Finished reading Slaughterhouse Five again today only about 9 months after reading it last year. Phenomenal and amazing book. If you haven’t read it yet you simply need to. One of easily my favorite books of all time. ***** Cat’s Cradle and Slaughterhouse Five got me reading a TON of Kurt Vonnegut last year. I think I may take on “Mother Night” next.  I have thoughts about Slaughterhouse for people who have read the book.  If you want to see them highlight the paragraph below.

And what to think of Tralfamodoran time. What if you did know the whole your whole life and could see it all at once. What does that mean? What does it mean about free will? What does it mean about life choices? I think there are simply too many random choices that change a life to believe you can see an entire life from life to death. So it goes.

If you haven’t read the book yet, you need to. It’s beautiful, it’s amazing, it’s easily one of the most important books of the 20th Century. So it goes.

So it goes is just one of those terms that has stuck with me. This year has been tough. Walter Maheux was an amazing father, husband and father-in-law. Dot Mithee was a force of nature who weaved an amazing life. Sometime life is easy, sometimes it’s not even close. So it goes.

Next favorite book of the week is The Greenhouse by Auður Ava Ólafsdóttir. Fantastic book about growing up an outsider and learning a love of gardening from mom. Sometimes life gives us surprises that we can never expect. Beautiful book, may we all tend to our life’s gardens. Said more about it last week. ***1/2

Also finished:

Adirondacks, Views of An American Wilderness by Carl Heilman: Beautiful book about a beautiful place. I want to spend more time in the Adirondacks. Excited that on Wednesday I will be in Lake George. Read through this at the library on Wednesday. Much, much more pictures than text. Kind of amazed I am the only one to read it on Goodreads. ***1/2

If I Ran the Circus by Dr. Seuss: Fun, silly little book. I don’t think the junkyard owner is quite that daring. ***

Ararat by Louise Gluck: Really gorgeous book of poems. Really identified with her poems about losing a father with this tragic year. Highly recommended, I think I look for more Louise Gluck poems soon. ***1/2

The Water Gift and the Pig of the Pig by Jacqueline Briggs Martin: Lovely little picture book. ***

Lon Po Po by Ed Young: Really gorgeous watercolors in this picture book, I wished the story was as rich. **1/2

After these my reading was more scattered this week:

Started Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: Book I have been curious about for a while. Took me 2 readings before I really understood the movie. Movie ***, book potentially more for me but only on pg. 26 of 208

All Things Wise and Wonderful by James Herriot: Enjoyed the sample on my Kindle, but feeling like this is destined to be one of the library books I start but don’t get very far with. pg 9 of 404

Dr. Seuss Goes to War: The World War II Editorial Cartoons of Theodor Seuss Geisel by Richard H. Minear: Very cool book for anyone who grew up with Dr. Seuss. Have looked at a lot of the editorial cartoons haven’t read much of the analysis yet. This is a neat book and a time capsule of democratic thinking in 1941-1942. And most definitely Dr. Seuss’ style. ***1/2

Bradbury Speaks: Too Soon from the Cave, Too Far From the Stars by Ray Bradbury: Reading these essays in random order. Really love his discussion of Los Angeles. We miss you Ray.

The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems by Billy Collins: Really love Collins’ style, enjoying this book a lot. Have been reading it out of order. Looking forward to reading more from Billy Collins. ***1/2

I’m the One That I Want by Margaret Cho: Glad I didn’t grow up as Moran Cho, that’s a tough name. Cool that found this at a garage sale for 50 cents and it’s a signed copy, FTW! Fun read so far. *** pg. 32 of 212

Kindle time:

Slaughterhouse Five
The Greenhouse

The Complete Novels Of Mark Twain: I finished the quite short Burlesque biography. Very, very silly, quite clearly not a biography at all. Looking forward to reading more Twain.

Dirty Minds by Kayt Sukel: Wonderful book, very rich, very heavy. Really interesting book about the neuroscience of love, sex and attraction. Reading it slow a few pages or a section at a time. Up to 27%

Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves: Interesting book about what travel can teach us about the world. Slow read, not as good as I was hoping. *** 29%

My Third World Girlfriend by RJ Silver: Silly book I am re-reading. His “Princess and the Penis” is much, much funnier. 35% ***

Wool Omnibus Edition by Hugh Howey: Still stuck in a tense part of Wool 4. I love Hugh Howey, and do love Wool just have to let the conflict happen and give it some time. Maybe that’s tonight’s plan. 53%

You’re Not Fooling Anyone … by John Scalzi: Fun book on writing that is several of his posts on his blog, Whatever. I like his honesty about how he makes a good living. Guess what corporate jobs pay WAAAY better than even being a relatively famous science fiction author. Of course you also make way more money as an independent author like Hugh Howey (70% royalty on Kindle, vs. around 10% for traditional publishing.) John Scalzi is one of my wife’s favorite authors. ***1/2 23%

So that’s it for now. Somehow it got to almost 1,000 words again. So it goes.