books: vonnegut

i've been doing a bit of reading lately. definitely recommend "the mysterious benedict society" for some light, page-turning, harry potter-esque reads! couldn't put it down.

this next statement makes me sound kind of lame/pretentious but i've also been dabbling in some kurt vonnegut. he has some interesting opinions on politics, religion, etc.

things to think about:

CAT'S CRADLE

"Americans...are forever searching for love in forms it never takes, in places it can never be. It must have something to do with the vanished frontier." (p97)

"When Bokonon and McCabe took over this miserable country years ago...they threw out the priests. And then Bokonon, cynically and playfully, invented a new religion...Well, when it became evident that no governmental or economic reform was going to make the people much less miserable, the religion became the one real instrument of hope. Truth was the enemy of the people, because the truth was so terrible, so Bokonon made it his business to provide the people with better and better lies....

So I said good-bye to government,
And I gave my reason:
That a really good religion
Is a form of treason." (p172-3)

"'Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, "It might have been."'" (p279)

SLAUGHTERHOUSE 5

"'I think you guys are going to have to come up with a lot of wonderful new lies, or people just aren't going to want to go on living.'" (p101)

"Everything was beautiful and nothing hurt." (p122)