Oh What A Slaughter by Larry McMurtry

Q: "Nephi Johnson, one of the participants in the Moutain Meadows Massacre, died crying "Blood, blood, blood"
Q: Is trauma that bad, I wonder if this is the same type of thing, the troops go through when they come back from combat?
C: I think trauma in general is an interesting study, I mean why does he brain choose to hang on to the bloodiest parts of our lives, or the parts we try to forget.

Q-Q-C A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Reading Journal

Q: "No, but what you respond to in any work of art is the artist's struggle against his or her limitations."

Q: Why would you respond to that?

C: This is a very interesting quote, and the only reason I wrote it was because it made me stop and think, which I have done many times while reading this book. I still don't totally get it, but I like the quote anyways.

Quote: On Beethovens Third symphony"He called his symphony Eroica, which means heroic, and intended it as a tribute to courage rather than to a single man. This is information I've gotten from Nathaniel, a patient teacher who seems to offer me a gift of his knowledge." Question: I dont know what it is that sounds unbelieveable about this story because I can understand how someone has a passion for something, but how someone can keep grasp of all the music theory or whatever passion they have, after 30+ years of living destitutely on Skid Row, one of Americas biggest homeless communities. So the question is how can he retain all of this information, while living with a mental illness, and living homeless? Comment: I think Nathaniel is amazing and I think his illness is fascinating, which might sound weird, but I think that something that makes your brain have unpredictable mood swings and makes you remember odd facts that you learned 30+ years ago .

Quote: "Hey you hear what happened to Rabin?... No. what happened?...He killed himself... That was Julliard. The pressure could shore up your belief in yourself." Question:Why would someone want to strive to be in a place where the pressure of the atmosphere made you want to kill yourself? Comment: I want to say that there is no point to strive to go to a place like Julliard, but if I had the chance to go there I would jump at it. So all I'm going to say is that the people there arent God and they shouldnt be telling you how good you are, or make you feel bad about yourself.

The Soloist by Steve Lopez

Q: "He doesnt answer he's(nathaniel) discovered the cello. Oh my gosh, he gasps, carefully lifting and cradling the instrument as if it were a newborn child."
Q: Why does he do this?
C: I think Nathaniel does this because he loves music so much that he takes pride in being able to use an instrument like this one. I think he just is in awe, from not playing a cello from some 40 years that he just wants to make the one he is about to receive last as long as it can.

#26

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Quote: "Don't use semicolons... All they do is show you've been to college." Question: Why does he feel so strongly about semicolons? Comment: I agree, I really never knew the point of semicolons, so I will never use them now!! hahaha

#25

A Man Without A Country by Kurt Vonnegut Quote:"I was a writer in 1968. I'm A Hack. I would write anything for money" Question: Why is he calling himself a hack, Is it because of the fact that he would write anything for money, or is their something deeper that I am missing? Comment: I think he thinks that he is a hack, because he set his standards low, and didn't stick to his values because he just wanted money.