Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I enjoyed it but expected more. The book sat on my shelf for many years at four different homes. Wow, I hadn't actually realized how much moving I'd done since 2005. Ch-ch-ch-changes. Anyway, the book was good, but I wasn't blown away. The best part for me was the assorted characters and their various antics. Heller must have had a hell of a good time writing this, as it was a hoot to read at parts. Many good turns of phrase, but to the point of repetition, which may have been Heller's point in regards to his thoughts on war.

Catch-22 on BookCrossing.

Words cannot express

Dear Mrs., Mr., Miss, or Mr. and Mrs. Daneeka:
Words cannot express the deep personal grief I experienced when your husband, son, father or brother was killed, wounded or reported missing in action.
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

The impersonalness ought to be taken personally.

long white legs and supple, callipygous ass

He enjoyed Nurse Sue Ann Duckett's long white legs and supple, callipygous ass; he often neglected to remember that she was quite slim and fragile from the waist up and hurt her unintentionally in moments of passion when he hugged her too roughly.
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

I finished reading Catch-22 in Malaysia (and left it with starbytes) and made some notes for posts on this here book blog upon my return. I didn't know what callipygous meant when I read it, and finally looked it up just now. While I hope to say and write callipygous regularly from here on out, reality will likely see me use it a few times and then never again. If you say it or write it to me, I will go weak at the knees.

if I really liked her

"Why don't you just pay all three and send the other two away?" Yossarian suggested.

"Because then mine will be angry with me for making her work for her money," Nately replied with an anxious look at his girl, who was glowering at him restlessly and starting to mutter. "She says that if I really liked her I'd send her away and go to bed with one of the others."
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

Why not simply not pay the other two? Won't they then leave and try to find a guy who'll pay them to go to bed? If his girl threatens to leave with them, he can offer to pay her double or even triple; that shouldn't be a problem since he had lured all three there with promises of $30 each - which occurred pre-excerpt. She gets all $90 for $30 of work, and the other girls get nada.

act boastfully

"Why don't we give him a medal?" Colonel Korn proposed.

"For going around twice? What can we give him a medal for?"

"For going around twice," Colonel Korn answered with a reflective, self-satisfied smile. "After all, I suppose it did take a lot of courage to go over that target a second time with no other planes around to divert the antiaircraft fire. And he did hit the bridge. You know, that might be the answer - to act boastfully about something we ought to be ashamed of. That's a trick that never seems to fail."

"Do you think it will work?"

"I'm sure it will. And let's promote him to captain, too, just to be certain."
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

It's a trick that modern governments know too well.

people who enjoyed climbing into an airplane

Doc Daneeka hated to fly. He felt imprisoned in an airplane. In an airplane there was absolutely no place in the world to go except another part of the airplane. Doc Daneeka had been told that people who enjoyed climbing into an airplane were really giving vent to a subconscious desire to climb back into the womb.
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

What about the enjoyment of crawling into a warm bed?

refused to admit that the dead man even existed

The dead man in Yossarian's tent was a pest, and Yossarian didn't like him, even though he had never seen him. Having him lying around all day annoyed Yossarian so much that he had gone to the orderly room several times to complain to Sergeant Towser, who refused to admit that the dead man even existed, which, of course, he no longer did.
-- Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

There are some things that don't exist that annoy me. Affordable personal rocket packs for one, mainly for the very reason that they don't exist... yet.