The Vonnegut Collective

Los Angelenos, was this past Sunday absolutely gorgeous or what? People need to hang outdoors more often! Rather than organize my closet that seems to have exploded into my chambers I opted for some quality time with Pierrot, my bike. Pedaled over to the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to visit my favourite graves and watch the swans and ducks in the lake.

(swans and ducks not pictured but they were there to the left...bathing)

Also encountered some giant calaveras (sp?) dancing to their own beat in the sunlight.


Afterwards, I headed over to Larchmont Village for something sweet and cool. Treated myself to some Pinkberry, browsed the books @ Chevalier books, and encountered Eric sitting outside of the Starbucks. Times like these when I laugh to myself because people around me must think I am trying to hit on attractive men. :)

With iPod earbuds in place, Eric is reading Armageddon in Retrospect by Kurt Vonnegut. It's a collection of Kurt Vonnegut's short stories that were never published - compiled by his son, Mark Vonnegut.

This is the second Vonnegut book that Eric's read. The first one was A Man Without A Country, a collection of articles written over the last five years. It's dark humour and wisecracky. Eric's enjoyment of this book led him to pick up "Armageddon".


Eric prefers reading non-fiction because he feels it is more relatable than fiction.

One of his favourite books is The Frog King by Adam Davies. He tells me it's about a writer struggling in New York, battling alcoholism and his womanizing ways. I just peeked at the cover on Amazon and I'm sold on looks alone! Eric's read all three books by Davies (other 2 are Goodbye Lemon and Mine All Mine). If he could write a book of his own he'd want it to be a book similar to The Frog King.

When he was younger Eric enjoyed Jack Kerouac's On The Road.

Next on the docket? Tucker Max's I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell. I looked up a brief description of the book because the title alone intrigued me and I believe I found the introduction:
My name is Tucker Max, and I am an asshole. I get excessively drunk at inappropriate times, disregard social norms, indulge every whim, ignore the consequences of my actions, mock idiots and posers, sleep with more women than is safe or reasonable, and just generally act like a raging dickhead. But, I do contribute to humanity in one very important way: I share my adventures with the world.

SOLD!

Favourite Vonnegut book? I must confess that I've never read any of his books. (I know)


Ever picked a book purely based on its cover, not knowing anything else about it? How about just reading the first and/or last lines?