J.D. Salinger, requiescat in pace ...

[Keith]

On Feb 1, 2010, at 1:15 AM, Carvill, John wrote:

An interesting situation to find yourself in - having read everything  
*but* the most famous book. Maybe by the time you did read it, you  
were to  old to make that magic connection most people get from it,  
since they read it when they're not that much older than Holden.
=============================================

I think that's true. Plus, there's a cuteness to his books that I  
enjoyed when I was younger but find annoying in my old age. My high  
school senior English teacher was pretty cool, especially in the  
context of middle America. Not many assigned Franny and Zooey rather  
than Catcher in the Rye. Even back then it resulted in my putting  
down Catcher every time I read the first chapter. I experienced much  
more magic when she played a vinyl recording of a performance of  
Waiting For Godot. Walking into class after milking the cows and  
gathering the eggs to hear Lucky and Pozzo -- THAT was magic.