Canary vs. Monkey in the House

 



Began to read Kurt Vonnegut's 4th book last night--Canary in a Cathouse. Which is not a book that is as identifiable as Official Canon because (1) it only appeared in one original paperback edition and one much later high priced hardback reprint edition, (2) it's expensive as hell to buy now, and (3) most of the contents--11 of the 12 stories--were reprinted in the widely available--for cheap--Welcome to the Monkey House. But I found a copy at Half-Price Books awhile back, and since it was the book published after Mother Night--and since I'm trying to read Vonnegut in chronological order--I decided to risk the damage reading would cause this little treasure and have at it. Besides, the story that wasn't reprinted in Welcome to the Monkey House--

doesn't seem to be available anywhere else 1, so there it is.

I kind of remembered the first two stories as I read them. And they were good. Not recognizably Vonnegut, but good short stories. The third one, "D.P." didn't ring any bells, But man, was that a good short story. Very touching. It reminded me A LOT of J.D. Salinger. So I had to pause to think about it a bit, which led me to take out my copy of Welcome to the Monkey House to do some comparison shopping. As you have seen.

Now I've got to get back to my book.

Thanks for your support.

P.S. But isn't the cover to Canary in a Cathouse about a hundred times better than the Welcome to the Monkey House  cover? It's by Leo and Diane Dillon. I love them. They also do a cool illustration on the back of the book--

--and cool little pictures beside the title of each of the short stories. 

P.P.S. And Canary in a Cathouse is a much better title than Welcome to the Monkey House, too, isn't it?

1  A story with the same title appears in one of the posthumous collections, but it's not the same story. Just so you know that I did my homework.