Book 57: The Catcher in the Rye and Book Stats.

Title: The Catcher in the Rye

Author: J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

First Published: 1951

My Edition: Little, Brown Books (seen at left)

Pages: 214

Other Works Include: Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), Raise High the Roof Beam (1963)

This is another re-read for me. Salinger's novel was required reading as part of my high school's eleventh grade curriculum. Had I not read it then, I doubt I ever would have. Just knowing what it is about wouldn't have appealed to me then.

But I am glad we read it. As a high schooler, I really loved the angsty Holden Caufield. I related to him and found a lot of similarities between how he viewed the world and how I viewed it. However, I was one of a few students in my class that liked the novel when we finished it. A lot of my classmates found Holden to be whiny and annoying.

I have heard that when people who loved this novel as a teenager re-read it at an older age, they hate it. I hope that doesn't happen, since I have always considered this one of my "favorites."

In any case, I am looking forward to my second dabble into Salinger. I own a copy of Franny and Zooey, but haven't read it.

J.D. Salinger: 1919-2010

For those of you who haven't heard, J.D. Salinger passed away on Wednesday. He was best known for The Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and Nine Stories.

I know that his loss is a big one to the literary world, even if he has not published any work since 1963. He has always been one of my favorite authors and I am sad that the literary world has lost so great a figure.

"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all."