I just got done reading "Catcher in the Rye" and all. I really did.

[Richardo]

Maybe I should've read the book when I was a teen instead of now at 48, but...

Looking at it from the context of when it was written (1947), I can see why it was so controversial: sex, homosexuality, f-bombs, etc. And I liked the voice of Caufield - thought it rang true. Plus: I love the way he can get drinks and hookers at 14 in NYC - what a playa!

Overall take: Holden Caufield: disaffected, but pretty much a jerk. I guess that's the point. Oh well, one more 'must-read' off my list.

[mdmc]

1. good times

just reread a couple months ago.

[quisp]

2. heh, yeah, well you're ALL phonies! n/t

;)

[Richardo]

5. ....don't forget the 'flits'.

[terrya]

3. I haven't read it. Honest. Nor have I read "A Separate Peace"

Does it make me a bad person? :shrug:

T

[tigereye]

6. some of those classics are worth re-reading

when one is older... or even reading for the first time. I read "A Separate Peace" years ago, and I can't remember anything about it.

On second thought, that is why we need to reread classics, since some of us can't remember what it was about from the first time!


As for Catcher, I heard it parts of it read this fall at a Banned Books reading and it was very impressive.

[Richardo]

7. Funny: You have the Holden Caufield cadence there. I'm not kidding.

You really do. :)

I think you can pass, Terry. It really is a 'coming-of-age' story, which speaks to disaffected teens (weren't we all?).

I found it interesting as a time capsule for post-war writing, but I don't know if I'll ever re-read it. :shrug:

I mean, it's no 'Catch-22' :)

[JitterbugPerfume]

4. I know what you mean Richardo

I have a list of must reads so long that i will have to live to be 120 to finish it

and at 64 I am falling further and further behind <sigh>

[Richardo]

8. Hi Jitterbug!

IIRC, we're birthday buds! :hi:

[JitterbugPerfume]

16. Yes we are(birthday buds)

((((((((((((HUG)))))))))) from Jitterbug

[MemphisTiger]

9. I read it about six years ago and didn't think it was that good

I can see how it was controversial, but not worthy of an award. Maybe it's just me.

[PennyK]

10. I read it a LOOOONG time ago...

I identified with Holden so much that I started calling my little sister Phoebe! And to this day, I cannot bear the use of the word "grand" (too phoney)!

[Richardo]

11. What about "Certainly" and all? I'm not kidding.

:D

[Beer Snob-50]

12. My catholic school buddy gave me a copy to read in high school

he thought it was a great book and read it just to piss off the nuns. From what I remember it was a good book.

A Separate Peace was also a good book from what I remember. My Father wasn't happy that I had to read it in high school because from what I remember it had to do with someone dying of cancer and we had lost my Mother a few years before that to the disease.

[Richardo]

14. Interesting that the nuns were the only two other than his siblings

...that he really seemed to like.

But I can see why the nuns wouldn't like it - all those 'goddamns' and a few f-bombs.

[edbermac]

13. You're a dirty stupid sonofabitch of a moron...

You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth...

[Richardo]

15. You're just one of those goddam phoneys and all. You really are.

:)

[Reverend_Smitty]

17. One of my favorite days in High School...

I was in Junior English class and we were reading Catcher...my teacher picked me to read out loud a section of the book. I asked her if she wanted me to read "all" of it, she said Salinger put those words down on that page for a reason so read them all. and I did, it was a particularly "dirty" section but it felt great to drop the f-bomb in the middle of my class and not get sent to the office.

On edit: I really read it with feeling too, if you are going to do something, you'd better do it right!

[SemiCharmedQuark]

18. Ahhh, one thing that drives me crazy is how many times the word "dough" is

used. Maybe I'm just too cranky...