Slaughterhouse-Five--Kurt Vonnegut

Of all of Vonnegut's novels I would have to guess that Slaughterhouse-Five is his most well-known and frequently-read. And with good reason, because it is a fantastic book and one of my all time favorites. Really cool high schools have it in their curriculum for required reading and really lame high schools have banned it. And so it goes...

I am not much of a literary critic, or a literary critic at all come to think of it, so a review of the book would be better read elsewhere. A plot summery, too. All of that stuff is over at wikipedia, but if you are interested enough to read about the plot you should just read the whole book. It is quick and super amazing. I think a lot of people go through a Vonnegut stage when they first discover his writing. I did, and read 6 or 7 of his books in a row because I loved his writing style. Prior to reading his books it was uncommon for me to laugh aloud (lol!) when reading a book. So below I have decided to rank my favorite Vonnegut books in the simple fashion of one being my favorite, and taking it from there:

1) Bluebeard (1987)--slightly lesser known, but so great. Among my top five favorite books ever. Stay tuned next week for brother Eric to recommend this one as well.
2) Slaughterhouse-Five (1969)--straight from the mouth of Cory Palmer, you should read this.
3) Cat's Cradle (1963)--first one I read. On the sci-fi side of things, but got me interested to read more.
4) Hocus Pocus (1990)
5) Deadeye Dick (1982)
6) Breakfast of Champions (1973)--this one came highly recommended from a bunch of people, so my hopes were high. Compared to his other works I wasn't that impressed. I think I should see the movie.

All of these books are worth reading, but Bluebeard and Slaughterhouse-Five are really must read books if you like funny and great things. Sidenote--I have never read it so I can't comment, but our first recommender TJ Huff had Welcome to the Monkeyhouse (short stories) on his list, so that is also probably worth a damn.

Special treat! In Vonnegut's own book Psalm Sunday (1981) the author ranks his works up to that point in time. I have put them in order from highest to lowest ranking. A recommends straight from the author:

Cat's Cradle--A plus
Slaughterhouse-Five--A plus
The Sirens of Titan--A
Mother Night--A
God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater--A
Jailbird--A
Player Piano--B
Welcome to the Monkeyhouse--B minus
Breakfast of Champions--C
Psalm Sunday--C
Slapstick--D

And a quote (of apology) from within Slaughterhouse-Five to Vonnegut's publisher Sam Lawrence:

And I say to Sam now: 'Sam-here's the book.' It's so short and jumbled and jangled, Sam, because there is nothing intelligent to say about a massacre. Everybody is supposed to be dead, to never say anything or want anything ever again. Everything is supposed to be very quiet after a massacre, and it always is, except for the birds. And what do the birds say? All there is to say about a massacre, things like 'Poo-tee-weet?