Whoa. Found out that Kurt Vonnegut, one of my old favorite authors, passed away yesterday. For a good period of my youth I really didn't like to read all that much, especially things on the order of 400 pages, especially things that I was required to read, especially things that I was required to read just for the sake of reading. Such was English class in high school. But Vonnegut's books not only made at least some of that bearable but often enjoyable. When I was required to read some American author/literature books, he was my guy. Very entertaining stuff. I only read about half of his books. Would have read more but there's just so much to read, and I already graduated high schools so nothing making me do so. Still, I may yet pick up a couple of his post-80's books someday.I also remember the cameo he did in "Back to School" where Rodney Dangerfield gets him to write his class book report on his work and gets a bad grade with the admonishment that he knew squat about Vonnegut's work. It was a subtle scene but one that made me chuckle.
3 comments:
hi thane
you know, when i read vonnegut's obituary this morning, i thought of you and ronin...since you 2 (+lowery) were into his books. i too, recall that scene from 'back to school'! 2nd to sam kinison's high strung professor "Say it! Say it!"
i tried reading his books (i believe it was slaughterhouse 5), but couldn't get into them...sad nonetheless.
looking forward to the boston/nyc trip and hanging out w/u
This is indeed sad news. I read much of his stuff in high school AND enjoyed it.
I now have the urge to re-read some of his books. Hopefully they're in audio format. I suspect I would appreciate them on a different level.
Thane, your comment “For a good period of my youth I really didn't like to read all that much,” really surprises me; I’ve always pictured you as a bookworm.
I remember when I lived with my mom and when someone famous would die, I would say to her, “I heard so and so died today, that’s sad news.” She would then reply, “Why should you care, those people aren’t related to you or have done anything for you.” But, what she didn’t understand was that if that person touched your life in someway, whether it was through a book, music, etc it’s going to have some affect on you.
I know that months have passed since Brad Delp’s death, but still whenever Screg or I play a Boston CD in our car or hear one on the radio, we still can’t help but think of him.
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