>> You are in great danger. So close to Halloween, too...I advise >>placing >>all of your Ayn Rand novels in a circle in the woods of the nearest >> backyard and covering them with heavy black cloth. Sprinkle the >>ashes >>of some neutral entity (a Vonnegut novel, perhaps, or a _Harper's_ >>article) over the cloth and tiptoe away.... >But Matt, how ever does one turn a Vonnegut novel to ashes for such >a profane purpose? >As Bokonon says, "better to have the ashes of a Vonnegut novel than >the >words of the next ten authors on the Modern Library list". >Mattis Thank God (whichever God you choose) that there are still Bokononists in the world. Actually, all kidding aside, the really strange thing I find about this place is that there are so many witty, well-read people here & so many disagreements about what is good. I mean, I made a half-hearted stab at Catcher as a kid. I couldn't get into it. Now, because of Will's class, at 32, I'm reading Salinger and REALLY getting into it. Was it crap before and good now? No, I had to look at it with eyes that were forgiving of his early, unpolished works, trust that all these Salinger fanatics were really clued into something, and hang in long enough to "get it". Let me give you a short list of books that mean the world to me. Although nearly all Vonnegut novels could go here, I'll keep it down to one. Those of you who haven't read any of these, start somewhere & see what you think. Those of you who already hate books or authors here, I challenge you to try again, and hang with it, because even if you don't agree with the author, if you hang with it, there really is some meaty stuff here. I dare you to fing the gold. Illusions......................Richard Bach Cat's Cradle...................Kurt Vonnegut Stranger In A Strange Land.....Robert Heinlein Atlas Shrugged.................Ayn Rand Winter Trees...................Sylvia Plath Razor's Edge...................W. Sommerset Maugham "All a person needs to be educated is to be told which books to read and in what order to read them" -- Thomas Jefferson Thanks, guys, I really like being here & reading your stuff, highly opinionated though we are. Namaste, Thor P.S. Please check out my web page & let me know what you think. http://www.uscolo.edu/TAC/ ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com