Please remember that you are choosing to read my opinions.

I've been reading The Sirens of Titan by Kurt Vonnegut. I decided to read this book for a few reasons:

A) I love Kurt Vonnegut, and it shames me that thus far I've only read Slaughterhouse Five and Breakfast of Champions.

B) convex posted an interview with my favorite author, Douglas Adams, and in it he said that one of his favorite science fiction books was The Sirens of Titan. Oddly enough, you can really tell this was true. Douglas Adams has this to say of The Sirens of Titan:

"Sirens of Titan is just one of those books – you read it through the first time and you think it's very loosely, casually written. You think the fact that everything suddenly makes such good sense at the end is almost accidental. And then you read it a few more times, simultaneously finding out more about writing yourself, and you realize what an absolute tour de force it was, making something as beautifully honed as that appear so casual."

C) Kurt Vonnegut has been on my mind a lot lately. Prior to his death, I was wondering about his health. Then he died. What better tribute to the man is there than to read his books?

So here I am, thoroughly enjoying the book. One of my favorite quotes so far is by one of the books characters, Winston Niles Rumfoord, who has flown a spaceship into a space-time phenomenon known as the chrono-synclastic infundibula, where he now apparently exists as a wave phenomenon that stretches between the sun and the Betelgeuse star. This gives him a... unique perspective as far as time and space go. He is, you could say, semi-omniscient. He materializes on planets as they pass through his wave. Here is the quote:

"Sometimes I think it is a great mistake to have matter that can think and feel. It complains so. By the same token, though, I suppose that boulders and mountains and moons could be accused of being a little too phlegmatic."

Vonnegut also has a very good way of describing things, much like Adams himself. In describing two characters, Beatrice and Malachi, he said this:

"Her face, like the face of Malachi Constant, was a one-of-a-kind, a surprising variation on a familiar theme-- a variation that made observers think, Yes--that would be another very nice way for people to look. What Beatrice has done with her face was actually what any plain girl could do. She has overlaid it with dignity, suffering, intelligence, and a piquant dash of bitchiness"

So far, it has been a great book, and unless it starts to suck dramatically in the middle, I'd definitely recommend it.

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