Slaugherhouse Five is a novel that was written by Kurt Vonnegut. It was published in 1969 and remains one of the Kurt Vonnegut’s masterpieces. This book was based on Kurt’s experiences in Dresden,Germany where he was being kept as a prisoner of war during the destruction of the town in 1945. The novel starts with the narrator which is Kurt Vonnegut himself. Vonnegut stars the novel by talking about the difficulties that he has faced to find ways to write about his experiences in Dresden and then he introduces us to the pathetic young man named Billy Pilgrim. Billy Pilgrim is a wartime chaplain and a prisoner of war who has become “unstuck in time” and travels between different parts of his life. It is an anti-war novel that was written in the third person from Vonnegut’s own point of view. Several times the author stops and let’s us know that the character he has just described, or quoted is, in fact is, himself. Vonnegut wants to say to the audience that war is evil and the first casualty of war is the human dignity. There are no heroes to be found in the novel, and as Vonnegut says in the introduction, “There are almost no characters in this story, and almost no dramatic confrontations, because most of the people in it are so sick, and so much the listless playthings of enormous forces. One of the main effects of war, after all, is that people are discouraged from being characters..." The novel gives us a moving portrait of a soldier fighting a war he doesn’t understand but he is forced to live with it. Yet somehow he is supposed to continue his living by experiencing the dreadful wartime. 

I dream of giving birth to a child who will ask, "Mother, what was war?"  ~Eve Merriam

Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut (1922-2007), was born in Indianapolis, to German-American parents. He is regarded as one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. He wrote masterpieces such as Slaugherhouse-Five (1969), a book which was based on his experiences in Dresden, Germany where he was being kept as a prisoner of war during the destruction of the town in 1945. His works are considered as satire and black comedy. He was known for his humanist beliefs and also as a freethinker (sometimes also referred as an atheist).Vonnegut smoked unfiltered Pall Mall cigarettes, a habit he referred to as a "classy way to commit suicide".

"We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful about what we pretend to be."
~ Kurt Vonnegut

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (11-20)

These chapters are really interesting. Edna began to face difficulties regarding her role as a mother due to the fact that she is attracted to Robert. Edna gets the opportunity to spent a day in a boat trip with Robert, and they get to talk with each other. After spending the whole day with Robert, she went home. She kept thinking on and on about Robert and she regret that she did not spent more time with Robert. Later on, Robert suddenly decides to leave New Orleans, in hopes of finding a new life, in Mexico. Everyone is shocked, especially Edna. Even after returning home with his husband and kids to New Orleans, she is still remembering Robert and the joyful time she has spent with him. As days went by, Edna starts feeling depressed.

The Awakening by Kate Chopin (1-10)

The main protagonist of "The Awakening" is Edna Pontellier. Edna is a 28 year old woman which is married to a New Orlean successful businessman and has two sons. She loves her sons and her only duty is to look after them while her husband is away working. However, Edna does not feel happy and she claims that even though she loves her sons she will never give up her inner essence for them, which to me does not seem logic because after all she has moral obligations to look after her kids, regardless of circumstances. Leon, her husband, claims that Edna is not a "motherwoman" because she fails to do her inner duties towards her children, however he treats Edna and his kids with respect.

~ The Pontellier's went for vacation to the Grand Isle, a beach resort, for the summer. This resort was owned by Madame Lebrun, who later on becomes Edna's friend. The Pontellier's were enjoying their vacation, even though Leon during the weekend went to the city for business matters, he always came back with a present to his wife and kids. Later on, while Edna's husband is working in the city, Edna gets to know Robert Lebrun (the son of Madame Lebrun). After she met him, Edna realizes that she needs to explore herself and know herlself better.

Cities & Eyes 5 by Italo Calvino

The city of Moriana is somehow hidden but you have to cross walls and rivers to find it. It is a magnificent city as described by the author "its alabaster gates transparent in the sunlight, its coral columns supporting pediments encrusted with serpentine." All of the details that are described by the author makes you want to fantasize or wish that even your city can be like Moriana one day. But in the end, the author is claiming that even though it seems like a beautiful city, the city is somehow boring. "From one part to the other, the city seems to continue, in perspective, multiplying its repertory of images: but instead it has no thickness, it consists only of a face and an obverse, like a sheet of paper, with a figure on either side, which can neither be separated nor look at each other."

