Originally Posted by
Mister 44
Finished Deeply Odd and the recycling from previous books in the series seems to be intentional, so it is "wait-for-the-next-book" to see how things end.
Started rereading "Slaughterhouse-Five or The Children's Crusade: A Duty Dance with Death" by Kurt Vonnegut, Jnr. It is one of my favorite books of all time and one of only a handful that I've read more than once. This is my fourth reading and the first in almost a decade.
The reason I like the books of Vonnegut is that his stories have so many levels that you are bound to pick up something you missed the first (few) times. His style of literature does not relate to everybody. He disguises his style of satire and social commentary as cheap b-grade sci-fi which will put off both hardcore sci-fi fans as well as literary snobs.
In Slaugterhouse-Five it is the story of Billy Pilgrim, an optometrist that gets unstuck in time during WW2 and gets involved with aliens from the planet Tralfamadore that can see in four dimensions.
But what it really is, is a satirical anti-war story with the firebombing of Dresden a central point. The fire-bombing of Dresden was a real event perpetrated by the USA and Britain. Kurt Vonnegut was a prisoner of war in Dresden at the time, which makes the book semi-autobiographical.
Some sources claim more people died in Dresden than in Hiroshima, but with estimated death tolls starting at 25,000 and topping out at 500,000 the truth will probably never be known.
So it goes.