JD Salinger - RIP
 

91 years old

Great Author, weird guy.

In Catcher, I think his capturing of the slow decent into insanity is amazing. The guy goes from being cynical, to strange, to messed up, to downright crazy, and it unfolds before your eyes. Beautifully done.

You're just full of good news today.

Author of "The Catcher in the Rye" by the way.

I know, right.

Guess I need to reread Holden Caulfield's story about baseball and bread.

That's two. Who's the third going to be?

"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 do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be."

Can we pick? There are some great possibilities!

wow.

Sad day.

To be honest, I thought he died ten years ago, right after John Goodman. RIP!

Was he known for anything else besides Catcher in the Rye?

It was awesome how he wasn't compelled to write any other novels just to have something to make money off of.

he wrote Franny and Zooey, but for some reason, even though I've started it 2 or 3 times I never could finish it.

"The Catcher in the Rye" is one of those books that is a required read in high school that you're thankful they made you read.

It's no fun to be yellow.

Salinger was a strange cat in his own right. RIP.

FAX

Rats. I always enjoyed getting his Christmas letters.

I read it in high school and hated it. I read it again 6-7 years ago and it confirmed my original thoughts. Very overrated.

I've always thought it strange that "Catcher In The Rye" became well known as the book that murderous, crazy guys read before capping ass.

It isn't like Moby Dick. I mean, guys didn't read that book and start whacking whales right and left. Or guys offing orphans after stealing a copy of Great Expectations. It's an odd thing. I read the book and didn't feel compelled to kill anybody. I did kick the neighbor's cat, of course, but I do that every day anyhow.

FAX

I don't know if I would say it's a favorite book of mine or anything. To me, I liked it because it was sort of a bridge from children's books to more serious adult literature. It's not like a book written with a message for kids that you get a lot of when you're young, but the main character is young and so you can relate, plus it's an easy read. I just think of it as a book I read when I was young that made me look at books differently than I had before, in a good way.

sequel watch now over

ROFL

That was a long sequel watch.

I've never read "Catcher In The Rye".

Oh, so, basically, it's like a lot of people on a sports message board. Cool, I can pass on it then and just continue my anthropological examination here. :D

Yeah, you can just wait a month and read the story here.

Who was the second? The actress or that idiot Zinn?

The other is already the third.

Can we get a new indicator added to everyone's screen name, with a meter that rises from "cynical" to "strange" to "messed up" to "downright crazy"? It'd be nice to know at what stage people are at, so you know how to interact with them. More useful than rep. :shrug:

"The Laughing Man," one of his works in Nine Stories, is my favorite short story of all time. I actually taught Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey years ago.

I do think that Catcher in the Rye is overrated. I like King Dork, Frank Portman's more recent quasi-corrective of Catcher, considerably more.

He had some obsession with some blonde hollywood actress that bordered on stalking.

That applies to 150 million men in America alone.

Its kind of funny. He hates people, yet he longs to be around them. He says they are all phony, but he calls people constantly and even solicits a prostitute for conversation because he is so emotionally and mentally alone. He is completely torn as a person, and it drives him insane. Even at the end he talks about how he can't wait to get back and start talking to people.

It's odd because he said he liked his privacy but he was stalking this girl and used the line 'if she knew who he was'.

Her name is Katherine Oxenberg. I think. She was in Dynasty or Dallas.

I don't know Salinger, and he was very reclusive, but I can't help but think there are MANY parallels in him and Holden.

He liked those teen girls.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...age-girls.html


Another interesting tidbit, his son is an actor. He starred in 90's tv show 'Captain America'.

http://splashpage.mtv.com/2010/01/29...-meets-comics/

<object height="344" width="425">


<embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/wbQkxRhaZrw&hl=en_US&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" height="344" width="425"></object>