Welcome to Litsy!

Broke out my #Vonnegut pint glass. Best gift ever from @HeatherBookNerd 🩶 It‘s a beautiful evening in Tennessee, and the cicadas are calm (for now).

#dogsoflitsy

“We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be.”

American Howard Campbell is brought up on charges of war crimes as a Nazi propagandist, 15 years after the war ended. Is he guilty or was he a pawn? In classic absurdist Vonnegut fashion, Campbell becomes a hero for US white supremacy groups. It‘s been a while since I read any Vonnegut, but this one felt more somber and realistic compared to others I‘ve read.

Read this for IRL book club and I think I was the only one who liked it! It‘s a difficult tale to summarize but it‘s about the human condition. The absurdity he envelopes it in doesn‘t hide the sadness & consequences of loneliness. I read the prologue 3x because first, Vonnegut bares his soul in his own detached way, and second, it encapsulates the story which follows.

This is my first Vonnegut and I‘m glad to have read it.

#ThreeListThursday Just short stories because I have a different list for novellas! 1. Harrison Bergeron by Kurt Vonnegut. 2. The Ones Who Walk Away from Omelas by Ursula K LeGuin 3. There Will Come Soft Rains - Ray Bradbury

My city is hosting its first ever bookstore crawl! Four days, 23 participating independent bookstores, and so much fun! I‘ve made it to 10 so far and have more planned for this weekend. It‘s been delightful! I‘ve been crawling with friends and my kids and even found the best pair of book earrings! 📚 Such an incredible community event.

I am posting one book per day from my extensive, and ever growing, TBR shelves. Some are old and some are new, some were gifts and some I don't remember why I bought them.
Day 26
#ABookADay2024

All of Vonnegut's trademarks are here in this fictional autobiography of the equally fictional abstract expressionist painter Rabo Karabekian - the narrative shifts back and forth through time; he reveals exactly what's going to happen early in the story; and the trademark mix of cynicism and aching sincerity. Full of profound insights on war, art, feminism, and death/resurrection, and also laugh out loud funny, as usual.

My husband got me this one, too. Love it!
#HappyHolidays

Y‘all. 🤩 My husband got me this gorgeous Vonnegut ornament with all his books! It will reside on the tree then move to my Vonnegut shelf for daily admiration! #HappyHolidays

It's incredible that this book was published in 1985. There's a proto-tech bro turned vulture capitalist buying up the assets of distressed countries out of sheer boredom; a handheld device that's part Google Translate, part WebMD, part Goodreads quotations; a financial crisis precipitated by the collective lack of belief in our monetary system; the devolution of humanity due to environmental factors; etc. This could have been written last week!