Probably enjoyed this collection of articles and lectures more than 'Wampeters...', he seems to be more cynical in reality then he is in his fiction but still a good dose of humour thrown in. Very biographical this one, learned some things that I didnt know about the man. a good read for a fan but i wouldn't bother until you have read most of his fiction. ( )

Reading Vonnegut is such a joyous experience, especially his autobiographical sketches, where you feel as if the man is just sitting with you, casually throwing off witticisms, deft observations, and sacred beliefs. It's you and Kurt, sharing a glass of lemonade under the shade of a grand willow tree for an afternoon.

Here, Kurt shares his thoughts on a cornucopia of subjects, from censorship and American politics (circa the '70's, mostly) to how and why jokes work. He pays homage to the author he is most indebted to (Mark Twain) and gives us insight into a few writers he knew over the years (Mailer, Irving, Buckley, Kerouac, Ginsburg).

Most enjoyable to me were his takes on writing and religion. He's an atheist who name drops God with reverence, a skeptic who still sees the world as nothing less than divine, and a writer who has reverence for his craft, but never so much as to presume that we all shouldn't give it a try, just to experience the joy of chasing the lightning and thunder that converges around the perfect sentence.

Of all my favorite writers, Vonnegut is the one I wish I had actually known. I can imagine him living next door, dropping by to borrow some kitchen gadget, and staying for a few hours to mesmerize me with thoughts both playful and profound.

Having now read "Palm Sunday", I feel as if he has dropped by a few times...and I'm a better neighbor for it. ( )

This is a collection of essays that include speeches, essays, short works of fiction, and other pieces Vonnegut has written for a variety of purposes. He weaves them together with his thoughts on a variety of topics that range from his family history to literature to religion.

From the very first essay on the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, I knew I was going to love this book. Even though this collection was published nearly 35 years ago, the points his makes are still relevant today, some of them even more so. As with any collection of short works, some of them are weaker than others. I almost dropped my rating to four stars because of that, but overall, I enjoyed the book so much that I’m sticking with five stars.
( )

As is indicated by the subtitle, this is an eclectic mix of (mostly) KV's uncollected writing at the time it was published in 1981. The format allows him to put in plain English many of the themes evident in his fiction. It's interesting to see his background and the things that made him tick. The high points for me were parts 1 (The First Amendment), 5 (Self-Interview), 8 (Mark Twain), and 11 (Religion).

Less enjoyable were parts 2 (Roots) and 15 (Jekyll and Hyde Updated). Roots is quite self-indulgent. It is a dry account of Vonnegut's ancestry going back a few generations, penned for the most part by his Uncle John. ( )

I start off by stating that i came to this one a little backward in that i had read 'Man Without a Country' first and really enjoyed it. I have always enjoyed Vonnegut's writing style and find him to be a hilarious writer. Again all the obvious statements, but what struck me about this book came from a comment my wife said when i gave her a few paragraphs from the book that had me cracking up about suicide, "I think that Kurt Vonnegut writes best when he gives me information from his own life and details he has picked up from living it" BIngo! For me this is what made Vonnegut great. He is able to detail through these brief sketches all those branches and roots that have made so many American lives and in that respect we are able to better understand his faults and eccentricities. Is this the right book to jump into for Vonnegut? A resounding NO would be my answer but for those that have picked up on a few novels and might want to know more about what made Vonnegut tick then any of the three autobiographical tomes would be a great place to check it out. ( )