I’m doing an assignment for AP Lit where I choose an author and read a number of his books (number depends on relative size of those books). I read Slaughterhouse-Five earlier this year, and enjoyed it, so I picked him. What books of his would you guys recommend?
Cat’s Cradle, definitely. It and S5 are his two best.
I’m also partial to Mother Night.
Another vote for Mother Night
Mother Night is great. I also liked Deadeye Dick and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater.
Mother Night and The Sirens of Titan.
Sirens of Titan is right up there for me. Also Cat’s Cradle.
And I have a special place in my heart for Breakfast of Champions, even though in retrospect it was not one of his finest works.
Anything he wrote up to Slaughterhouse-Five is good, his later work tends towards self indulgent twaddle. But I did rather like Galapagos.
Cat’s Cradle would be my pick.
Fish get to swim,
Bird get to fly,
Man get to wonder
“Why, why, why?”
Cat’s Cradle
The first Vonnegut I read was Slapstick, so it holds a dear place in my heart.
(I was 12. When my mom overheard me say “why don’t you take a flying fuck at a rolling donut”… let’s just say it wasn’t pretty)
I’m with the Cat’s Cradle and Sirens of Titan people.
But seriously, you might as well just run out and find all his books. (Well, almost all. You could probably skip God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian and use that hour or two to, I don’t know, stare at your toenails.)
Don’t forget Player Piano, a very early book of Vonnegut’s;
he had not yet developed his distinctive style, but this book is an important dystopian look at underemployment caused by automation.
Otherwise, Slaughterhouse-five, Cat’s Cradle, Slapstick, Breakfast of Champions; all brilliant.
SF worldbuilding at
http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html
Breakfast of Champions is probably my favourite, but Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are up there too.
I’ve only read SH-5, God Bless You Mr Rosewater, Mother Night, Sirens of Titan, and Breakfast of Champions. I really enjoyed the first three, moderately likes SoT & wasn’t crazy about BoC.
FriarTed, 6 1/2 inches.
Another vote for Cat’s Cradle as being his best.
And, DrFidelius, I rather like Vonnegut’s self-indulgent twaddle. 
I’d much rather reread Timequake than Player Piano—the latter wasn’t very Vonnegutty and left me thinking, “There’s gotta be other stories that do this same theme more interestingly.”
Hey, we were just talking about this last week !
Cat’s Cradle.
Hocus Pocus.
Galapagos.
Breakfast of Champions.
In that order.
They’re short (except Hocus Pocus) so you can probably get through quite a few …
I’ve liked 'em all except for Timequake. Even that wasn’t all that bad.
The ones that stand out in my mind are Player Piano, Breakfast of Champions and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. Honorable mention to Mother Night as well.
My favorites were Hocus Pocus, God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Cat’s Cradle, and Breakfast of Champions. I had read so much Vonnegut by the time I got to Slaughterhouse-5 that it felt “derivative” (even though it had come first). I couldn’t finish it because I felt like I had already read it.
If you’re just getting into Vonnegut, and find that you enjoy him, you might also like some of John Irving’s books. A similar flair for the absurd-and-emotional situations that make the characters’ lives feel REAL. I’m thinking of a midget with a voice like gravel, an Austrian girl in a bear suit who is inexplicably sexy, a wonderfully set up car accident in a stick-shift Volvo…
Cat’s Cradle and Galapagos. I’ve read most of his works, and these two are my favorites. Both require quite a suspension of analytical reasoning, but that’s a good thing.
Interestingly, I didn’t get into Vonnegaut until after high school. He simply didn’t make the cut onto any of my honors and AP English class reading lists. No, instead we had to swallow down “Jude the Obscure” and “Portrait of an Artist as a Young Man”. I felt robbed when I discovered him, I tell ye.
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Hey, we were just talking about this last week !
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Sorry, but I’m rarely in café society… and I can’t search right now… stupid paypal echecks.
Everyone, though, thanks.