jonnygoldstein.com

One of the fringe benefits of having an older brother was having the chance to raid his bookshelf. I found all kinds of cool stuff there, Richard Brautigan, Tolkein, and of course, Vonnegut. I’m sure everyone has their favorite Vonnegut, mine is the book of short stories, Welcome to the Monkey House. It’s full of tales, some zany, some mushy, some horrifying. I don’t know how they woud hold up for me now, but they blew my mind when I was a nosy youngster. He was an American original. And now he’s no longer with us. I never knew much about his life. I just read the New York Times obit, and learned a few things. His mom committed suicide, he actually lived through the Dresden fire bombings that he described in Slaughterhouse 5, he was scared of women, he worked for General Electric. I’ll have to check out some of his books from the library, since my brother lives hours away, and I think he pitched the Vonnegut a few moves ago.