Time to Read

One of the best things about extra work -- besides getting paid and usually eating well -- is that there is often ample time to read.  So, in addition to catching up on my pile of unread magazines last week, I also got to read a couple books.  The best of which was Vonnegut's Slaughterhouse-Five, which I had somehow managed to avoid reading through umteen years of school.  In a discussion with my friend Greg (for a blog of all things reading, visit Greg's HERE) regarding a different book last week, I mentioned that for me the measure of a good read is the residue I'm left with afterward.  And Slaughterhouse-Five is still hanging with me...

Vonnegut's satirically bleak tale of war and despair, time-travel and free will is engaging, funny, and sad -- often all at once.  And man can that guy turn a phrase!  Here are a few of my favorite little nuggets:

Like so many Americans, she was trying to construct a life that made sense from things she found in gift shops.

On the ninth day, the hobo died.  So it goes.  His last words were, "You think this is bad? This ain't bad."

"I am seeing all time as you might see a stretch of the Rocky Mountains.  All time is all time.  It does not change.  It does not lend itself to warnings or explanations.  It simply is.  Take it moment by moment, and you will find that we are all, as I've said before, bugs in amber."

Billy hated the canyon.  He was sure he was going to fall in.  His mother touched him, and he wet his pants.

Ah, good stuff!  Anyway, it's nice to pass the time on set waiting for "Action!" to be called by pulling out a little paperback and disappearing into that world for a bit...