I am sure most of you have heard that J.D. Salinger died at age 91. He certainly had a strange life. He wrote one of the most iconic books of the last century and then didn't publish anything for the last half century and lived as a recluse.
But his death certainly brought back memories of The Catcher in the Rye. Hard to believe now that it was censored and banned in its day.
Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to see what the bloggers think of the book. Do you feel it deserve its iconic status? Do you remember reading it?
Your thoughts?
FD
Recap: Spanko Brunch 2.0 for November 3
1 day ago
I loved that book. Never understood the point of book banning.
ReplyDeletehugs,
mouse
I've tried to read it 3 or 4 times. I just can't do it. And I'm disappointed that I don't see what everyone else sees in it.
ReplyDeleteFirst time commenter here.
ReplyDeleteI agree with sin. It was required reading for me, and I never understood why everyone thought it was so great. I thought it was boring.
I have actually never read it, which is probably a pretty big sin for someone who is into literature. I hear that there is a lot of mystery surrounding Salinger's vault, and a lot of people are wondering if it holds unpublished manuscripts he was working on, which I think is kinda cool. :)
ReplyDeleteBook banning is pointless because the only thing it successfully acheives is making even more people want to read the book to see what all the fuss is about. Rather than ban books, parents/teachers/religious authorities should use them to start discussions concerning race, gender, class, sex or whatever controversial issue the book contains or pertains to.
Mouse: Book banning is pointless. It makes books more popular.
ReplyDeleteSin: Salinger isn't for every taste.
Janeway: Thanks for stopping by. Hope you return. Maybe being required reading made it lose some of its appeal.
TrueBlue: I hope you read it just to be familiar with it because it has had such an impact on American letters. yes, book banning is ridiculous. It really annoys me when they do it to Judy Blume's books.
About books in his vault, I suggest that you go online and read the NY Times' obit which takes a long time to read but has many fascinating tidbits about his life. Did you know Joyce Maynard had an affair with him for 10 months when she was 18 and half his age. Anyway, the obit says he never stopped writing and has like 15 books unpublished. It will be interesting to see if his heirs publish them or whether his will forbids it. I suspect Catcher in the Rye will be read hundreds of years from now.
FD
I read it as a teen and loved Catcher In The Rye. People who ban books are the same people who are afraid of their humanity, their psyche's. They don't realize that hiding doesn't make any of that disappear, rather it goes underground. I think it's such a shame to be so uncomfortable with your own depths! Sara
ReplyDeleteI was sorry to hear he'd gone. I read all his books when I was a student (and feeling fairly Holden Caulfield-ish myself). Quite a quick read really. Quiet, simple stories, seemed to put their finger on something, or make a space for something to be seen, if you were up for seeing it.
ReplyDeleteI think it is deceptively light and deserves its place in the canon. I find a lot of US literature quite self-consciously wordy, but tCitR was refreshingly, well, fresh.
PL
We read Beowulf in Literature class (YUCK!), I read "1984" in the 70's for a book report (got an 'A'), but never Catcher in the Rye.
ReplyDeleteI understand that Mark David Chaplin read it and said that it was the meaning behind why he gunned down John Lennon after getting his autograph earlier in the day.
Book banning is pointless, I agree, and I laugh when someone says that so-and-so's books are 'classics'. I trying reading a book by Norman Mailer and put it back - two pages to say, in effect, "I walked across the street."
Sara: Most teens do love the book and trying to ban books is so ridiculous.
ReplyDeletePerfect: Yes, it is fresh and has a pitch perfect style.
Dave: Glad to see you stop in again. Unfortunately, Chapman did say the book prompted him to shoot Lennon but you can take what a deraqnged man says with a grain of salt.
FD
Hey FD, had the book for years and tried to read it a few times but always seemed to pick it up read a page and down it went,not sure why.
ReplyDeleteLove.
Ronnie
xx
Ronnie: Hope you read the whole thing one of these days.
ReplyDeleteFD
I have to say it's one of the classics I've not yet read. I should add it to my bucket list.
ReplyDeletespirited