Wondering, to what level I’ll climb on the ladder of contempt for a candidate, and her characterless husband. Wondering if character should trump brilliance when the brilliance doesn’t belong to the candidate, but to a few leftover policies from a time when there was a reported, though not true, budget surplus.
Wondering, if I’ll have to vote for her.
Wondering, how those who voted for Bush feel after reading the Center for Public Integrity Report, The War Card: Orchestrated Deception on the Path to War. I also wonder if they understand there was a detrimental economy card right in front of them, and if they feel responsible for “voting in” the death of The American Dream. I also wondering how those who did not vote feel about their contribution to the demise of the dream.
Wondering why, as tragic as Heath Ledger’s death is, it concerns people more than the U.S. mortality rate, the second highest in the modern world.
I wonder why “The Catcher in the Rye” always makes “the list”. It is among the top ten fiction reads on Good Reads for the year 2007, only one of many lists it makes annually.
1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
2. The Kite Runner
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns
4. To Kill a Mockingbird
5. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
6. The Catcher in the Rye
7. Middlesex
8. The Da Vinci Code
9. Water for Elephants
10. The Great Gatsby
I understand the list, but have never understood the obsession with “The Catcher in the Rye”. It wasn’t particularly good; I know, I read it three times trying to see the greatness. Though I’ve enjoyed some great first person narratives, “The Catcher in the Rye” was never among my favorites, as a matter of fact it bottomed the list. I just couldn’t get there. My literary judgment may stink, or it could be that teenage angst neither impressed, or interested me, even as a teenager. If an angst ridden tragedy of youth is what people are looking for why they don’t read “Crime and Punishment” is beyond me.
It’s no wonder this country is in such a state.
When…
“I was half in love with her by the time we sat down. That’s the thing about girls. Every time they do something pretty, even if they’re not much to look at, or even if they’re sort of stupid, you fall half in love with them, and then you never know where the hell you are. Girls. Jesus Christ. They can drive you crazy. They really can.”
trumps…
He looked at Sonia and sensed how much her love was on him; strangely, it suddenly felt weary and painful to be loved like that–a strange and terrible sensation!
we’re in trouble.
Peace
Don’t forget to check out a geek girl’s quest to talk to Diane Sawyer at SBF.
I read Catcher in the Rye while in high school, not for any class, but because it always made the list – of banned books. I wasn’t so terribly impressed either. All I remember is it was at least authentic. The book is read regularly in English classes in Germany.
You are right, those of us who never voted in the lead up in the last elections, where we still had a chance to influence things, are partly responsible. We are responsible for our inactivity. The first time I voted was when I turned 18, and I was proud to do so (in 1980). The next time was in 2004, when it was probably already too late. But at least I can have a clear conscience.
Personally, I always read Catcher in the Rye for Phoebe Caulfield, Holden’s sister. Mark Twain once wrote she was “the best example of childhood in literature” which I always thought was impressive for a minor character who doesn’t even show up until well into the book. She doesn’t have so much of an arc as a reliable stanchion of characteristics that contrast that of her brother. Her devotion to her family, her willingness to overlook all those qualities in people that Holden simply cannot look past, and her maturity provide for me at least a complex personality that is far more compelling than the narrator.
In both high school and college I’ve written essays expounding on Twain’s assessment and how it still holds up to this day. I read Catcher probably every three years or so, and the highlight is always seeing something new in Miss Phoebe Caulfield that I never managed to catch before.
Phoebe ranks right up there with Edda Burber in terms of flesh-and-bone protagonists who transcend the boundaries of their medium.
To skip voting isn’t the answer, we’ve seen that.
I read Catcher in the Rye in middle school. In middle school it read pretty well. It remains a middle school book, something useful to explain a form of writing to students. I don’t have it on any of my lists either.
I will read Crime and Punishment,one day. I Promise.
I don’t understand why or how any of the Harry Potter series makes it onto any Top 10 literature list – unless it’s just for sheer volume of sales. Deathly Hallows collapses unto itself, especially the death of Snapes – which any 7th grader could have written. And perhaps did.
Frankly, my Top 10 looks very different from you have. Mockingbird is there. Gatsby and DaVinci probably should be. Today, I think everyone’s reading list should include Luo Guanzhong’s Three Kingdoms. Tomorrow, perhaps The Faerie Queen. So many choices.
