Tag / Kurt Vonnegut

by admin

Book 22 (of 52) – The Hike

The Hike – Drew Magary

The Hike, the latest from Deadspin writer Drew Magary, tells the strange tale of Ben, a 38 year old married man with three kids who travels for work.  On one of those trips, he decides to go for a walk in the woods prior to his business meeting and, instead, finds himself in a strange world where a talking crab helps him stick to the path and, hopefully, find his way home.

I must admit, during the early going, I wasn’t sure exactly what I was reading.  In some ways, the surreal nature of it reminded me of the little I have read of Kurt Vonnegut’s work.  Eventually I decided to just go along for the ride and things turned out for the best.

 

by jim

2015: The Year In Books

2015booksWith another year coming to an end, it is time to take a look back at the 31 books I read over the past year, an increase of 8 from last year and my highest total ever, surpassing the 27 books I read back in 1992.  Of those 31, 11 were non-fiction and, of the 20 novels, only 3 were TV show tie-ins.  Only 4 of the books came from the “to-read” drawer, and 11 were e-books.  I read a nearly 9200 pages, the most in 1 year since 1992 and my second straight year reaching the 9000 mark.

Once again, a majority of the books I read this year were by authors I’ve never read before. The 19 authors that I read for the first this year were:
Kurt Vonnegut
Jim Bouton
Melissa Joan Hart
Patton Oswalt
Erle Stanley Gardner
Doug Sohn
Kate DeVivo
Paula Hawkins
Jayson Stark
Scott Reifert
Oscar Wilde
Jeff Katz
Felicia Day
George Carlin
Max Allan Collins
Ann Brashares
David Lagercrantz
Graham Greene
Mary Kubica
Martin Short

The ghost writer for Richard Castle was the only author I read multiple titles from during 2015.

Ten books I read were released this year, while 3 of them were released prior to 1980, with one, The Picture of Dorian Gray, dating back to 1890.

Finally, the breakdown by month.  Vacations in March, November, and December certainly helped pad their totals a tad bit. Continue reading →

by admin

Book 1 (of 52) – Slaughterhouse-Five

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut

Slaughterhouse-Five – Kurt Vonnegut

As 2014 was winding down, Amazon had a sale that offered the eBook version of Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five for $1.99.  Having never read any of Vonnegut’s work, and wanting to be able to check him off on those click surveys of important books that you’ve read, I pulled the trigger and made this my first choice of the new year.

For those who haven’t read it, the book is about Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist from upstate New York who believes he is unstuck in time and has been abducted by aliens from the planet Tralfamadore.  Throughout the book, he jumps from timeframe to timeframe, mostly during World War II and the fire bombing of Dresden where he, like Vonnegut, was held as a prisoner of war.

While this is considered one of the best American novels of the 20th century, I can’t say that I would hold it in such great accord.  While I certainly enjoyed it, and can now say that I have read Vonnegut, it wasn’t the be all and end all.  Maybe my tastes just aren’t refined enough.

by admin

52 Books in 52 Weeks – 2015 Edition

bookshelfA new year is once again upon us, and it is time to start year six of the goal to read a book a week for the entire year, totaling 52 books in 52 weeks.  In year one, I only made it to 8 books.  Year two doubled that total.  Year three used graphic novels to improve once again, finishing with 24.  Two years ago was the first where I dropped from the year before, only finishing 18 books, which was well short of the ultimate goal.  Last year, I bounced back to finish with 23 books.

I’m going to give it another go this year.  I’ve got a few new books loaded in the Kindle app on my iPad, so I’ve got a good pile to start with.  As a reminder, the rules I am using are:

  • You can count a book as read as long as you have completed the book in 2014 and at least 50% of that reading takes place in 2014
  • Any book counts as long as you’re not embarrassed to count it.
  • Poetry collections do indeed count.
  • Re-reading a book is okay as long as it isn’t done this year. (Reading Twilight twice in 2010 only counts as 1 read)
  • Audiobooks also count.

My first book of the year will be Slaughterhouse Five, the classic novel from Kurt Vonnegut which I am about 100 pages into.  I also have a Kindle app filled with choices and a few books that I got for my birthday and Christmas still waiting to be read.  2015 should be another good year.