect on.
I think I am starting to get a better sense of Vonnegut's style. I definitely enjoyed Cat's Cradle more than Slaughter-House Five, for what that is worth. I continue to be fascinated by these authors who always or almost always frame their stories as being narrated by an author working on a story; in this case, it worked because the author actually becomes part of the story, but still.
This book was also quite funny, of course, albeit in a rather dark way most of the time. Generally I enjoy satire, so this was up my alley in many ways. It took a bit for me to really be engaged, pretty much up until the plane piece. Once that got going, I read the rest of it quite quickly. Again, I feel like I should have more to say on this one (confession time, I'm running behind and have read several in the interim; what can I say? Work has been more manic than usual).
Random thoughts (in an attempt to make this post be a descent length):
First, dear Miss Pettigrew. What a fun read. I had seen the movie before, (and reading this again annoyed me that it is not available on Netflix Instant Watch, because I have such a hard time working through my DVD queue, and Pushing Daisies is available to watch instantly and I don't care about that; sigh). This is one of those ones where there were aspects of each that I enjoyed, but neither is the obvious winner of being superior. For example, I liked that some of the characters in the book were more nuanced, but I enjoyed the romance more in the movie.
There isn't really all that much to say about it, though. It's a very fun read, but that's really it. Many laugh-out-loud moments, and some very clever dialogue, but not much to really reflect on.
I think I am starting to get a better sense of Vonnegut's style. I definitely enjoyed Cat's Cradle more than Slaughter-House Five, for what that is worth. I continue to be fascinated by these authors who always or almost always frame their stories as being narrated by an author working on a story; in this case, it worked because the author actually becomes part of the story, but still.
This book was also quite funny, of course, albeit in a rather dark way most of the time. Generally I enjoy satire, so this was up my alley in many ways. It took a bit for me to really be engaged, pretty much up until the plane piece. Once that got going, I read the rest of it quite quickly. Again, I feel like I should have more to say on this one (confession time, I'm running behind and have read several in the interim; what can I say? Work has been more manic than usual).
Random thoughts (in an attempt to make this post be a descent length):
- It might be interesting at some point to do a paper on various made-up religions/theologies/philosophies in different books.
- It's probably helpful to have some understanding of the nuclear arms race/development of the atom bomb (but then, who doesn't, really?).
- Clearly Slaughter-House Five was an exemplar, not an outlier.
- Apparently, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company has optioned this (thanks, Wikipedia), so maybe we'll be able to do a film comparison at some point! I wonder who would play Mona? Maybe Olga Kurylenko?
Monday, April 11, 2011
Vonnegut Faze
I believe that Slaughterhouse Five was my first Vonnegut. I could be wrong about that, but I do not think so. For some incredibly inexplicable reason, I always sort of lump Vonnegut, Kafka, and Faulkner together in my head. This really makes absolutely no sense. It's not like I mix them up or anything, I just lump them together the way I do Turgenev, Tolstoy, and Dostoevsky, for example, but at least that lumping makes sense. Vonnegut, Kafka, and Faulkner really have nothing in common. They don't even have a letter in common. Ah, well.
Anyway, stories about war are an interesting genre. This one had several laugh-out-loud moments, but like many war novels, it's focus is the senselessness of war, which isn't exactly a cheery theme. Since it's my first Vonnegut, I can't really make any intelligent remarks about his style or anything. I have no idea if this is an exemplar or an outlier. From a craft perspective, it's method of construction is intriguing. Of course, the problem with telling a story about non-linear time is that we do experience time linearly, more or less at least. Thus, even though the story may be told in chunks with some jumping around, it's not really disorienting or truly non-linear within each chunk. That said, the structure works and brings out the novels themes rather than distracting from them.
The Power and the Glory was my third Greene. Man, this guy thinks about Catholicism all the time! It's sort of exhausting. Not only does he think about Catholicism, it seems to give him a rather high-level of anxiety. I think he needs to calm down a bit. Every novel of his that I have read has taken place in a vastly different geographical context, which is interesting. Many writers essentially settle down in familiar areas. Like the other ones of his that I have read, the ending is not a surprise; the story is on a collision course with the ending and that's obvious from the beginning. That doesn't detract from the story at all, but it's an another intriguing trend of his.
His female characters fascinate me. On the one hand, they are often peripheral to the story in many ways. They move in and out of focus, and aren't ever the leads. However, they drive the story in subtle ways and are as real as the leads. They are neither Madonnas nor whores, instead occupying a more complex space, and some are quite original (the young girl in this one is particularly excellent). This particular novel would be particularly interesting to analyze in juxtaposition with The Scarlet Letter.
Anyway, stories about war are an interesting genre. This one had several laugh-out-loud moments, but like many war novels, it's focus is the senselessness of war, which isn't exactly a cheery theme. Since it's my first Vonnegut, I can't really make any intelligent remarks about his style or anything. I have no idea if this is an exemplar or an outlier. From a craft perspective, it's method of construction is intriguing. Of course, the problem with telling a story about non-linear time is that we do experience time linearly, more or less at least. Thus, even though the story may be told in chunks with some jumping around, it's not really disorienting or truly non-linear within each chunk. That said, the structure works and brings out the novels themes rather than distracting from them.
The Power and the Glory was my third Greene. Man, this guy thinks about Catholicism all the time! It's sort of exhausting. Not only does he think about Catholicism, it seems to give him a rather high-level of anxiety. I think he needs to calm down a bit. Every novel of his that I have read has taken place in a vastly different geographical context, which is interesting. Many writers essentially settle down in familiar areas. Like the other ones of his that I have read, the ending is not a surprise; the story is on a collision course with the ending and that's obvious from the beginning. That doesn't detract from the story at all, but it's an another intriguing trend of his.
His female characters fascinate me. On the one hand, they are often peripheral to the story in many ways. They move in and out of focus, and aren't ever the leads. However, they drive the story in subtle ways and are as real as the leads. They are neither Madonnas nor whores, instead occupying a more complex space, and some are quite original (the young girl in this one is particularly excellent). This particular novel would be particularly interesting to analyze in juxtaposition with The Scarlet Letter.
Sunday, April 10, 2011
250 Down, 751 To Go!
Yay! Go me! I'm not exactly sure that The Power and the Glory is quite epic enough for this milestone, but there you go. It was a fun enough read, and I'll write more on it and Slaughterhouse Five in a bit. However, I just wanted to write this little post in celebration. Next weekend I am going to have a cookie to celebrate (since there is a bakery I want to visit in Georgetown). I also do plan to buy my favorite book from the first 250; the challenge there is that I still can't decide between The Ground Beneath Her Feet and The Forsyte Saga. We shall see.
In other news, my next read is The Shining. This should be interesting, since I really have no idea what it is about or any preconceived notions about it. From reading the back of the book, I have learned that it takes place in a hotel. I think that's a good sign, since I rather like hotels.
In other news, my next read is The Shining. This should be interesting, since I really have no idea what it is about or any preconceived notions about it. From reading the back of the book, I have learned that it takes place in a hotel. I think that's a good sign, since I rather like hotels.
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