If you don't like The Catcher in the Rye and A Confederacy of Dunces, you should be banned!

[JVS]

Because you're part of the problem, and by part I mean nearly all.

[taterguy]

1. Take it to Meta

[LonePirate]

2. Confederacy of Dunces is one of the funniest books I have ever read.

I need to read it again to lighten my spirits after these dark past few days.

[JVS]

3. Both books are a laugh riot

[rug]

7. Me too.

Remember when he made a protest sign out of his bed sheet? The other protesters kept looking at the stains on it and back at him.



The next funniest book I ever read was the Sot-Weed Factor by John Barth. He got into a fight buying stationery.

[fleur-de-lisa]

11. It is . . .

I live in New Orleans . . . IMO, no other author has captured the 'yat' accent as well as Toole! So sad that he killed himself . . .

[Codeine]

12. I love the way that every single forum-based community I've been part of

has at least one - usually several - posters who are virtually indistinguishable from Ignatius J. Reilly in tone and in attitude.

[MiddleFingerMom]

17. RandomThoughts made me think of him sometimes.

.
.
.
"Confederacy of Dunces" -- I've LOVED it each of the 5 or more times that I've read it.
.
Truly genius.
.
.
.
"Catcher in the Rye", even though I read it as a very rebellious teen... somehow failed
to catch the eye of my spirit -- and I've never tried to read it again.
.
.
.
That's OK. MiddleFingerMomSis turned me on to Tom Robbins' "Still Life with Woodpecker",
saying, "If there's ANYONE who will love this... it's YOU!!!"
.
I read 15 pages or so and put it down -- wondering if she knew me at all.
.
.
.
Five years later, I tried it again and it's now in my Top 3 books ever.
.
.
.

[EastTennesseeDem]

21. Until I read Infinite Jest, it was my favorite book.

I remember reading it actually, my freshman year of college. It was the last day of exams for me (but not for most), so to unwind I took it to the library to read it.

I got so many dirty looks from people studying. I was absolutely disarmed and making a scene in the library because I was crying.

[SEMOVoter]

4. I somewhat passionately agree with your assertion

[etherealtruth]

5. I heartily agree

It boggles the mind to think that someone .. anyone could NOT love these

[MrMickeysMom]

6. Have you measured it with geometry and theology?

[bigwillq]

8. I disliked Catcher in Rye

Thought the kid was so annoying.
I didn't read Dunces.

[noamnety]

14. same here.

I read it 35 years ago or so, and what I remember at this point is mainly such a high creep vibe off the main character that it was hard for me to read. I couldn't tell you any details or plot, so all that stuck with me was a large ICK.

Oh well, I guess not everyone needs to like every book.

[whistler162]

9. I guessed the second one was your autobiography

until I checked the web.

[locks]

10. True to the South

You gotta love ole Ignatius Reilly and quirky New Orleans.

[Codeine]

13. I'm the only person I know who hasn't read Catcher in the Rye.

I think it was assumed by one teacher that we were going to read it the next year and by the next that we had read it the previous year, and I just never bothered to read it myself.

A Confederacy of Dunces, however, is a personal favorite of mine, bigtime.

[PivotalDude]

32. Dude...

The end of the world is coming... You'll regret it if you don't read it before then. Trust us. It's such insightful, poignant commentary on the artificial cliches and how the adult world is so depressing.

[NewJeffCT]

15. haven't read either

not sure why Catcher wasn't part of my school reading back in the 80s.

[cemaphonic]

23. I read in school it at the tail end of the 80s

and I think it's just one of those pieces of art that has a lot more resonance to Boomers than more recent generations. Growing up in the postwar optimism and prosperity and the kind of wholesome popular culture that existed in the 50s, I can see how this depressed, foulmouthed character would have been a dash of cold water to teenagers that were just starting to figure out that the world was less sunny than they had grown up to believe. Add to that the frequent controversy over it being taught in school and the whole John Lennon thing, and it makes sense that it was a huge cultural touchstone.

Growing up in the much more coarse and cynical 70s and 80s, Holden wasn't telling kids anything they didn't already know, and he kinda comes off as a overprivileged preppie with no real problems other that grossly unrealistic expectations about life (and of course some variety of mental illness that is no picnic no matter how privileged you are). It's still a pretty good book for freshman/sophomore lit, since Holden is pretty witty and and likeable when he's not in the grips of depression, and it is well written. It's also a much easier introduction to the idea of an unreliable narrator than something like The Sound and the Fury or Lolita would be. Among people in my age range, opinions range from liking it to hating it, but I don't know anyone under 50 who had the "this book changed my life" reaction that you often get from Boomers.

Confederacy of Dunces though - comedy gold.

[NewJeffCT]

24. Thanks

I read The Sound & The Fury, and loved it at the time. It was either Junior or Senior year of high school, which was mid 80s. And, the Catcher in the Rye was taught in my school system in CT, just never seemed to be my specific class.

[Tom Ripley]

30. I find Richard Price's Ladies Man to be a very resonant book for those of us who grew up in...

the coarse and cynical 70s.

[LWolf]

16. Love Catcher in the Rye.

Don't love Confederacy of Dunces. I read all the way through it trying, for the life of me, to find something worthy of the time spent reading. I never did.

[Tom Ripley]

28. I first found Confederacy of Dunces to be somewhat of an undisciplined mess, but it grew on me...

when I realized that the structure mirrored the undisciplined mess that was Ignatius.

[Tom Ripley]

18. The goddamn Lunts!

[HappyMe]

19. Ban the humorless!

[Tom Ripley]

20. I like how Frederick Clegg, the "moody loner" in John Fowles' The Collector finds...

Holden to be unpleasant and unlikeable.

Another nice ironic use is in the movie The Good Girl. Thomas Worther adopts the name "Holden" because he identifies with the character. Apparently, he is oblivious to the fact that his last name is almost identical to "Werther", Goethe's original model for moody and sensitive young men.

[EastTennesseeDem]

22. People say A Confederacy of Dunces should be made into a movie

A lot of people are clamoring for it.

I wholeheartedly disagree. If you make it into a movie, you will inevitably lose J.K. Toole's voice, which is what made it so unbelievably hilarious to begin with.

[La Lioness Priyanka]

25. to kill a mocking bird

you have to love it, else kick to the butt

[RedCloud]

26. Complaint dept dissolved. Kindly restrict words to further purchases.

[AnneD]

27. At my age...

I value my time. If it doesn't grab me by the first 20 page....I'm outta there.

I have made it through War and Peace, Dr Zhivago, most of Shakespeare, Lot's of scifi writers (I don't like Asimov strangely enough), the Greek and Roman classics etc. I read Catcher in the Rye...over rated and just couldn't get into Confederacy. But I read once and Future King multiple times and that is my fav.

[Tom Ripley]

29. The Once and Future King is Mrs Ripley's favorite book...

and she has also reread it numerous times.

[AnneD]

31. I will date my paperback copy...

it set me back $0.95. read it in Junior High.

[downandoutnow]

33. Loved a Confederacy of Dunces! Not a fan of Catcher -

Loved a Confederacy - one of the funniest books I've ever read, Ignatius is a great off-beat character, and at least I felt such a sense of humanity in the humor - we're not really laughing at the characters in the book, we're all laughing at ourselves?

But did NOT like Catcher - Holden was such a rotten trustafarian hipster type.