Slaughterhouse-Five is the story of Billy Pilgrim, a decidedly non-heroic man who has become "unstuck in time." He travels back and forth in time, visiting his birth, death, all the moments in between repeatedly and out of order. The novel is framed by Chapters One and Ten, in which Vonnegut himself talks about the difficulties of writing the novel and the effects of Dresden on his own life. In between, Billy Pilgrim's life is given to us out of order and in small fragments.
From Contemporary Authors 49:
The main character, Billy Pilgrim, ... is captured in the Battle of the Bulge and quartered in a Dresden slaughterhouse where he and other prisoners are employed in the production of a vitamin supplement for pregnant women. During the February 13, 1945, firebombing by Allied aircraft, the prisoners take shelter in an underground meat locker. When they emerge, the city has been levelled and they are forced to dig corpses out of the rubble. The story of Billy Pilgrim is the story of Kurt Vonnegut who was captured and survived the firestorm in which 135,000 German civilians perished, more than the number of deaths in the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki combined. Robert Scholes sums up the theme of Slaughterhouse Five in the New York Times Book Review, writing: 'Be kind. Don't hurt. Death is coming for all of us anyway, and it is better to be Lot's wife looking back through salty eyes than the Deity that destroyed those cities of the plain in order to save them.'
Discussion questions:
To what extent is Billy Pilgrim a Christ figure?
What is the significance of the Tralfamadore narrative?
What role does Kilgore Trout play? Other secondary characters?
In what ways is this novel an anti-war narrative? Is it also anti-American in certain ways? How does the novel compare with other war narratives?
How is warfare presented in the novel? How, in particular, is the bombing of Dresden presented?
Where and why does Kurt Vonnegut insert himself into the text? Are we supposed to view this presence as the "real" Kurt Vonnegut? Does Kurt Vonnegut appear to sympathize with particular views and characters?
How does Vonnegut handle traditional narrative elements, such as time, plot, point of view, and characterization?
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Monday, April 7, 2008
Born Standing Up by Steve Martin
from the book jacket:
In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away."
Emmy and Grammy Award winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.
At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes.
Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and orginality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times-the era free of love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.
Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Upis a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.
In the midseventies, Steve Martin exploded onto the comedy scene. By 1978 he was the biggest concert draw in the history of stand-up. In 1981 he quit forever. This book is, in his own words, the story of "why I did stand-up and why I walked away."
Emmy and Grammy Award winner, author of the acclaimed New York Times bestsellers Shopgirl and The Pleasure of My Company, Martin has always been a writer. His memoir of his years in stand-up is candid, spectacularly amusing, and beautifully written.
At age ten Martin started his career at Disneyland, selling guidebooks in the newly opened theme park. In the decade that followed, he worked in the Disney magic shop and the Bird Cage Theatre at Knott's Berry Farm, performing his first magic/comedy act a dozen times a week. The story of these years, during which he practiced and honed his craft, is moving and revelatory. The dedication to excellence and innovation is formed at an astonishingly early age and never wavers or wanes.
Martin illuminates the sacrifice, discipline, and orginality that made him an icon and informs his work to this day. To be this good, to perform so frequently, was isolating and lonely. It took Martin decades to reconnect with his parents and sister, and he tells that story with great tenderness. Martin also paints a portrait of his times-the era free of love and protests against the war in Vietnam, the heady irreverence of The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in the late sixties, and the transformative new voice of Saturday Night Live in the seventies.
Throughout the text, Martin has placed photographs, many never seen before. Born Standing Upis a superb testament to the sheer tenacity, focus, and daring of one of the greatest and most iconoclastic comedians of all time.
Monday, March 3, 2008
Slash by Slash and Anthony Bozza
Book Description
From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll
He was born in England but reared in L.A., surrounded by the leading artists of the day amidst the vibrant hotbed of music and culture that was the early seventies. Slash spent his adolescence on the streets of Hollywood, discovering drugs, drinking, rock music, and girls, all while achieving notable status as a BMX rider. But everything changed in his world the day he first held the beat-up one-string guitar his grandmother had discarded in a closet.
The instrument became his voice and it triggered a lifelong passion that made everything else irrelevant. As soon as he could string chords and a solo together, Slash wanted to be in a band and sought out friends with similar interests. His closest friend, Steven Adler, proved to be a conspirator for the long haul. As hairmetal bands exploded onto the L.A. scene and topped the charts, Slash sought his niche and a band that suited his raw and gritty sensibility.
He found salvation in the form of four young men of equal mind: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan. Together they became Guns N' Roses, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. Dirty, volatile, and as authentic as the streets that weaned them, they fought their way to the top with groundbreaking albums such as the iconic Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II.
Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.
It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.
He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash's Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver, Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.
Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it's funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.
