Dewey 24 Hour Readathon!

********  UPDATED HOUR 23 ********
I made it to hour 16 and then fell asleep. 
I'm up reading a little more before the readathon ends. 

This will be my very last readathon while pregnant. Yay! Unfortunately I'm on bedrest this weekend. I'm 35 weeks pregnant and have had a few preterm labor scares so far. I will be putting my feet up and reading today, but might not be updating as frequently as I normally do. I'll also be helping my husband with my 3-year-old, so we'll see how this goes.

This is my 15th readathon (see links below). Here's a link for more info about the Dewey Readathon. Today you can find me posting on Litsy and Instagram as @avidreader25 as well as here.

Reading Stats

Pages Read: 885

Currently Reading: #IMomSoHard  

Books Finished: 6: Lift, The Night of the Iguana, If This Isn't Nice, What Is?, The Handmaid's Tale (graphic novel), Leaf by Niggle, and A Delicate Balance

Snacks Eaten: Cinnamon raisin English muffin, ice cream bar, chicken tacos

Introduction:

1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today? Indianapolis, IN

2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? The brand new graphic novel of The Handmaid's Tale and Lift by Kelly Corrigan. 

3) Which snack are you most looking forward to? I'm pregnant... so all of them! Definitely dark chocolate pretzels and maybe a Starbucks flat white. 

4) Tell us a little something about yourself! My second kiddo is due in exactly one month! I also love to travel, have been to 16 countries, and I review live theatre in the Midwest.

5) If you participated in the last readathon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I will be resting a lot more. Being pregnant means my energy level is a lot lower than normal.

Mini Challenges: 
1) Book and a Snack at The Book Monsters.

2) Literary Clue 

3) Book Cover Puzzle

Mid-Event Survey:
1) What are you reading right now? #IMomSoHard, I love the authors' web series and so I knew this one would be hilarious! 
2) How many books have you read so far? Finished 4

3) What book are you most looking forward to? I'm rereading the Harry Potter series right now and I'm on book 6. I'll dive back in that if I finish my current read.

4) Have you had many interruptions? I have a toddler... so yes. 

5) What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? How beautiful the weather had been! Lots of outdoor reading.  

PAST READATHON POSTS:

April and October 2011 / April and October 2012 / April and October 2013 / April 2014 / April and October 2015 /April and October 2016  /  April and October 2017 / April and October 2018. 

Photos by me.

Vonnegut's Childhood Home and Putt Putt

The other day I got to see Kurt Vonnegut's childhood home in Indianapolis. His parents were wealthy when he was young and the home is in a gorgeous neighborhood. The family put their handprints in cement near the backdoor and the littlest one is Kurt's!

His parents' initials are on the front door (pictured above). I'm such a sucker for seeing author's home. It's fun to get a tiny glimpse into their lives. This one just happens to be in my own hometown! 

 Last year my local art museum (the Indianapolis Museum of Art) created a mini golf course with themed holes. Each one had some significant meaning to the state of Indiana. There was a Vonnegut hole, which, of course, was my favorite!

Photos by me and a friend.

Dewey 24 Hour Readathon!

*********  UPDATED HOUR 13 ********

I had great plans for the read-a-thon today. Snacks set out, my reading stack was chosen, then I got the plague. So I will be fighting a nasty flu and chasing after a toddler today. If I get a little reading done it will be a miracle, but I'm going to try! 

READING STATS:
Pages Read: 662 pages 
Currently Reading: A Gentleman in Moscow
Books Finished: 3 (Amadeus, A Man Without a Country, Bone: Out from Boneville)
Breaks Taken: Lots for Sydney. I also gave myself a break after she was asleep and watched an episode of The Handmaid's Tale. 
Mini-Challenges Completed: 7 (Opening Survey, Give the Gift of Reading, Books to Empower, Picture Challenge, One Night Reads, Mid-Event Survey, Fur, Scales, and Stuffing)

Sydney (below) is doing her best to distract me from reading.

