Let It Stand!

After an amazing weekend of having my whole family back together, I finally finished Breakfast of Champions! I hadn't realized how quickly I had reached the end of the novel, especially because I've hardly read these past few days. I even left it in my friend's car for awhile, which was okay because I had Long Day's Journey Into Night to read. I'm on the verge of finishing that one, too, but I have been stretching out the read.

What to say of Breakfast of Champions? It's hard to really say all there is to say; every sentence is loaded and he talks about everything from racism to pollution. The way I see it, there are different types of books: some have a strong story with riveting twists and cliffhangers, some have beautiful writing with words that sound like magic. Breakfast of Champions seems to be a book written for the author's pleasure. This is not exactly true, because Vonnegut enjoys playing with his readers way too much to say he doesn't write to them, and under all the absurdity he is trying to convey a serious message. But he does seem to be having fun exercising his authority as author, jerking around the story to any extreme. A great example of this is when Vonnegut concedes to the reader that Kilgore Trout, a recurring character in his novels that also doubles as Kurt's literary alter-ego, has travelled a distance not possible within the time given to him in the novel. He goes on to say that as impossible as it is, he will, as the author, choose to "let it stand!" I love it! One of the biggest things the reader gets out of this book is to loosen up. Remember that as serious as life is, there is freedom in silliness. I love a book that makes me laugh out loud, and as often as Breakfast of Champions tugged at my heartstrings, twice as much it made me laugh.


Then, I needed a new book! So I went to my favorite place on earth, Barnes and Nobles, and got two new books. Neil Gaimain overload! :D I got Neverwhere and Good Omens, the latter having been highly recommended by a good friend. I love Gaiman and have since I was litte, when I read Coraline and Stardust. More recently I have read American Gods. And I am HIGHLY anticipating 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami!!! It comes out this month on the 25th...I'm counting down the days!