"I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes."

...or should I?

JD Salinger finally died?

Wonder if he wants a big splashy funeral?

Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody.

~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 20

K, prolly not.

RIP J.D. Salinger.

Be Well.

/Is funny book "CitR"
//Re-reading it over the years always brings a slightly different interpretation of the Holden Caufield character.
///Books don't change but people do.

"'Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all."

"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behaviour. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from themif you want to. Just as some day, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."

"I am a kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."

RIP Mr Salinger

I used to really wish he would go ahead and release his work to be published, but now it is so late I don't know. Perhaps I could get interested if he continued the story of the Glass family.

Where do the ducks go in the winter?

Sensitive. That killed me. That guy Morrow was about as sensitive as a toilet seat.

Books don't change but people do.

#2 | Posted by dethspud at 2010-01-28 02:00 PM

There's so much truth behind your statement, Tater.

How we interprete the words we read in a book -- and the wisdom and value we may gain from it -- can a lot of times be measured proportionately with one's own life experiences.

What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse. ~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1

Catch you on the flip-side, Mr. Salinger.

When I was all set to go, when I had my bags and all, I stood for a while next to the stairs and took a last look down that goddam corridor. I was sort of crying. I don't know why. I put my red hunting hat on, and turned the peak around to the back, the way I liked it, and then I yelled at the top of my goddam voice, "Sleep tight, ya morons!" I'll bet I woke up every bastard on the whole floor. Then I got the hell out. Some stupid guy had thrown peanut shells all over the stairs, and I damn near broke my crazy neck.

RIP Mr. Salinger.

I didn't just dislike Catcher In The Rye, I HATED it.

One of the worst books I've ever read.

I didn't appreciate literature in High School very much so I wasn't a fan of Cather in the Rye.

I'm so grateful my daughters read as much as they do......I'm sure they will both love this book.

I loved The Catcher in the Rye for my 7th grade book report because it was short, but I preferred On the Road.

Not a fan of Catcher either. I didn't like to kill a mockingbird either though.

The fuckin' book that got John Lennon killed.

The guy that wrote the book about that bread? Fuck him.

Who?

The obvious fuck you JD joke had to come, and I was glad it was you, 101, who was the first because you are actually a funny bastard. FF !!!

"The fuckin' book that got John Lennon killed."

Just take one moment and "Imagine" the horrible fucking drek he'd be spewing if indeed that fellow didn't blast him...

You got a point there.

zombie?

are you the laughing man?

J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose The Catcher in the Rye shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.

- As usual he was unreachable for comment.

I wonder if Lenny Mohr is snapping an animals neck and grilling up a hooker in order to mourn properly?

"J.D. Salinger Dies"

I'm reminded here of what Dorothy Parker said when she was informed that Calvin Coolidge - like Salinger, famed for being very private and extremely taciturn - had died:

"How could they tell?"

"How could they tell?"

Algonquin Round Table Flag!

And a FF.

Be Well.

"Catcher in the Rye" was the first porn I've ever read in school! that was before the internet, too!

never did understand/like that book!

Old Gatsby. Old sport.

He killed me. He really did.

Yeah, Ahab really killed too, didn't he Suzy?

Holy crap, J.D.Salinger and Howard Zinn in one week. Poop.

Funny how both of these guys have special places in our brains (even if you hate them), and each with one magnus opus. they changed the us somewhat, even if you hate them.

BTW, To Kill a Mockingbird was Truman Capotes second best book.

I loved Catcher in the Rye. One of the only books assigned in high school that I not only read all the way through but enjoyed. Re-read it one day at work when I first got out of college and was temping. I enjoyed parts of Nine Stories too and will probably read both again some day.

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."

First sentence of The Catcher in the Rye.

So far "ahead of its time" and I note how amusing it is to see who on this blog didn't get it, even "hated" it :-) That explains a lot.

91 is cool.

JD was once on the cover of TIME - in sept 51 I think!

Has not published since the 60's

YAWN

See what I mean?

J.D. Salinger dead, somehow reminds me of what some folks said when Calvin "Silent Cal" Coolidge died: "How can they tell?"

That aside, encountering Holden Caulfield when I was a young fella really helped. It was comforting to know there was an even more confused adolescent than me, if only on the printed page.

It was comforting to know there was an even more confused adolescent than me...

#36 | Posted by Doc_Sarvis at 2010-01-29 08:54 AM | Reply | Flag: Flaming Homosexual

I went through this whole banned books phase in Jr High and this was the first one I read. jut requested it at the library. Time to get an adult perspective.