Introduction Quiz:
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?Indianapolis, IN
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to? I think I'll ignore the stack I picked and maybe do some comfort rereads instead. I'm thinking my favorite Sherlock Holmes and Kurt Vonnegut. 
 3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?  Taking sips of gatorade and hoping I don't throw up.  
4) Tell us a little something about yourself! I've got an 80lb dog and a 15 month old keeping me company (distracting me from reading). I also love to travel and I just booked tickets for our next international trip! 
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? I've participated in 11 other read-a-thons, but this is the first time I've attempted one with the flu. I wouldn't recommend it. 

Mid-Event Survey! 
1. What are you reading right now? A Gentleman in Moscow
2. How many books have you read so far? I'm shocked, but I've finished 3! 
3. What book are you most looking forward to for the second half of the Read-a-thon? I don't know how far I'll make it. 
4. Have you had many interruptions? Yes! Taking care of a toddler, having some trees delivered, generally not feeling so hot because of the flu. How did you deal with those? Just powered through and reading when I could. 
5. What surprises you most about the Read-a-thon, so far? That I've been able to get some reading done!

PAST READATHON POSTS:

April and October 2011  /  April and October 2012 / April and October 2013 / April 2014 / April and October 2015 /April and October 2016. 

Photos by me.

Wordless Wednesday: Vonnegut Mural

My favorite mural in Indianapolis, Kurt Vonnegut. 

Wordless Wednesday 

Photo by me.

Welcome to the Monkey House

Welcome to the Monkey House
by Kurt Vonnegut
★★★☆

I feel like a broken record when it comes to short stories, but every time I seem to have the same reaction. It’s incredibly rare to find one where every story in the collection is a gem and this is no exception to that rule. There are some great pieces including “The Lie” about a young boy’s application to the prep school. “Unready to Wear” is another fascinating one, telling the story of a world where some people have figured out how to leave their bodies behind and exist without them. They put on new bodies like a suit of clothes. But for every good one there is a weaker one and the collection of 25 stories is a mixed bag.

“Who Am I This Time?” is my favorite of the bunch. Harry is a quiet man who works at a local hardware store. Once a year he comes to life in a local theatre production. He throws himself into every new role with wild abandon, but the moment the curtain falls on the final night he return to his chronically shy personality. Helen is new to town and finds herself cast opposite Harry in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” She falls in love, but she’s fallen in love with the character Harry is playing, not Harry himself.

The main stories that I think will stay with me are not Vonnegut’s usual fare. For a man so well-known for his sarcasm the book contains some surprisingly sweet pieces. His cynical wit seeps in, but it's tempered with a warm nostalgia. Many of the stories were written while he was a young author trying to make ends meet. His talent is there but he was writing for a wider audience. A great example of this is one Vonnegut originally titles "Hell to Get Along With," when it was printed in the Ladies Home Journal (yes a Vonnegut article!) it was renamed, "Long Walk to Forever." Another great one is "Adam," which introduces readers to two Holocaust survivors marveling at the miracle of childbirth.
 
BOTTOM LINE: Some of these stories, particularly the ones I mentioned, are absolute 5 star pieces for me, but overall the book is hit or miss. I would highly recommend it to anyone who wants to try Vonnegut to see if they might like his style.

p.s. Last month I got to see a play based on three of the stories from this collection. It was called "Who am I This Time?" and it was excellent! 
 

Red Key Tavern

Buzzfeed recently released a list of the Top 12 Historic Bars Every Book Nerd Needs to Visit. Among the notable locations are the infamous Bird and the Baby (Eagle and Child) in Oxford where Tolkien and Lewis used to meet with the Inklings. Then there's Heminway's hangout, El Flordita in Cuba and the Beat hot spot Vesuvio in San Francisco. Imagine my surprise when I saw an Indianapolis bar as #10 on that list!

 

"Die-hard Vonnegut fans will want to add this one to their next road trip. The no-nonsense bar — opened by a WWII Veteran and Prisoner of War, and decorated with model airplanes hanging from the ceiling — is said to have been Vonnegut’s favorite watering hole, with many regulars claiming to have seen him writing and drinking in his booth. The tavern also made an appearance in Dan Wakefield’s 1970 novel Going All The Way."

 

 

I'd actually been to some of the other bars, but never the one in my own hometown! Obviously I needed to check it out. I'd driven past the hole-in-the-wall spot  hundreds of times when I lived in the neighborhood a few years ago.

