JD Salinger

60 million copies of "Catcher in the Rye" sold to date...and still counting (sales are around 250k per year). What a brilliant book. God bless him and may he rest in peace.

C xx

The "Catcher in the Rye" was required reading in my Jr. High. He was a great writer.

From NPR this morning, both text and audio link:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/s...oryId=10841242

I saw this some time ago, and am glad I bookmarked it:

Holden Caulfield is teen angst bullshit with a pickaxe. He’s sarcastic, nasty, and completely unlikeable. He also doesn’t give a shit. He is every teenager caught between the shitty little games of high school (“you’re supposed to kill yourself if the football team loses or something”) and the fear of adulthood (“going to get an office job and make a lot of money like the rest of the phonies”).

By being the pissed off, nasty, cynical insane bastard; Holden Caulfield suggests that it is ok to be a shit. Your criticisms of the world are not invalid and nothing you say or think is so bad that you need to repress it. Ironically, this is not only something that is essential to survival but is also the key to ultimately becoming a decent caring human being. No one can grow up if they don’t deal with the awful side of themselves that hates everything. To repress it, is to give it power. To let it out to play is to learn to control that side.
-Tim Lieder, on The Catcher in the Rye

Lord. Salinger and Zinn in one day. I'm not surprised that Zinn's ego made a point of actively sharing.

The obit from The New York Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/bo...html?ref=books

J.D. Salinger was a great writer, but too much of a recluse.

I read all of his books and loved them all, but I don't think I would want to hang out with him.

I think he was a little off his rocker.

I think he was a little off his rocker. Originally Posted by Fast Gunn

That's redundant for most writers (my dad was a writer). I opted for other professions (just not a male courtesan [yet!!]). I *may* still be off my rocker.

I was saddened to hear of Salinger’s death, but when I spoke of it to a friend; we both agreed that neither of us knew he was still alive. As for his being a recluse there are a great many minds that stay out of the public eye like Howard Hughes for instance. If I wrote a book that epitomized the quintessential American in the tumultuous teenage years so perfectly as Salinger did in "The Catcher In The Rye" I doubt I would be up for walking the streets and dealing with the repetitively stupid questions of a public in awe.

I’m just saying… cheers to a great writer who, quite possibly, touched ever single person that read his most popular work.