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Over the past four years (coincidentally around the time our oldest was born), I’ve drastically reduced the amount of fiction I’ve been reading, and have stopped part-way through more novels than I care to admit.
Instead, I’ve been reading a lot of nonfiction, mostly history and social commentary. I think part of me wants to be “productive” even when leisure reading, and fiction (wrongly I think) started feeling more frivolous.
But lately I’ve been wanting to dive back into some of the books that were so important to me growing up, and to see if I could recapture that feeling of getting lost in a really great book.
So, for my own benefit, and for posterity of course, I’m going to use this thread to keep tabs on what I’m re-opening and to track how my reactions to some of my favorites have changed or stayed the same.
This whole thing started with me randomly picking up Slaughterhouse-Five off my bookcase. I hadn’t read this since high school. It didn’t take long at all to fall into the story.
The profound sadness and humor of the writing is still very effective. It also brought back memories of some of that adolescent cynicism that feels apt in this moment.
“Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt” impactful on several levels. We know life is painful but there is some bliss to be gained by letting go of the negative and feeling of control over all events and just focusing on the bright moments.
I stuck with Vonnegut for the second book. Still an easy read and enjoyable to get through, though not as moving as the first read.
Vonnegut has a way of describing human institutions and behavior in a slightly removed way that helps drive home the point of absurdity. It’s upsetting and moving and funny. And so on.
As an added bonus, inside the book I found this old ticket stub from a Cubs game in August 2004 (when I last read this book). I would have been 17 and saw Greg Maddux get his 300th win with my dad and grandpa.
Anyway, I’m looking forward to keeping this thread going. If you’ve read these books too, let me know. It’s been fun so far and a helpful way to get through these times. More to come.