 

When I finally visited the first thing I heard when I walked through the door was, "Oh my gosh, we have a real customer!" The comment was more for the amusement of the regulars at the bar than for me, but I still laughed. The small place has a few tables and antique model airplanes hanging from the ceiling. The original owner's son and granddaughter were at the bar. 

 

My friend and I got a drink and enjoyed the atmosphere. It's a cool place, one that clearly hasn't changed in decades. You can absolutely picture Vonnegut nursing a drink while working his way through a pack of his beloved Pall Malls. My only complaint is that there's not a single reference to him in the place. Obviously it's not something the regulars care too much about, but for people stopping in after a trip to the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library it might be a disappointment.

 

Photos by moi.

2nd Annual Classics Club Readathon

Today is the 2nd Annual Classics Club Readathon. I will be reading on and off as much as I can and updating my progress here. Below are my answers to the kick-off prompt and my reading stats which I will update throughout the day.  

You can get the details of the readathon here. Happy reading everyone! 

**UPDATED AT 12AM EST*** I'm back and curled up with the super creepy Talented Mr. Ripley. I'll keep going until I fall asleep!

5PM - I'll be gone for a few hours to go to dinner and a Shakespeare play with a friend. I'll update my post when I'm back!

Currently Reading: Slouching Toward Bethlehem by Joan Didion and Welcome to the Monkey House by Kurt Vonnegut
Pages Read: 1,037
Books Read: 3, The Subterraneans by Jack Kerouac, Wonderstruck by Brian Selznick, Odd and the Frost Giants by Neil Gaiman
  
Name and Blog: Melissa, Avid Reader's Musings
Snacks and Beverages of Choice: Coffee, almond joys, grapes, chips and guacamole. 
Where are you reading from today? Indianapolis, IN
What are your goals for the Readathon? I want to get through at least one or two books and put a dent in a few short story collections that have been on my shelf.
What book(s) are you planning on reading?  I'm going to be picking books from the stack in the picture above. I know I won't get to them all, but I've got a good variety to choose from.
Are you excited? Of course! I love having some specific time carved out for reading.
 Photos by moi.

Galapagos

Galapagos

by Kurt Vonnegut

★★★★

Vonnegut tends to be one of those authors that you just get or you don’t. I love his sarcastic style, but I know it doesn’t work for everyone. I also think I have a particular soft spot for him because he is a fellow Hoosier.

In this novel we meet Mary, a widow who is taking a cruise to the Galapagos islands. Little does she know that their cruise ship will soon become a second Noah’s ark when the world ends and the only people left are those on the ship. The story is told a million years in the future by the son of Kilgore Trout. The few remaining humans must attempt to restart the human race on the Galapagos islands.

One of the themes in Vonnegut’s work is the absurdity of man; our willingness to destroy both ourselves and each other. This is a central point in Galapagos as well. He can’t help but add a few lines about his own big brain’s crazy idea to go fight in Vietnam, which echoes his own experience fighting in WWII.  

BOTTOM LINE: An overlooked classic and one of Vonnegut’s better books. If you’ve already checked out his big ones (Breakfast of Champions, Slaughterhouse-Five and Cat’s Cradle) then pick this one up. It’s an incredibly quick read and sure to make you laugh if you love Vonnegut’s sense of humor.

“I say the same thing about the death of James Wait: "Oh, well - he wasn't going to write Beethoven's Ninth Symphony anyway." This wry comment on how little most of us were likely to accomplish in life, no matter how long we lived, isn't my own invention.”

p.s. A few of Vonnegut’s best lines.

This was my Classics Club Spin book for September and a book on my 2013 TBR list.

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

Happy Birthday, Wanda June

by Kurt Vonnegut

★★★★

Vonnegut’s only play is about Harold Ryan, a hunter, soldier and all-around “man’s man.” He left his family a decade before the play begins to search for diamonds in the Amazon. He has since been declared dead and his wife and son have been trying to make a life for themselves without him. Penelope (aptly named because she waits 10 years for her husbands return) and her son Paul are shocked when Harold turns up on their doorstep.

