j.d. salinger books...

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Originally Posted by Weeping Willow

I've read Catcher in the Rye .. but i must confess i didn't enjoy it.. :eek:

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In that case, you obviously weren't between the ages of 14 & 18 at the time.
;)

Yes it's true
I think i was 21...

I have read only Catcher and F&Z by Salinger (both in my 30s) and even though I am OK with them, the early surely did not move for me. I don't like the wallowing type of stories, which Salinger seems to be doing a lot through his books.

There has been a discussion on the Catcher, which is can be found here.

That explains it. Some books are age-specific.

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Originally Posted by Unknown, from a TV documentary about Tolkein

If you don't think that "The Lord of the Rings is the greatest book ever written at the age of 16, there's something wrong with you. If you still think this at 36, there's something really wrong with you!

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Originally Posted by Virgil

In what way is that a zen ending? I took it to mean as a expression of nastalgia. Her life is now unhappy and somehow gone wrong. She's reaching back to a point where she was more innocent and perhaps the point where her life (not enough detail to support this, but perhaps implied) started diverging.

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She WASN'T innocent. Ramona is not her husband's daughter, she's the love child of her and Walt, the guy who got killed in the Army. And she never told her husband.

She may be indulging in nostalgia, but to me the ending was Zenish because it made me realize in a flash what her life had been all about. That's satori -- non-logical intuition.

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Originally Posted by starrwriter

She WASN'T innocent. Ramona is not her husband's daughter, she's the love child of her and Walt, the guy who got killed in the Army. And she never told her husband.

She may be indulging in nostalgia, but to me the ending was Zenish because it made me realize in a flash what her life had been all about. That's satori -- non-logical intuition.

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Oh, we're basically in agreement then.

I first read the Catcher in the Rye when I was in Year 9, I think, and I really enjoyed it. It had a lot of energy, and it made me laugh out loud, which I don't do unless a book is REALLY funny. I ended up buying it for fifty cents from a charity shop, and I still love reading it over and over.

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Originally Posted by Scheherazade

I don't like the wallowing type of stories, which Salinger seems to be doing a lot through his books.

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I beg your pardon -- wallowing? You should be so lucky as to have the talent to write the kind of stories that Salinger has written.

If you want examples of wallowing, read female authors such as Virginia Woolf or Sylvia Plath.

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Originally Posted by starrwriter

I beg your pardon -- wallowing? You should be so lucky as to have the talent to write the kind of stories that Salinger has written.

If you want examples of wallowing, read female authors such as Virginia Woolf or Sylvia Plath.

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Your apology is accepted, Starr.

I did not comment on Salinger's strength as an author but only expressed a personal dislike for his subject matters. I reserve the right to have a say on that matter if that is OK with you.

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by wallowing, and how is Sylvia Plath an example of this? I have read her poems and I happen to have liked them. I don't know exactly what you mean.

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Originally Posted by Vedrana

Just out of curiosity, what do you mean by wallowing, and how is Sylvia Plath an example of this? I have read her poems and I happen to have liked them. I don't know exactly what you mean.

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By wallowing, I'm sure Scher meant indulging in self-pity. I used her term to describe Plath's writing because I found it full of self-pity, a sense of professional victimhood and emotionally unhealthy. The woman did kill herself at a relatively young age.

I've read Catcher in the Rye at 15. I didn't enjoy it then but I get why ppl are so enthrawled by it; 6 years later I think I would like to read it again, different perspective.

Recently finished reading Franny and Zooey last week, I like it slightly better. It's easy to read, though very pretentious it suffices. Just imagine "The Royal Tennenbaums" obsessed with connecting with God through organized religions. Don't be turned off by the religious zeal, no one preaches in this book. The children geniuses call themselves social freaks who live to debate each other. A light bulb should go off in your head after reading this book, Salinger offers wisdom to those who listen.

And to the guy with the massive collection of Catcher, whoa! Wasn't John Lennon shot carrying that book; conspiracy or was there a Salinger craze during that time?

Read Catcher in the Rye last week, loved it. I'm early twenties. Guess I'm just a little boy at heart.