Graffiti, Tattooes, and Piercings

[papayahed]

I don't know why you feel the need to be condescending towards people on their literary tastes, seriously. Some books appeal to some people and not to others, it all depends on what your heart is made of and what touches you. It sometimes depends on your life history, too. Perhaps some other writers have written about the same subject, but sometimes you find that one writer touches you more than another. I'm not the best to anaylyse why a book touches me. I've first read the Catcher in French when I was little. Later I read it in English and appreciated it even more. I think the cynicism and depressed quality of the character appealed to something inside of me.

Really? B didn't sound condescending to me. B's advce sounds right on the money to me. In the states every high school kid has to read Catcher in the Rye. If Catcher in the Rye is their first introduction into literature this book may seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread but in comparison to the rest of literature it is pretty generic. Now if the OP is familiar with great works and still thinks Catcher in the Rye is tattoo worthy then go for it.


Back to the original question: Heck no, don't get either tattoo. If you must pay homage to the book what about getting a couple of Rye Stalks?

[Nightshade]

Back to the original question: Heck no, don't get either tattoo. If you must pay homage to the book what about getting a couple of Rye Stalks?

yes something ambiguous yet obvious like helgas shaking spear tatto...

[Sweets America]

Really? B didn't sound condescending to me. B's advce sounds right on the money to me. In the states every high school kid has to read Catcher in the Rye. If Catcher in the Rye is their first introduction into literature this book may seem like the greatest thing since sliced bread but in comparison to the rest of literature it is pretty generic. Now if the OP is familiar with great works and still thinks Catcher in the Rye is tattoo worthy then go for it.


Back to the original question: Heck no, don't get either tattoo. If you must pay homage to the book what about getting a couple of Rye Stalks?

I would have been very happy to read the Catcher in high school. I understand your point about the comparison between the Catcher and other books. But sometimes a book, even if it is not the greatest ever written, still sticks to your soul because you have felt something special in it. You say in comparison to the rest of literature it is pretty generic. but that might not be true to everyone. It all depends on personal taste and feelings.

[motherhubbard]

I would have been very happy to read the Catcher in high school. I understand your point about the comparison between the Catcher and other books. But sometimes a book, even if it is not the greatest ever written, still sticks to your soul because you have felt something special in it. You say in comparison to the rest of literature it is pretty generic. but that might not be true to everyone. It all depends on personal taste and feelings.

That may be, but I think that what they are saying is that as a person matures their thoughts, ideas and feelings about life, self, and literature will also mature. Personal taste and feelings change and evolve over time. When Bailey was little she loved Green Eggs and Ham, but I haven't read that to her in years. This is the same kind of thing. If a person continues to read really great books the Catcher will not seem so profound in comparison. It will seem an entirely different book when one is forty that it was when one was twenty. I think this one is suggested reading in high school but not in college for a reason.

That said, I'm not saying get a tattoo or don't. I would just hope that people would give this a lot of consideration. It's easier and less expensive to get a divorce than it is to remove a tattoo.

[Sweets America]

That may be, but I think that what they are saying is that as a person matures their thoughts, ideas and feelings about life, self, and literature will also mature. Personal taste and feelings change and evolve over time. When Bailey was little she loved Green Eggs and Ham, but I haven't read that to her in years. This is the same kind of thing. If a person continues to read really great books the Catcher will not seem so profound in comparison. It will seem an entirely different book when one is forty that it was when one was twenty. I think this one is suggested reading in high school but not in college for a reason.

That said, I'm not saying get a tattoo or don't. I would just hope that people would give this a lot of consideration. It's easier and less expensive to get a divorce than it is to remove a tattoo.

Yes I see what you mean here. Sometimes tastes change. Sometimes though they stay as they are, some of them at least. I am pretty sure that The Catcher will always have a place in my heart. Just like Stephen King, in a different way.
That's true that you never know if you will still like something in years, so the tatoo question is tough. But, oh well, in the meantime we never have certainties about anything in life, so let's not restrain ourselves, let's live for the moment.

[B-Mental]

I would have been very happy to read the Catcher in high school. I understand your point about the comparison between the Catcher and other books. But sometimes a book, even if it is not the greatest ever written, still sticks to your soul because you have felt something special in it. You say in comparison to the rest of literature it is pretty generic. but that might not be true to everyone. It all depends on personal taste and feelings.

Well Sweets, I wish you would have read it when you were 12, and then reread it when you were 15, and then 16, and then, because I too love it...!

The rye stalks idea is genius...my mother had some, and put them on black velvet on and oval disk on the wall...it always reminded me of the book since I was young!

[THX-1138]

how about (Goddam money. It always ends up making you blue as hell)
just kidding

[B-Mental]

One of the reasons that I've never gotten a tattoo, is because I look very much like my mother and grandmother. I couldn't picture them with one at all. That would just be wrong.

