Squishelton Belly

Makes music and observations...reads the internet...replies...shares random thoughts.

Would love to hear your thoughts and tunes and observations. #hitmeup.

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#GoTK @TonyKanaan @IMS

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

Just heard at the bar, in reference to a stout: “it’s very peanut-butter forward”. Good lord

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#Reading2022. #Vonnegut. #PlayerPiano. I really want to talk point-of-view. I’m no expert, but this book has a more “normal” omniscient 3rd person POV than anything in his subsequent books. Very satisfying and intimate

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#Reading2022. #Vonnegut. #PlayerPiano. The prose is clean, pleasing, often wonderful. Not the trademark abbreviated and distant style he developed so powerfully in later writing. This is a self-conscious effort with considerable craft on display.

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#reading2022. Continuing the #Vonnegut journey, I am just about to finish “Player Piano” — his first book, published 1952. 70 years ago! Of his 14 novels, this is the only I had not read before. https://t.co/argFMatGYI. https://t.co/yxynFlMH2h

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#reading2022. #Nietzche. #EcceHomo. Tiresome, at least I know from this which if his writings I should start with. “Human, All Too Human” or “Twilight of the Idols”. Dude is too florid, and often doesn’t make sense.

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#Reading2022. #Nietzche. #EcceHomo. Just not great. Pedantic. Self-aggrandizing, even if it is with humor. I like the chapter called “Why I Write Such Excellent Books”, for example. Will read “Human, All Too Human” next. Going to be a minute before I get to “Zarathustra”

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#Reading2022. #EcceHomo is a sort of autobiography of #Nietzche, and a commentary on his own works. As such, it’s probably a good work to end with. I have learned that the man was fond of himself, his works, and #Wagner. He rather detested Germany, idealism, Christianity

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

Thought about taking on another work by #Hesse, whose “Siddhartha” I loved. Instead opted for #Nietzche. Haven’t read much by him, and had “Ecce Homo” handy. This NOT the #Nietzche to begin with. https://t.co/EVMKBSkNjy. #reading2022

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#Reading2022, “Siddhartha” by #HermannHesse. A natural and lyrical story of existence. Brilliant & moving. Despite winning the Nobel Prize, Hesse’s works were unknown in America before the hippies resurrected them in the 60s https://t.co/fnlCrdv7Zs

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“The Sirens of Titan”. #Vonnegut. #reading2022. Fun fact: Jerry Garcia bought the film rights to Sirens in the 70s. After Garcia died, his estate sold the rights back to Vonnegut. How great would this story be as a streaming series?! https://t.co/rU0Gvb1Kd1

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“The Sirens of Titan”. #Vonnegut. #reading2022. Regarding the ending: #KV is at his best when he nails the end of a book. Here not quite as good as “Mother Night”, “Breakfast of Champions”, or “Bluebeard”. “Jailbird” seems to me like a series of great endings to close.

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“The Sirens of Titan”. #Vonnegut. #reading2022. It is a wonderful book. The characters are excellent, as excellent as the characters in “God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater” are sometimes flat. In any case, Vonnegut’s imagination is on full display. He was an American treasure

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“The Sirens of Titan”. #Vonnegut. #reading2022. The story is well-stitched, and the prose style is direct and simple, if at times more florid than that of later novels. It comes across, here and there, as a collection of short stories instead of a fluid narrative

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“The Sirens of Titan”. #Vonnegut. #reading2022. This, like every other work by Vonnegut is excellent and worth much attention. The difference between Sirens (1959) and Mother Night (1961) is striking, the latter being a genuine literary masterpiece. The former: very, very good

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

As a palate-cleaner between courses in the #KV meal, I read “The Metamorphosis” by #Kafka. Excellent. Feels as completely inevitable as it is disorienting. I love the style. Made me want to reread “The Trial” #reading2022 https://t.co/80FXrBuAkD

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“Mother Night” by #Vonnegut is one of the one of the clearest, most moving & excellent works of literature that I have ever read. Vivid characters. A most expressive prose, when spare and when ornate. A remarkably creative story, punctuated by a near-perfect ending. #reading2022

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

“Mother Night” is as fine a work as #KurtVonnegutJR ever produced. Through chapter 30 and I’ve been brought nearly to tears twice already. “Unflinching” is the word that comes to mind. #reading2022

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

#reading2022. I continue with the #Vonnegut novel “Mother Night”, published 1962. 15 chapters in, the novel is characterized by excellent prose, excellent character development, and excellent storytelling. Very different from the subsequent “Cat’s Cradle” https://t.co/0j5vGIJLBf

[Squishelton Belly @squishbelly]

Here to say that “There There” is a moving work — and well worth reading. The writing is natural, if not exquisite, but the characters and the development of plot are very well done indeed. https://t.co/lKupyl1hSL. Many thanks to Tommy Orange. #reading2022