J. D. Salinger, Literary Recluse, Dies at 91
"Among other things, you'll find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know. Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now. Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles. You'll learn from them--if you want to. Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you. It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement. And it isn't education. It's history. It's poetry."
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The Catcher in the Rye
"Do you know what I was smiling at? You wrote down that you were a writer by profession. It sounded to me like the loveliest euphemism I had ever heard. When was writing ever your profession? It's never been anything but your religion."
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Seymour: An Introduction
"The connection was so bad, and I couldn't talk at all during most of the call. How terrible it is when you say I love you and the person at the other end shouts back 'What?'"
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Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
"You're lucky if you get time to sneeze in this goddam phenomenal world."
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Franny and Zooey
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I totally assumed he was already dead from a long time ago :|
I love that first quote. I've been thinking about reading The Catcher in the Rye... Which of Salinger's books do you recommend I read first?
January 29, 2010 at 9:06 PM@Kaylee: I would definitely start with The Catcher in the Rye. Then after that, probably his short stories in Nine Stories (my favorite is "A Perfect Day for Bananafish") and the rest of the Glass family, Franny and Zoey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.
January 30, 2010 at 11:52 AM