I love that Shea...my sweet smart friend. Cowbell-A-rooney. B

[KennoKennedy]

OK, honestly...why is this your favorite book? I've read it more than 4 times...at the ages of 12, 15, 18, 22, and 26. What? Its a semi modern youth thats saying "Don't grow up!" I don't get it...didn't JM Barrie do it better with Peter Pan, long before......? Or don't you know who Peter Pan is? Maybe its just me, but you write "I love this." Wouldn't it even be better to find out that Dostoeyevski wrote this already....or perhaps, Tolstoi's "Death of Ivan Illyich"....Wow, the person lives his entire life as an "Adult" (read it as adults/society expected), and finds that all of his life was wasted on that which didn't matter, that he didn't matter, and he didn't teach his children to matter. Must just be me, or maybe you've only read the book that every American student has read in junior or senior high school recognise it.

As far as scarring my body for the rest of my life with Literature...I would just get "When a Catcher sees a Catcher" across the left upper chest, (inside to outside) yes, thats where your heart is represented in common high school text books....Is it there though.

Wouldn't you rather have a Kafka~esque "Amerika" flag with cockroaches for stripes? Or a heart with the words "Take this from me!' or "Mom" or "There for the Grace of God go I? on a ribbon spanning the globe!

You wanna know why so many celebrities really say that it was their favorite book? Because they can barely read, or rarely read unless they make money....people be original....

This isn't a rip, this is more why is this YOUR favorite book? And you want to decorate your body with it.

"This isn't a rip"

Come on now someone with a mind like your's surely knows what he's writing!

Also this is the first i'll heard of the book being common reading in America as were I live (The UK) I don't know anyone who's read it, I just come across it in a book store a couple years back and It took a hold of me.

"You wanna know why so many celebrities really say that it was their favorite book? Because they can barely read, or rarely read unless they make money....people be original...."

So in other words i'm a idiot who can't read due to the fact I like a book other people injoy?!

"I've read it more than 4 times...at the ages of 12, 15, 18, 22, and 26."

Why? If you don't like it that much why revist it so many times?

So to wrap this up sorry for wasting everyone's time here as I can tell from Mr Dickens here (Or he too popular as well?)

Regards'

P.S Yeah I know who Peter Pan is "Professor"

[B-Mental]

Listen you want to know what I would do in outer space? Read, write, party, smile, wait...I already did that! YOU have the power to be anything you want to be....and just think about how cool those tatoos I recommended would look! Or ask someone for all of the symbolism in them...

If I hurt your feelings...mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa....or Learn LATIN...!

[kiz_paws]

Also this is the first i'll heard of the book being common reading in America as were I live (The UK) I don't know anyone who's read it, I just come across it in a book store a couple years back and It took a hold of me.

Thats cool that you chanced into the book, it was meant for you to read, je suppose.

So in other words i'm a idiot who can't read due to the fact I like a book other people injoy?!

I believe that B was only speculating on the fact that too many celebrities claim to have read that particular book (and his 'people be original' comment was directed at the celebrities) It wasn't so much an attack on you, Kenno, as he himself stated that he read the book more than one time

So to wrap this up sorry for wasting everyone's time here as I can tell from Mr Dickens here (Or he too popular as well?)

You didn't waste anyone's time - you have just as much right to post here as the next guy. But if I may, you need to have thicker skin around here -- after all you post about getting tattoes about books that have been banned for minors (extreme, but true, *sigh*), and well, there could be an assortment of reactions, you know?

I am curious -- what have you decided to go with, Kenno? And a warm welcome to you, btw.

[islandclimber]

Well I see a poll and thread for piercings so how about tattoos.. Anyone have any really interesting tattoos? Tattoos that you wish you hadn't got? Tattoos with stories? Painful experiences? Enjoy the pain, hate it? self tattoos? anything about tattoos... put it all right here...

or not...

by the way I have 6 tattoos and none that I regret, though one was not a very good idea... in fact a very bad idea.. but I still like the memory it brings all the same... only one I did myself, and actually the funny thing is, it is the most recent, unfinished as of yet, kind of painful with a quill and some calligraphy ink, takes forever..

now if I wasn't so incompetent with computers I might be able to figure out how to post pictures in these threads,.... any help available in this regard would be much appreciated... *smile*

[Bakiryu]

I've none yet since I need parental permission (it sucks being under 18) but i plan on getting some to go along with my piercings.

You can post pictures by uploading them in www.photobucket.com (it's free) and then copying the IMG code. ♥

[islandclimber]

so here are a few of mine...



I want to get a vine of wild nootka roses growing up my spine and out beneath the tats I have there across my back... someday.. I need to find an artist to draw it... which is difficult.

[1n50mn14]

I have uncountable body mods, sitting at... *counts* 12 piercings, 14 tattoos, stretched ear lobes (1/4 inch) and subdermal implants. I really think that people who shun those who are modified are extremely ignorant. Piercing, tattoo, etc, is not a commentary on somebody's intelligence or ability. It's simply a form of expression, and often a spiritual quest.