Trading Cities 2 by Italo Calvino

As described by the author, Chloe is a great city, where the people who move through the streets are all strangers and do not know each other. The people in the city imagine thousand things that could happen to one another as "meetings which could take place between them, conversations, surprises, caresses, bites." But no one talks to each other, they just keep staring to each others eyes without saying any word. In this city people never stop seeking other eyes, that is strange but also beautiful. It shows us that fantasies about each other will never stop no matter what.

Invisible Cities by Italo Calvino

The stories that are told in "Invisible Cities" are near-perfect dialogues between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan, the Mongol Emperor. These stories are filled with imagination and ming-blowing details about the cities. Calvino's decription makes you imagine that you are experiencing those cities, like you are a part of them. Sometimes some details of the cities makes you feel like you have been there. As you go on reading the tales of the cities you stop and think, "Well, I was here before or I saw this once before but you can not really remember where it was, it is simply a 'Deja Vu'. This kind of description can rarely be found today in any other book. In the end, all I can say is that this book with all of its stories completely captivated me.

Who was Marco Polo?

Marco Polo was born in Venice in 1254 and died in 1324. He learned about trading from his father and uncle, Nicolo and Mafeo. He is regarded as the most famous traveller the world has ever known. When he was only 17 he traveled with his father and uncle in Asia. He stayed in Mongolia and China for 17 years, and became the favorite person of the Mongol Emperor, which name was Kublai Khan. When he returned to his hometown in Venice, he became a famous storyteller and everybody wanted to meet him. He dictated his story of travelling to a writer who published the book "Marco Polo and his travels". The book helped everyone who was interested in trading with China and India and also lead to the exploration of Columbus and the others who were interested to sail in China and India.

One Art by Elizabeth Bishop

The art of losing isn't hard to master;
so many things seem filled with the intent
to be lost that their loss is no disaster,

Lose something every day. Accept the fluster
of lost door keys, the hour badly spent.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

Then practice losing farther, losing faster:
places, and names, and where it was you meant
to travel. None of these will bring disaster.

I lost my mother's watch. And look! my last, or
next-to-last, of three beloved houses went.
The art of losing isn't hard to master.

I lost two cities, lovely ones. And, vaster,
some realms I owned, two rivers, a continent.
I miss them, but it wasn't a disaster.

Even losing you (the joking voice, a gesture
I love) I shan't have lied. It's evident
the art of losing's not too hard to master
though it may look like (Write it!) a disaster.

~ I am in love with this poem. It is one of the poems that makes you read it on and on. Firstly, the poem tells us that even the art of losing is hard to deal with, it happens to everyone and everyone gets used to its pain. Everyone will lose something as time passes by, but in the end they just have to let it go. You will lose places, names, things etc. Nevertheless, in the end Elizabesh shows us that people will come to a point in their life that they will lose greater things but still I think "the art of losing isn't hard to master".

"All my life I have lived and behaved very much like the sandpiper - just running down the edges of different countries and continents, 'looking for something'." ~ Elizabeth Bishop

Why I Am Not A Painter by Frank O'Hara

~ Incredible poem. It is very clear that except poems O'Hara puts a great value on art (painting). I also liked how he linked Sardines with Oranges, which both Mike and O'Hara wanted to include in their works but there wasn't enough space, instead they named their works Oranges and Sardines. "My poem is finished and I haven't mention orange yet. It's twelve poems, I call it ORANGES. And one day in a gallery I see Mike's painting, called SARDINES." For me this is the best ending ever from all of his poems.

~ Overall, I consider all of Frank O'Hara's poems brilliant. I like that he wrote poetry from whatever happened around him. He was inspired from everything that surrounded him. In an interview he said that "What is happening to me, allowing for lies and exaggerations which I try to avoid, goes into my poems. I don't think my experinces are clarified or made beautiful for myself or anyone else, they are just here in whatever form I can find them". Nevertheless, I hate the way he died, to me it seems such a ridiculuous death. What matters is that he was valued in his own day and his poems and his greatness has greatly increased since his death. Thank god he came to earth to bring all of his poems. May his poems live on forever.