Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. is my favorite author...
Hear, hear! Vonnegut is the best. In fact, I don't think I could trust anyone who doesn't like him. To be a decent human being, one must read and appreciate Vonnegut. His books are essential and should be required reading for all. Especially young people.
Having said that, while possessing a brilliant intellect (or at least he used to), Christopher Hitchens has become a pathetic, drunken blowhard who has lost his mind and any sense of deep insight that he might have had. He reminds me of a drunk Richard Burton, except without the charm, style and talent. He is a rumply, sad and bitter man. And currently wrong on most issues.
Now a quote from one of my favorite authors (Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
was my Catcher In The Rye when I was a teenager), Hunter S. Thompson:
"The music business is a cruel and shallow money trench, a long plastic hallway where thieves and pimps run free, and good men die like dogs. There's also a negative side."