Comments on: Catch-22: Chapters 19-21

By: Rick

Rick — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 02:41:15 +0000

Those movies piss me off, to the degree that I just have to walk away after fifteen minutes. But for some reason, I’m not affected the same way by literature in the same vein. I’m enjoying the book, but no — I’m more likely to go find Cliffs Notes or something than to read it again (at least anytime soon).

Yeah, after I was all patting myself on the back about being ahead, I just now barely caught up with the last post.

By: Jens Fiederer

Jens Fiederer — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:16:09 +0000

Well, my first actual blog post on this project is at
http://blog.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=blog.view&friendID=30974747&blogID=329792363

I’ll try to make them as regular as yours.

By: Pat

Pat — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 00:11:57 +0000

Heller lays it on pretty thick with his nauseating descriptions of Colonel Cathcart, and I was just starting to think of skimming ahead when I got to the episode of the synchronizing of the watches. I haven’t laughed out loud that much from reading a book in a long time!

By: Andrew

Andrew — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 15:23:13 +0000

@Greg: No, you’re not the only one. Catch-22 is my favorite book, and ever since I first read it about 9 years ago my speech has taken on a note reminiscent of the novel. Of course, it’s not present as strongly now as it first was, but don’t be surprised if it sticks with you for a while

By: Greg

Greg — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 14:34:36 +0000

Is anyone else finding their humor being infected by the circular logic and non sequiturs used in the book? The witty remarks I make daily to friends and colleagues have started to sound like dialog from Catch-22.

By: John

John — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:53:03 +0000

Having read the book several times over the course of my life, I chose not to follow along this time. However, I am greatly enjoying reading the comments and blogging with you. I won’t tell you whether it’s a shaggy dog story or a puzzle (or something in between . . . ), but I think the book takes a long time to get into. It’s rewarding. I think the second time I read it was on a road trip to Alaska. It’s the perfect travel book. I had a point to make, but alas, I can’t recall what it was now.

Thanks for taking me along on the trip through the book anyhow.

By: Phill

Phill — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 22:10:35 +0000

I spent like 20 minutes trying to find that passage about Major ____ De Coverley’s name to add a link to the comments on his chapter, but I couldn’t for the life of me remember what chapter it was in! I was wondering why you hadn’t noticed it yet…

By: Dug

Dug — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:51:52 +0000

While reading last night, it suddenly occurred to me that this book may be less of a puzzle than a really long (albeit funny and sometimes compelling) shaggy dog story. The difference being that at the end of a puzzle, everything suddenly comes to a satisfying conclusion and all the pieces snap into place, whereas in a shaggy dog story the end is an unsatisfying cheap joke that leaves you empty, no matter how good a shaggy dog storyteller the author is.

Any of you (like me) who HAVEN’T read to the end yet care to guess which it’ll be?