For many of us bibliophiles, the slower pace of summer is viewed as a time to catch up on all of the reading we didn’t do in the other three seasons of the year. As you contemplate your summer reading, does Kurt Vonnegut cross your mind? If you’re an ardent Vonnegut fan, maybe this is the summer you go back and re-read some of your favorite novels of his or revisit with fresh eyes a work of his that challenged you. Maybe you’re not a Vonnegut fan (yet), but you’d like to know what the fuss is about. Summer is a perfect time to read your first Vonnegut stories. Finally, maybe there are young people in your life who also could benefit from discovering Vonnegut this summer. Why not encourage them to read some of his writings or, better yet, give them their first copies of Vonnegut? (There are a lot of us out there who got our first exposure to Vonnegut as adolescents.)

Whether you want to reconnect with the Vonnegut stories you love or become acquainted with them for the first time, the Kurt Vonnegut Memorial Library can help. Come visit our gift shop to replace the old copies you’ve already worn out because you’ve read them so many times, to buy new copies of the works you haven’t read, or to purchase the gift of Vonnegut prose for someone who needs it.  

Also, don’t forget that we have Vonnegut book clubs that meet once a month in both Indianapolis and Baltimore. Check our events tab on our web site or like us on Facebook to get details about upcoming meetings in both locations. 

Finally, to get you enthused about your personal summer reading, here’s a link to a Los Angeles Times feature in which book critic David Ulin recounts the joys of summer reading and how he first discovered the writings of Vonnegut during the summer of 1972.  

Let us know what Vonnegut reading you plan to undertake this summer. Tell the world by posting a comment to our blog or on Facebook.

–Shannon