Jerome David Salinger, you were a gifted and weird man who, in the end, wanted nothing more than to be left alone, but thanks for writing the greatest coming-of-age novel of all time. I read The Catcher in the Rye for the first time when I was about fourteen and absolutely loved it, the whole thing- the tone, Holden, the narrative, everything. It's pretty amazing that a book written in 1951 can still knock the breath of teenagers with its poignancy decades later. I later read Salinger's other work and enjoyed it almost as much, especially the compilation Nine Stories with the haunting "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."oh, and here's a letter from Salinger explaining why he wasn't selling movie rights for The Catcher in the Rye. (link blatantly stolen from Kelly's facebook page)
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A friend and I were discussing the fact that he lived to the ripe old age of 92. We came to the conclusion that writing a book wherein you basically call the world a bunch of morons, then go into hiding, is an excellent way to live a long life :-)
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