No one is more surprised than the two men that Penelope has been dating: a vacuum salesman named Herb Shuttle and the peaceful doctor, Norbert Woodly. Penelope’s life is thrown into chaos with her husband’s return. His cruel and brash ways are ill suited for life outside the jungle.

The three-act play is soaked with Vonnegut’s trademark wit and sarcasm. It’s a harsh look at men who pride themselves as warriors vs. men who value peace. I had the opportunity to see it performed as a live reading at the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library and then I read a hardcopy. It was interesting to note that the theatre company doing the reading chose to end the play in a different way than it ends in the book.

BOTTOM LINE: It’s not Vonnegut’s best work, but it’s hard to find and reading it back-to-back with a viewing of a live reading was such a treat. If you already love Vonnegut than read it if you have the chance!

Photo of play reading by moi.

Bookishness Around Town: Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library

This month's Where in the World Are You Reading theme is Bookishness Around Town, hosted by Trish. My town is Indianapolis and there aren’t too many famous authors who originated here. The most famous, by far is Kurt Vonnegut and a couple years ago the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library was opened in his honor. It’s really more of a small museum than a library, but anyway that’s what my bookish post is about! Above you can see the front of the building and Vonnegut’s actual typewriter.

The famously sarcastic author was taken by the Germans as a prisoner of war during World War II and survived the Dresden bombing. His fictional alter ego, Kilgore Trout famously said the line “Life is no way to treat an animal,” and Vonnegut included it in his ever-optimistic style… on a tombstone.

  

My favorite section has a recreation of his workspace; a low coffee table that he would slump over and his tapped away to create his novels. They included every detail, from his rooster lamp, to his choice of chair. There is also a gallery containing artwork drawn by Vonnegut and inspired by him. It has an interactive TV with interviews regarding Vonnegut’s life.

There’s a long mural timeline along one wall noting important dates throughout history. A couple glass exhibit cases include his war medals and family letters, photos and memorabilia.

  

So thanks to Trish for hosting Where in the World are you Reading. If any of you make it to my corner of the world I hope you’ll make sure to visit the Hoosier state’s ode to Vonnegut.

Here are the details: Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library: 340 N Senate Ave Indianapolis, IN 46204

Photos of the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library by moi. 

Cat's Cradle

Cat’s Cradle 

by Kurt Vonnegut

★★★★☆

Vonnegut’s novel poking fun at both war and religion is clever on so many levels. He captures the absurdity of creating an atomic bomb in the same way Joseph Heller’s Catch-22 tackles the subject of war. We seem hell-bent on insuring our own destruction.

Our narrator is researching the fictional inventor of the atom bomb, Felix Hoenikker, and he learns more about his background through his strange son, Newton Hoenikker. Throughout the book cat’s cradle, a children’s yarn game, is used to show the meaninglessness of things. When looking at the overlapping lines of string Newton points out that there is no cat or cradle in the designs. Newton’s constant refrain…

“See the cat? See the cradle?”

… echoes through our minds as Vonnegut moves on to talk about the fictional religion, Bokononism. It’s a strange blend of cynical beliefs and nonsensical rituals and is practiced by the people who live on the remote island of San Lorenzo. In Vonnegut’s classic style, the belief system contradicts itself, overlapping forbidden laws and absurd practices. Vonnegut’s satire of religion is rivaled only by his mocking of the invention of weapons, in this case Ice-9, a weapon which freezes all the oceans of the world.

Vonnegut’s life was filled with tragedy; his mother’s suicide, sister’s death and his time as a prisoner of war in Germany. Yet despite all the horrors he experienced, he still had an irrepressible sense of humor. Sure, it’s an incredibly dark sense of humor, but it’s there.

BOTTOM LINE: One of my favorite Vonnegut novels, there is less of the extraterrestrial and more social commentary in this book. You don’t have to agree with all of his beliefs to appreciate his skill. If you’re a fan of Catch-22 I think you’d particularly enjoy this one.

“When a man becomes a writer, I think he takes on a sacred obligation to produce beauty and enlightenment and comfort at top speed.”

“She hated people who thought too much. At that moment she struck me as an appropriate representative for almost all mankind.”

“The highest possible form of treason is to say that Americans aren’t loved wherever they go, whatever they do.”

*Drawing of Cat's Cradle by Vonnegut from the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library