Tag Archives: 'vonnegut'

• Currently Reading

  Looking through my bookshelf, I’ve discovered all I have left really are heady books.1 I’ve been purchasing books at a quicker pace the last few months on Amazon to build up some sort of a backlog, and none of them are “quick reads” so to speak. I have always had an interest in what happened [...]

• Currently Reading

  The Two Percent Solution opened my eyes (a lot) on the topic of centrist-based solutions, however the issue of education reverberated most with me. I plan on posting more on that topic and others in the near future. A great book, with many tangible ideas and workable solutions. I only wish it weren’t written five [...]

• Currently Reading

  December is a month for Vonnegut, I guess. I finished up his anti-war piece yesterday, and today I pick up probably his best work, Cat’s Cradle. This is the only image I can find online (from Russia, and I even checked AltaVista) of the exact cover that I have… Image: Bibliograph.ru My copy has some [...]

• In the News… So it goes.

  - kottke.org at its finest. (And I mean that. I’ve used “so it goes” like a crutch over the years; it is an absolute fitting sign-off for the greatest satirist of our time.) kottke.org links to this New York Times piece on Vonnegut’s passing. Image: ABCNews.com So it goes… – A suicide bomber has attacked [...]

• Vonnegut

  “Kurt Vonnegut, the satirical novelist who captured the absurdity of war and questioned the advances of science in darkly humorous works such as ‘Slaughterhouse-Five’ and ‘Cat’s Cradle,’ died Wednesday. He was 84.“ Image: Reuters I wasn’t the biggest reader growing up. I mean I read like hell when I just learned how to, and I [...]

• Currently Reading

  I have finished Kurt Vonnegut’s last novel, and as I’ve said, I would not really recommend the book, the first time I have not recommended a book I’ve read since I’ve started this now-defunct reading club. I’ve tried to switch gears a bit, so I’ve picked up On the Road, the Jack Kerouac tome that [...]

• carlosmomscooking.com

  I have a good friend who lives in the city (of San Francisco), a former coworker at one of my previous companies, a company that I will not discuss while blogging for fear of retribution, beatings and sabotage. Anyway, this guy’s mom makes some damned good authentic Mexican food and whenever she visits (from Tejas), [...]

• In the News

  - A true-blue atheist (they exist!) has come out in the House; a big step for all humanity and politics and separation of church and state and freedom of belief and on and on. (I can finally do something with my life.) Of course, his outing has been applauded by the American Humanist Association (based [...]

• Currently Reading

  Having finally finished House of Sand and Fog, a truly horrible story, but a good book with an uncomfortable and surprising amount of explicit sex (Sitting in a train reading, and having your neighbor peer over to what you are currently reading, only it having to be one of those few passages scattered throughout the [...]

• Currently Reading

  Alright, I finished the Vonnegut collection way too quickly, but it has sped up the relative length of time it takes me commuting to work (and that was the goal). And I am way behind on the reyding series, I know. I do plan to do a little catch-up work and blog the Vonnegut book, [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: The No-Talent Kid

  This is the first of three stories in Bagombo Snuff Box to revolve around George M. Helmholtz, director of the Lincoln High School marching band. The No-Talent Kid is Walter Plummer, who Helmholtz refers to simply as “Plummer,” an earnest clarinetist who really isn’t any good. But because Plummer lacks musical sense and is seemingly [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: The Package

  The Package is simply a story that makes you wish to gouge your eyes out as you read of Earl Fenton’s bragging. Earl certainly has bragging rights, however, as he and his wife Maude worked hard from their humble roots to make it rich. And now that they have all this money, they have purchased [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: Any Reasonable Offer

  Any Reasonable Offer is narrated in first person by a real estate agent. The realtor has had a hard time selling this one house until an out-of-town wealthy couple enters his life. They instantly love the house, and ensure that the high asking price is no problem. They would like, however, to get the “newness” [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: Mnemonics

  “Mnemonics is the art of improving the memory.” Alfred Moorhead had a hard time remembering things, and he was secretly in love with his secretary, Ellen. After attending a mnemonics class, Alfred was able to focus his memory by thinking about various Hollywood starlets in random scenes, and this would momentarily make him forget about [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: Thanasphere

  The first short story of the Bagombo Snuff Box collection is classic Vonnegut. Thanasphere is about a mission by the U.S. government to put a man in orbit two thousand miles above the earth’s surface. (Remember, this was written in the early fifties. This is some scary science fiction.) The man in space was to [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: Introduction

  When Vonnegut writes an introduction, you might as well consider it another chapter of the book, because you’d miss out if you didn’t read it. Vonnegut’s Introduction is a brief narrative of his career from his perspective, which had been guided, in one way or another, by what he refers to as “Fate,” although it [...]

• Bagombo Snuff Box: Preface

  To read or not to read the preface, especially one that is not written by the author of the book, is the question. If I’m not too interested in a book, I will usually skip all of the lowercase roman numeral pages. I’ve never really thought about the book’s dedication. Does it really make a [...]

• reyding: Bagombo Snuff Box by Kurt Vonnegut

  What a great way to start a reading series (formerly known as a “book club,” the reading series is this blog’s version of exercising the brain): Kurt Vonnegut’s Bagombo Snuff Box. Before television took off in the 1950s, short stories published in weekly and monthly magazines were the form of entertainment found in homes across [...]

• A New Chapter Unfolds (Let Me Blog It)

  Call it blogging karma; call it the big blogging sham. I’ve always thought of joining or starting an online book club (alright, “always” may not be the correct term; let’s go with “momentarily, here and there”), and what better way to commence then with the start of a new book, Kurt Vonnegut’s Bagombo Snuff Box. [...]

• Currently Reading

  As I mentioned previously, I have finally finished Jake Tapper’s detailed account of the political battle during the 2000 Florida recount. So, up next on my reading list is a compilation of the long-lost short stories by Kurt Vonnegut, Bagombo Snuff Box… Image: Amazon.com I do need something to do while on the train to [...]