You can hate me if you want, but Catcher in the Rye is my least favorite book by J.D. Salinger. In fact, it’s not even one of my favorite books by anybody. And yet, oddly enough, Salinger is one of my favorite writers.
Certainly I recognize the importance of Catcher in shaping the lives and outlooks of any number of angry young men (and, perhaps, the women who love and hope to understand them), and I realize too the profound cultural impact it’s had. However, it seems to me that Salinger was just warming up with that one. (more…)
Some will say 2009 was a good year, and others will say it was a bad year. Me, I hardly noticed it, slipping by as quickly and subtly as it did. Plus – just as many folks give up meat or smoking because they’re bad for you – I’ve been trying not to let too much concern about time into my life. I mean, what is it anyway? We’ve done well to control it with calendars and clocks, but we haven’t actually tamed it, have we. I imagine it feels it’s the one that has us trained, if Time could think such a thing or anything at all. And perhaps it would be right…. (more…)
