Sunday, November 13, 2016

I'm Sure You'll All Agree

The 10 Best Kurt Vonnegut Books

4 comments:

Todd Mason said...

Yes. No.

I suspect that for anyone who has written enough novels (or books, since one non-novel is included) it might be harder to cull the ten best than the, say, two best, at least for many readers.

I tend to think of BLUEBEARD as his best more or less contemporary-mimetic novel, and THE SIRENS OF TITAN as his best sf novel, for example, though most of the others are certainly close enough. I tend to agree with Vonnegut himself that BREAKFAST OF CHAMPIONS is one of his weakest novels, and to discuss Kilgore Trout without mentioning Theodore Sturgeon is simply inept.

It is an interesting and telling failure of a book, though, to be sure.

Unknown said...

I confess that I've never read JAILBIRD or MAN WITHOUT A COUNTRY.

Don Coffin said...

If that's supposed to be in order from best to 10th best...well, Slaughterhouse 5 is in the wrong place. (But this seems to be a chronological list, and, if so, OK.) The first 7, though, I have no problem with. The last 3 I'd need to think about.

RHovey, CA said...

I only got through 3, my fave being the enjoyable "Slapstick" featuring the telepathic twins. A most unique writer indeed...