# Favorite Vonnegut books? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 24, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037 "2004-03-24T01:10:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/1 "2004-03-24T01:10:12Z")
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? ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/2 "2004-03-24T01:23:36Z")
**Cat’s Cradle** , definitely. It and S5 are his two best. I’m also partial to **Mother Night**. ---
**Author:** ![Carcosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b3f665/32.png) [@Carcosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Carcosa)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/3 "2004-03-24T02:53:16Z")
> [@chaoticdonkey](#): > > What books of his would you guys recommend? Another vote for Mother Night ---
**Author:** ![Fionn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@Fionn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fionn)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/4 "2004-03-24T03:04:11Z")
_Mother Night_ is great. I also liked _Deadeye Dick_ and _God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater_. ---
**Author:** ![jackelope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@jackelope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackelope)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/5 "2004-03-24T03:06:14Z")
_Mother Night_ and _The Sirens of Titan_. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/6 "2004-03-24T03:15:42Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![DrFidelius](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/drfidelius/32/3447_2.png) [@DrFidelius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrFidelius)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/7 "2004-03-24T03:16:00Z")
Anything he wrote up to **Slaughterhouse-Five** is good, his later work tends towards self indulgent twaddle. But I did rather like **Galapagos**. ---
**Author:** ![MentalGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/439d5e/32.png) [@MentalGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MentalGuy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/8 "2004-03-24T03:26:33Z")
Cat’s Cradle would be my pick. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/9 "2004-03-24T04:32:13Z")
Fish get to swim, Bird get to fly, Man get to wonder “Why, why, why?” **Cat’s Cradle** ---
**Author:** ![MissTake](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misstake/32/3189_2.png) [@MissTake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MissTake)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/10 "2004-03-24T05:08:48Z")
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) ---
**Author:** ![pasunejen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/58956e/32.png) [@pasunejen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasunejen)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/11 "2004-03-24T05:56:27Z")
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.) ---
**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/12 "2004-03-24T08:31:07Z")
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](http://www.orionsarm.com/main.html) ---
**Author:** ![Spudo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@Spudo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spudo)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/13 "2004-03-24T12:12:18Z")
Breakfast of Champions is probably my favourite, but Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five are up there too. ---
**Author:** ![FriarTed](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/friarted/32/1052_2.png) [@FriarTed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FriarTed)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/14 "2004-03-24T13:13:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/15 "2004-03-24T14:22:58Z")
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.” ---
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/16 "2004-03-24T18:22:11Z")
Hey, [we](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245450&) 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 … ---
**Author:** ![Tentacle\_Monster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba9def/32.png) [@Tentacle\_Monster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tentacle_Monster)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/17 "2004-03-24T18:40:17Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Jurph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/50afbb/32.png) [@Jurph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jurph)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/18 "2004-03-24T19:57:51Z")
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… ---
**Author:** ![monstro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ba9def/32.png) [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/19 "2004-03-24T20:25:29Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2004, 8:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037/20 "2004-03-24T20:33:44Z")
[QUOTE=cowgirl] Hey, [we](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=245450&) were just talking about this last week ! QUOTE] Sorry, but I’m rarely in café society… and I can’t search right now… stupid paypal echecks. Everyone, though, thanks. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-vonnegut-books/236037.md?page=2)