Welcome to Litsy!

A series of essays from the middle of the George W Bush years that are part old-man musings, part political rant, and part lamentation for the state of humanity. In other hands it could have come off as a bit tedious, but Vonnegut is funny and charming enough that it was a pleasure to read, even the bits I recognized as recycled from his many lectures and commencement speeches.

#FirstLineFridays @ShyBookOwl

As a kid I was the youngest member of my family, and the youngest child in any family is always a jokemaker, because a joke is the only way he can enter into an adult conversation.

✨from the tagged: If this isn‘t nice, I don‘t know what is!

✨✨More petting please!!

#Two4Tuesday @TheSpineView

With biting wit vonnegut rips into a US government that has learnt no lessons from history as it immerses itself in war and whose legacy is the destruction of the planet. With perhaps an eye on what he leaves behind he reflects on dresden his life and writing. Written abt Bush era this is as relevant in 2021 + makes me want to reread/read this & all his other work

#booked2021 @BarbaraTheBibliophage @4thhouseontheleft @Cinfhen #mustacheoncover

Last night after reading some of The Poet X, a poem began to sprout in my head, and instead of sweeping it aside for a later time that never comes, I picked up a pen and wrote it down. And I‘ll be damned - Vonnegut was right. I felt rewarded. I made something. 😊
#bfc21 creative writing once a week✅

Got this book a long time ago and to my shame forgot about it. Thanks to @vlwelser for mentioning it so I finally got to read it. It was great, made me remember why I love Vonnegut. So many of his ideas still actual today even if it was published in 2004. Definite pick!
This is the first book I can mark as read on this month's #BookSpinBingo.

This was awesome. It's really funny. Non-fiction from the master of satire. And it's really short if anyone's looking for a quick read.

Amusing, not my favorite KV. Some was repetitive from the last KV I read

“Do you know what a Luddite is? A person who hates newfangled contraptions.” ~Kurt Vonnegut
#book #bookish #kurtvonnegutquote #bookstagram #bookworm #bookwormproblems #bookworm_insta #booknerd #igreads #igbooks #bibliophile #totalbooknerd #literature #bookstagrammer #bookstagramfeature #booklover #bookporn #booklove #lovebooks #readbooks #amreading #lovetoread

I sometimes forget that Vonnegut was alive after 9/11 and during the Bush/Cheney years. He was cynical in his last years but never without hope. Reading this book of late essays made me miss his voice in the present. What would Vonnegut say about Trump, fake news, American Nazism? I hope he could still find hope in our current predicament. 🤞🏼

#Vonnegut #quotsy

#experience #quotsymay19

I received your letter @MaGoose ! I‘m amazed that you had to put all of that on the address. I‘ve never had anyone have that kind of issue mailing to me before.
The bookmarks are gorgeous. Thank you so much.
I hope you enjoy the book whenever you do get to reading it.

“And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles." #QuotsyOct18 #Bully

@OrangeMooseReads Thank you!! This will be added to my TBR list.

My aunt had this in a group garage sale and I couldn‘t bare to leave it behind unsold. It‘s in excellent condition, doesn‘t even look read. The letter M is written on the title page. This one is series of short essay. Would be a good start to understand Vonnegut the person which helps you better understand his fiction.
Comment “claimed”

Free Books! I got a bunch of free books today. A couple will be for giveaways. These were left over from a family garage sale.

A reread for me. Visiting an old friend who could have made me laugh at the times despite myself.

Thank you, Mr. Vonnegut.

Preach.

Busy busy busy.

You know you need this one!

#ebookdeal #stackit #Vonnegut #KV

We had friends visiting from out of town this weekend, so no reading time, but they are good friends who know me well. Exibit A : this beautiful print they brought as a gift! I can‘t wait to get it framed!

It‘s from a Texas artist you can find at
VMBEE.com

Oh Kurt Vonnegut, how I love you. 💕

Today‘s #bookmail... #ihaveaproblem! A Man Without a Country was my first Vonnegut and one of my favorite books. I lent it to a friend years ago and figured I‘ll probably never get it back. I also got these two poetry collections (tagged below). I‘ll post more about them when I start reading them. 😁

Found this book at Goodwill and thought it was fiction. It‘s not. Thankfully, it‘s short, so I can add another book to my very short reading list from 2017.

Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you've been to college.

Fighting the flu and chasing this one around during today's @DeweysReadathon so I'm opting for this old favorite to reread if I ever get a minute.

#readathonessays @Liberty

Bookish advice. I don't know who I would have become without deciding to apply this to my life once upon a time. What lines have been your game changers?

DAY 25: #favoritequote #riotgrams

And I urge you to please notice when you are happy, and exclaim or murmur or think at some point, 'If this isn't nice, I don't know what is'.

Maybe not what I needed right now, given my growing disappointment in the human race. It's probably for the best that Vonnegut didn't live to see Pres. 45...#TheYearKristiReadsHerBookshelf

"Do you realize that all great literature - Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, A Farewell to Arms, The Scarlet Letter, The Red Badge of Courage, The Iliad and The Odyssey, Crime and Punishment, The Bible, and The Charge of the Light Brigade -are all about what a bummer it is to be a human being?" (Broncos always, even when we're not in the Super Bowl. But go Falcons!)

Every time I read a Vonnegut book I come away with a new religion.

On being a 'science fiction writer'.

That time I made an excuse to sneak away from my desk and get a book in time for Vonnegut day at the #BushwickBookClub

No matter how corrupt, greedy, and heartless our government, our corporations, our media, and our religious & charitable institutions may become, the music will still be wonderful.

"Humor is a way of holding off how awful life can be, to protect yourself."

This group of essays about humor, politics, war, religion and American society was Vonnegut's last work before he died. A quick, worthy read.

He is probably up in heaven (haha), looking down, shaking his head at our country's current situation.

I'm good at farting around.

Hey, @MrBook I think you'd like this beer - Oskar Blues Ten Fidy Imperial Stout aged in Bourbon Barrels. This Kentucky girl who has also lived in Colorado (Oskar Blues) approves. 👍🏻👍🏻

When your pint glass matches your book.

#currentlyreading #booksandbrews

The most quotable book I've read. It is as close as #KurtVonnegut comes to a memoir, reading it feels like sitting down on the couch for a long chat with an old friend.
#lazyphotochallenge

Born November 11, 1922 #vonnegut

"I myself feel that our country ... might as well have been invaded by Martians and body snatchers. Sometimes I wish it had been. What has happened instead is that it was taken over by means of the sleaziest, low-comedy, Keystone-cops ..." As @KilgoreTrout wrote yesterday, I would love to know Vonnegut's thoughts if he was still alive, but I'm also glad he isn't alive to see what's happening #lazyphotochallenge Happy ??birthday Kurt. #soitgoes

And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians...who have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

So the America I loved still exists, if not in the White House or the Supreme Court...The America I love still exists at the front desks of our public libraries.

And on the subject of burning books: I want to congratulate librarians, not famous for their physical strength or their powerful political connections or their great wealth, who, all over this country, have staunchly resisted anti-democratic bullies who have tried to remove certain books from their shelves, and have refused to reveal to thought police the names of persons who have checked out those titles.

This was my very first Vonnegut book. He's since become one of my favorites, but this one will always be special to me. It's a nonfiction collection of his thoughts and it's particularly relevant in an election year.

"So I am a man without a country, except for the librarians and a Chicago paper called In These Times."