From one of the greatest rock guitarists of our era comes a memoir that redefines sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll
He was born in England but reared in L.A., surrounded by the leading artists of the day amidst the vibrant hotbed of music and culture that was the early seventies. Slash spent his adolescence on the streets of Hollywood, discovering drugs, drinking, rock music, and girls, all while achieving notable status as a BMX rider. But everything changed in his world the day he first held the beat-up one-string guitar his grandmother had discarded in a closet.
The instrument became his voice and it triggered a lifelong passion that made everything else irrelevant. As soon as he could string chords and a solo together, Slash wanted to be in a band and sought out friends with similar interests. His closest friend, Steven Adler, proved to be a conspirator for the long haul. As hairmetal bands exploded onto the L.A. scene and topped the charts, Slash sought his niche and a band that suited his raw and gritty sensibility.
He found salvation in the form of four young men of equal mind: Axl Rose, Izzy Stradlin, Steven Adler, and Duff McKagan. Together they became Guns N' Roses, one of the greatest rock 'n' roll bands of all time. Dirty, volatile, and as authentic as the streets that weaned them, they fought their way to the top with groundbreaking albums such as the iconic Appetite for Destruction and Use Your Illusion I and II.
Here, for the first time ever, Slash tells the tale that has yet to be told from the inside: how the band came together, how they wrote the music that defined an era, how they survived insane, never-ending tours, how they survived themselves, and, ultimately, how it all fell apart. This is a window onto the world of the notoriously private guitarist and a seat on the roller-coaster ride that was one of history's greatest rock 'n' roll machines, always on the edge of self-destruction, even at the pinnacle of its success. This is a candid recollection and reflection of Slash's friendships past and present, from easygoing Izzy to ever-steady Duff to wild-child Steven and complicated Axl.
It is also an intensely personal account of struggle and triumph: as Guns N' Roses journeyed to the top, Slash battled his demons, escaping the overwhelming reality with women, heroin, coke, crack, vodka, and whatever else came along.
He survived it all: lawsuits, rehab, riots, notoriety, debauchery, and destruction, and ultimately found his creative evolution. From Slash's Snakepit to his current band, the massively successful Velvet Revolver, Slash found an even keel by sticking to his guns.
Slash is everything the man, the myth, the legend, inspires: it's funny, honest, inspiring, jaw-dropping . . . and, in a word, excessive.
Friday, February 1, 2008
Sweet Serendipity: Delightful Desserts and Devilish Dish by Stephen Bruce
Serendipity 3 is New York's legendary dessert restaurant and boutique. On it's 50th anniversary, this book was published to give the world an amazing but simple collection of dessert recipes enjoyed by anyone who has ever dined there. Treat yourself to a Strawberry Fields Sundae or a Frozen Hot Chocolate, a favorite of stars ranging from the Kennedy family to Cher! Let these desserts help you capture the heart of your sweetie this February.
Questions for discussion:
Have you ever been to Serendipity 3?
Have you tried any of the recipes from the book?
Questions for discussion:
Have you ever been to Serendipity 3?
Have you tried any of the recipes from the book?
Monday, December 31, 2007
Street Logos by Tristan Manco
Editorial review from The New Yorker:
Over the past decade, many graffiti artists have moved away from painting their signatures in the familiar wide-style lettering (a practice known as "tagging"). Instead, they leave—and make—their mark with pictograms that become personal trademarks. Thus, a Belgian artist known as Plug appends large, cartoon electric plugs to machines in public places, while Cha, an academy-trained painter, adorns the walls of Barcelona with Picasso-influenced cats. Manco's colorful survey of this D.I.Y. subculture spotlights some seventy artists working in the service of an impulse that is variously subversive, ironic, pop, celebratory, and dogmatic. In this medium, recognition is everything, and Manco's subjects are heavily influenced by the use of logos in advertising; the London artist Banksy terms his work "Brandalism." Exuberantly inventive, they enjoy responding to, and even altering, each other's work, to form what the New York-based artist Swoon calls a "community of actions." Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker
Over the past decade, many graffiti artists have moved away from painting their signatures in the familiar wide-style lettering (a practice known as "tagging"). Instead, they leave—and make—their mark with pictograms that become personal trademarks. Thus, a Belgian artist known as Plug appends large, cartoon electric plugs to machines in public places, while Cha, an academy-trained painter, adorns the walls of Barcelona with Picasso-influenced cats. Manco's colorful survey of this D.I.Y. subculture spotlights some seventy artists working in the service of an impulse that is variously subversive, ironic, pop, celebratory, and dogmatic. In this medium, recognition is everything, and Manco's subjects are heavily influenced by the use of logos in advertising; the London artist Banksy terms his work "Brandalism." Exuberantly inventive, they enjoy responding to, and even altering, each other's work, to form what the New York-based artist Swoon calls a "community of actions." Copyright © 2005 The New Yorker
Saturday, December 1, 2007
Edward S. Curtis by Hans Christian Adam
From the Taschen Books website:
In search of lost time
For over thirty years, photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) traveled the length and breadth of North America, seeking to record in words and images the traditional life of its vanishing indigenous inhabitants. Like a man possessed, he strove to realize his life`s work, which culminated in the publication of his encyclopedia "The North American Indian." In the end, this monumental work comprised twenty textual volumes and twenty portfolios with over 2000 illustrations. No other photographer has created a larger oeuvre on this theme, and it is Curtis, more than any other, who has crucially molded our conception of Native Americans. This book shows the photographer`s most impressive pictures and vividly details his journey through life, which led him not only into the prairies but also into the film studios of Hollywood.
