January 7, 2014

Catch As Catch Can


Other than Kurt Vonnegut, there's no author whose works I've posted here more than Joseph Heller, the author of my all time favorite novel, Catch-22. This book is a collection of his writings, ranging from short stories to reflections on life and his career, with a heavy emphasis on Catch-22. What's funny - or maybe kind of disappointing, I guess - is that my absolute favorite portions of this book were the ones that dealt with Catch-22. Whether Heller was reflecting on the film version of Catch-22, or describing some of the real life events in World War II that led him to write Catch-22, or even just creating a one-act play out of a memorably absurd scene from Catch-22, I was eating it all up. The rest of the book I could take or leave. Most of the short stories were too tame and generic to recall with any details even now, and although the collection was some 330 pages long, I guess the bulk of it had no real impact on me. But that's fine; because I'm such a fan of Catch-22 I think this read was worth it. By no mean should anyone go out of their way to read this one until and unless (so, just until) they have read Catch-22.

Seriously.

Go read Catch-22.

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