I feel a little guilty that I don't ramp the Vonnegut up to the top of my skyscraper of must reads. I'm trying to be methodical, here! Having managed a bookstore, I'm not sure I need to buy another novel for the next ten years. What I hate most is selling them to used bookstores, unread. I feel as though I have been unfaithful and, at a public reading, have to stand up and confess to the author what I have done. Hey, a guy's gotta eat. I should get onto that one, but it breaks my heart.

The Resident got a YouTube feature with this video...too bad 99.9999% of YouTubers have no idea who Kurt Vonnegut was and don't care to learn. Sorry about that Rez...

Well, I don't know Kurt. I do know that when someone passes away, then YouTube finds a sort of memorial video and puts it on their homepage. I'm glad you were happy they put this one up there :)

Yes we are trashing the place and making the world unlivable for future generations. If people don't take action today their may not be a tomorrow worth living for.

I like the idea of describing humans as going through life guessing this or that. Maybe that's why so many of us become so conforming; we are afraid to take a unique path guessing in different ways.

Not, not cute tales about tails, but big meaty human issues. Some sentences that make me put the book down and gasp and ponder. I prefer his later work. A good-ish place to start is with his semi representative shorts, The Panic Hand. Think Magical realism. While in Vienna, rather than ring his bell or sit in at the American school where he teaches, I sat on the step of one of his fave cafes and wrote him. He wrote back. Cherished possession.

This one fleshed out theresident out as a human being, for me. She is very good at alternating between cheekily engaging and stand back invisible, even in the old clips when doing massive noddies to keep people to keep talking!

I like the list. I would add Jonathan Carroll. His stories are definitely a little strange but with his deeply flawed characters, his huge heart comes roaring through. Specifically, check out his blog on http://www.jonathancarroll.com and barometer his heart. There are also a few of his shorts. Big dog lover. Some of them talk.

*big sigh* I ain't got no sarcasm for that! Nothin' really funny anyway. Authors listed, for the curious and teh lazi: Ian McEwan, John Updike, Haruki Murakami, Philip Roth, Hermann Hesse, Ayn Rand and, of course, Kurt Vonnegut.