Not just for teenagers anymore.

As you all know, Kurt Vonnegut died last week. I was (am) truly saddened to hear the news. He is one of a series of artists and writers that blew my small teenage mind wide open. Only 2 years before his death, he wrote a book of essays. One of my favorite thoughts from that book was his threat to sue the tobacco companies for promising on all of their packaging that smoking would kill him, yet, at 82, he was still alive.

One thing that I’ve noticed—as I read the copious remembrances of him in the press and on private blogs, is that people seem to file him in their “teenage” file. What about now? When is the last time you’ve read a Vonnegut book? About 4 years ago I had the sudden urge to re-read Bluebeard. I have no idea why, I’m not one for re-reading books, but I followed the urge anyway. Maybe I was feeling a little like the main character, whose critically acclaimed paintings were all disintegrating because of the unstable paint mixture that he used. I’ll admit I was feeling uninspired and stuck and the book was what I needed: whole new worlds, again... etc. I loved it even more than the first time. And so it goes.

Breakfast of Champions, it’s been a long time. How would you like to leave the shelf for awhile?

Here’s a great remembrance of Kurt Vonnegut by John Irving.