I Don't Vonnegut It

There’s a new Television Without Pity post up at ilovemytv.blogspot.com if you’re interested!

So, Kurt Vonnegut died huh?

Well.

Okay.

I never really could get into Vonnegut books. I tried to read Slaughterhouse Five at some point in my life, possibly even Cat’s Cradle. I don’t remember. The only thing I can remember is that I had no interest in reading the books I started. This is pretty rare for a reader like myself. There are plenty of authors I haven’t read or have no interest in reading, but not finishing a book I started are few and far between. It is nearly impossible for me to put down a book I’ve started; I’m living this now with “A Widow for One Year” by John Irving. I picked this up someplace or another, started reading it because I had no new books to read, and even though I’m quite uncommitted about starting such a big book and finishing it, I must now. I’ve started it; I have to see what happens.

But Vonnegut, I just…could never get into it.

Here are the books I can think of that I started that I could never finish:

1. Black Swan Green- I started this just last week, people love this book narrated by a young boy. They said no one had captured the mind of a young boy like David Mitchell did. Well, I started it, read about 50 pages and decided that yeah, it’s a pretty good character. Good for him. Now I don’t need to read the rest. Done! I just felt like I had gotten the gist of the book in the pages that I read, that it was a character study and nothing was going to happen and I reluctantly but proudly put it back down. Alas, this is why I had no backup book, because I figured I’d be reading this for a week or so, so had to start on Widow.

2. Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse Five or Cat’s Cradle, or both. We’ve discussed this.

3. Possession by A.S. Byatt. I’ve talked about this book on here as well. The “writer’s” book. This book has influenced so many writers and yet, I hated it. Every minute of it. I’ve started and stopped this book more than once, this last time I even got about halfway through before I dumped this book on its ass. Boo to Possession.

4. A Farewell to Arms. Anyone who tries to convince me to read Hemingway will be met with unfocused eyes as my brain starts to wonder more deeply about whether Jael will be able to pull it together on ANTM.

5. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins. Anyone who tries to make me read more Tom Robbins will be met with unfocused eyes as my brain starts to wonder just how truly boring a really popular writer can be. I finished Skinny Legs and All and I will forever regret wasting those moments of my life.

I’m sure there are a few more books in my life I haven’t been able to finish. It is really few and far between though.

And I am a big believer that a book can mean nothing to you at one point in your life, and strike you as brilliance at another point in your life. Thus, my emphatic re-readings of Great Expectations and The Fountainhead, books I love that no matter when I read them, always contain something new.

So in honor of Mr. Vonnegut, I have just ordered a slightly used copy of Slaughterhouse Five to try again. You just never know right?