About the author:
Hans Christian Adam studied psychology, art history and communication studies in Göttingen and Vienna. As a specialist in historical pictorial material, he has published numerous articles and books, including titles on travel and war photography. He is the author of TASCHEN’s Edward Sheriff Curtis: The North American Indian, Karl Blossfeldt, Eugène Atget: Paris and Berlin.
In search of lost time
For over thirty years, photographer Edward Sheriff Curtis (1868-1952) traveled the length and breadth of North America, seeking to record in words and images the traditional life of its vanishing indigenous inhabitants. Like a man possessed, he strove to realize his life`s work, which culminated in the publication of his encyclopedia "The North American Indian." In the end, this monumental work comprised twenty textual volumes and twenty portfolios with over 2000 illustrations. No other photographer has created a larger oeuvre on this theme, and it is Curtis, more than any other, who has crucially molded our conception of Native Americans. This book shows the photographer`s most impressive pictures and vividly details his journey through life, which led him not only into the prairies but also into the film studios of Hollywood.
About the author:
Hans Christian Adam studied psychology, art history and communication studies in Göttingen and Vienna. As a specialist in historical pictorial material, he has published numerous articles and books, including titles on travel and war photography. He is the author of TASCHEN’s Edward Sheriff Curtis: The North American Indian, Karl Blossfeldt, Eugène Atget: Paris and Berlin.
Thursday, November 1, 2007
The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue
The Stolen Child is a classic tale of leaving childhood and the search for identity.
Stolen from his family by changelings, Henry Day is given the name "Aniday" by the ageless magical beings, who replace him with another child who takes his place with his parents, a young boy who posesses an extraordinary gift of music.
About the author:
(from the Novelist book discussion guide)
Donohue had many childhood experiences in the forests and swamplands surrounding the tiny Maryland town where his family lived from the mid-1960s.
Donohue returned to his native Pittsburgh for college, earning a degree from Duquesne University in 1984. He was already a writer, paying his way through college with two creative writing grants. After graduating, he returned to the Washington, DC, area to take a job at the National Endowment for the Arts; his thirteen-year tenure there, as a speechwriter to three directors and as a Director of Publications, would coincide with the height of the culture wars. In his off hours, Donohue continued to write fiction, placing short stories in small journals, and pursued his doctorate, earning a Ph.D. in English from the Catholic University of America in 2002.
Questions for discussion:
What is the purpose of the pseudo-scientific discussion of fairies, hobgoblins, and changelings that opens the novel?
What does the novel seem to be saying about children and childhood?
What is the role of memory in The Stolen Child?
What do Aniday's writing, Henry Day's music, and Speck's map share?
How are Henry Day's and Aniday's lives linked?
How is Henry Day's childhood different from other children's?
Is The Stolen Child a "fairy tale for adults," as some reviewers have called it?
Did you like the book? What did you like or dislike about it most?
Stolen from his family by changelings, Henry Day is given the name "Aniday" by the ageless magical beings, who replace him with another child who takes his place with his parents, a young boy who posesses an extraordinary gift of music.
About the author:
(from the Novelist book discussion guide)
Donohue had many childhood experiences in the forests and swamplands surrounding the tiny Maryland town where his family lived from the mid-1960s.
Donohue returned to his native Pittsburgh for college, earning a degree from Duquesne University in 1984. He was already a writer, paying his way through college with two creative writing grants. After graduating, he returned to the Washington, DC, area to take a job at the National Endowment for the Arts; his thirteen-year tenure there, as a speechwriter to three directors and as a Director of Publications, would coincide with the height of the culture wars. In his off hours, Donohue continued to write fiction, placing short stories in small journals, and pursued his doctorate, earning a Ph.D. in English from the Catholic University of America in 2002.
Questions for discussion:
What is the purpose of the pseudo-scientific discussion of fairies, hobgoblins, and changelings that opens the novel?
What does the novel seem to be saying about children and childhood?
What is the role of memory in The Stolen Child?
What do Aniday's writing, Henry Day's music, and Speck's map share?
How are Henry Day's and Aniday's lives linked?
How is Henry Day's childhood different from other children's?
Is The Stolen Child a "fairy tale for adults," as some reviewers have called it?
Did you like the book? What did you like or dislike about it most?
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