Favorite Vonnegut?

Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. passed away on Wednesday. Would anyone like to let us know their favorite of his works or share any thoughts about Vonnegut?

Vonnegut was probably the first "serious" (by which I mean well-regarded; certainly he wasn't usually very serious!) author I really enjoyed; I must have been 11 or 12 when I first read Breakfast of Champions. After a while I started to find his books a little formulaic, but I still reread them every few years, and some of them are truly moving. Our world is poorer for having lost his voice.

I think my favorite is Mother Night.

It's hard to pick a favorite after all these years, but the first one I read still stays with me: Slaughterhouse Five. As for Breakfast of Champions, after I finished with it, my father read it and then complained about it at mealtimes and each time he met someone new. "Wouldja believe it? Every time he introduces a male character, he tells what size his penis is!!! I guess James Michener didn't do that.

Either God Bless You Mr. Rosewater or Cat's Cradle

Here is an excellent interview with Vonnegut, published in 1977 in Paris Review:

http://enjoyment.independent.co.uk/books/features/article2445103.ece

I discovered Kurt Vonnegut in high school and realized I had stumbled across someone who seemed to be speaking directly to the way I was thinking at the time. It's easy to see why he is so appealing to intelligent, disaffected youth-types.

I started with Slaughterhouse Five, just around the time I had read Catch-22 and Johnny Got His Gun, so it fit right in with my anti-war streak at the time. I really became addicted when an aunt of mine gave me God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, and proceeded to plow through the bulk of his novels. Sirens of Titan and Mother Night (which received the best film adaptation of any of his novels, in my opinion) are recent favorites. It always makes me happy to read one of his books I haven't gotten to yet. though those are getting to be in short supply.

Though I read several of his books Slaughterhouse Five is the only one that really sticks with me.

Cat's Cradle; Mother Night; Slapstick

I love all of the Vonnegut that I have read, but my favorite is Siren's of Titan! I am late adding to this one, but I am new here.

I am actually reading that at this moment.

Slaughterhouse Five was my favorite in high school, but my recent favorite as an adult reader is Cat's Cradle.

I wrote a 100-word short story based on a real moment in my high school English class. Take a look and drop a comment, if you will:
http://scrawlers.com/scrawlings/read_story/58

I read his short story "Harrison Bergeron" in high school and it really captured my imagination. I found it to be really thought provoking and it basically introduced me to my favorite genre of dystopian sci-fi.

Harrison Bergeron is classic -- I'm always amazed at how often I've made or found reference to it, and how its themes are found in so many places I look.

I love all Vonnegut's books. While I can see how they are formulaic (hey look! It's Kilgore Trout! Again!), I love the humor and the message. My favorites are Mother Night, Jailbird, Breakfast of Champions, and...ah, I could go on all day.

I wrote a blog post on Friday recommending Cat's Cradle as part of my weekly "Your Friday Recommendation" series.

I have read most of his works, but without a doubt I love Slaughterhouse Five: or The Children's Crusade the best.

My favorites are still Cat's Cradle and God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater. I read Timequake a few years ago and would like to try it again.

This seems to be a common experience for many readers--discovering Vonnegut in high school, then going back to him in middle age. In some respects it's a typical baby boomer thing, like listening to an oldies station.

But it runs deeper, too, because 50 years from now when we're all dead, and when most of those "oldies" will be in the dust heap with us, people will still be reading and profiting from Slaughterhouse Five.

I say this as a baby-boomer sick of my generation and of our fetish for oldies. Glad that some stuff will probably last.

It surely isn't his most distinguished work, but I'm partial to Breakfast of Champions.

My all-time-favorite, regular rereads by Vonnegut are Slaughterhouse Five, Mother Night, Hocus Pocus, Jailbird and Bluebeard.
I also have God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater, Sirens of Titan, Slapstick and Breakfast of Champions on my TBR list already (which means I own them and plan to read them as soon as possible).
I didn't like Player Piano (aka Utopia 14) and Cat's Cradle so much.

People may say he's formulaic but I honestly can't wait for Mr. Trout to show up. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater is my favorite so far.

Slaughterhouse Five is still my favorite Vonnegut book (and probably favorite all-time).
Breakfast of Champions was my intro to Vonnegut. I read S-5 and then Player Piano after that. It's interesting how much more "typical" P-Piano's style is, compared to books after Vonnegut found his own niche.
Cat's Cradle is probably his most complex work, and I found it harder to like, somehow. Slapstick is easy to like but a little too trivial.
Underrated: Deadeye Dick and Hocus Pocus

Galapagos is my favorite kurt vonnegut novel. also one of my all time favorite books!

Slaughterhouse Five is a classic, and I think Cat's Cradle deserves that status too.

Voltrules, I agree on Deadeye Dick. I haven't read all of Vonnegut's books yet, I don't want to read them too quickly since there wont be anymore;however Deadeye Dick is the funniest so far. I've loved them all so far and each one I like for a different reason but for straight up humor, gotta go with Deadeye Dick. The whole Hitler thing in the first few pages has me chuckling just thinking about it!