Title:: [[The Sirens of Titan]] Authors:: [[Kurt Vonnegut]] Tags:: #darkhumor #vonnegut #scifi #fiction Read:: [[2022-01-22]] ## Editions - Edition:: Dial Press Trade Paperback Edition, 2009 - Original Copyright:: 1959 - Pages:: 326 ## Annotations I am reading all of Kurt Vonnegut’s novels in order in 2022 ([#vonnegut2022](https://www.instagram.com/explore/tags/vonnegut2022/)).  The Sirens of Titan (1959) is his second.  It has many flashes of brilliance, but also stretches of plot that felt like it started to unravel a bit. I still liked it a lot, though.  Wikipedia cites an old Harvard Crimson article that claims Vonnegut came up with the outline of the book in a single night at a party after someone told him, “You ought to write another novel.” I have always loved how Vonnegut finds seemingly (to me, at least) obscure words that feel made up but are pitch perfect in how they are employed to underscore the absurdity of his stories. These are different than the ones he actually makes up.  A few of my favorites from Sirens: Gimcrack: (adj) flimsy or poorly made but deceptively attractive Rakehell: (n) a libertine Parvenu: (n) often derogatory: a person of obscure origin who has gained wealth, influence, or celebrity. Brummagem: (adj) cheap, showy, counterfeit. Comes from the 17th Century dialect form of Birmingham, England, which was known for the cheap counterfeits made there. Then there are the classic Vonnegut insightful witticisms. There are many here, but I think my favorite is: “The sermon of the panorama was that even a man without a friend in the Universe could still find his home planet mysteriously, heartbreakingly beautiful.”