But there is one choice you need not make: to vote or to not vote… for HRC.
Her husband may well be without good character, but he’s not alone. And there are times when one should not be forced to hold thine nose whilst pulling the lever in the voting booth. If she’s the only choice we are given aside from whoever comes out ahead from the gang of 4 on the gooper portion, I may just as well write in someone else’s name as a protest vote.
Damn Bill Richardson and his wimpiness!
Love the post…like the morning news, only personalized.
Catcher in the Rye…I have never read but just maybe it caught fire at a particular time when it resonated. Now…it’s probably just momentum…now that you have mentioned it’s popularity, I am tempted to have a look!
I never got Catcher in the Rye, either. And I never got people who got Catcher in the Rye. The whole thing is just one big, damn mystery.
Rye: never read completely (bored maybe) but I have a copy.
Harry Potter is good reading? (Never read or watched it.)
I think the Dems will come down to Feb 5th or later. Just a thought. Are you going to “personally” support Barack? (At the political offices, that sorta thing.)
I apologized, best I thought I should, to Beth.
A question: how do you feel about “that issue” pertaining to me?
Wait a minute, Mojo. Mark Twain wrote that about a character who appeared 41 years after he disappeared? Did he get an advanced advanced copy?
Cooper, I agree about Catcher in The Rye. It’s ok, but I don’t get the religious importance.
Now I’m thinking, Doug, that quote may have been in reference to Anne Shirley which would fit the time period. It just never occurred to me that Twain actually died before Catcher in the Rye. LOL
You’d think one of the three teachers I wrote essays for would have caught that. It was a minor quote I utilized as a preamble to my essay and not the crux of my arguments, but the faux pas should have raised some flags.
I wish I’d written your first paragraph. I’m wondering, too. Just listening to NPR today really had me going. I have avoided writing about “it” to this point quite effectively but am cringing over the idea that something awful could come of it all.
Was never expected to read Catcher in the Rye and picked it up a few times as an adult, but never got into it. As far as the other books on the list are concerned, I’d like to see a few more obscure. I get tired of being told I should read books everyone else has read.
Hmm, never read catcher in the rye, but I did just read The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides which is kinda making me want to read Middlesex… Has anyone here read it?
Jake – I’ve read Middlesex…it is a very good read; but it requires your full attention. It is exceptionally written and I’ve never read anything like it before in my life…truly a worthwhile read…
Great post. Doug took my comment as I was totally baffled by that
Teenage angst is the most boring angst. I realized that too long ago though I tried to write a book about it as I was so good at it. Bored by my own angst.
Most truly great memoirs that appear to be about teenage angst are really about childhood and observations that have stuck with the character. I’m just not into it
inde:Unfortunately authentic and genius are often thought of as synonymous, good for me as I’m rather an original, bad for literature. ;)
casey: promises promises.
sk:I can’t argue. Well I can, but I’m tired as school beats most arguments out of me these days.
I stopped reading the Harry Potter stuff years ago, it’s a matter of time more than anything, time is so limited I don’t want to waste it on those books right now.
Adrian: It’s often considered one of the best 100 books, in English anyway, of our time and makes most lists of must read books. I think it was because it was untimely, had a lot of “bad words”, some sexually explicit language, was therefore banned on and off from everywhere at one time or another. I believe there have been billions of better books written since and personally could live without it.
Dedd: Not “getting” those who “get” “Catcher in the Rye”, is what makes you so special dedd.
Jason: Don’t bother, read “Crime and Punishment” or “Huck Finn”. I’m sure Beth understands, she seems sensible. Obviously at times it makes me wonder, but it seems as though you have come to terms with it and are fighting the demos as best you can, which is better than letting the demons out or allowing them to consume you, or others in the wake.
Doug: You are a smart man. See, I knew you weren’t really a dog.
MoJo: I paid so little attention to Phoebe, most likely because I never gave a crap about Holden. I can see why you would find her interesting though.
kellypea: I have decided one must belong to the cult of the cool to think that book is worthy off all the attention it gets. Late middle school -early high school is the time to read it, I swear if you don’t get it then you won’t get it, I never got it but I already explained that.
Jake: I liked “Virgin Suicides” better, but enjoyed them both. You would probably like “A Hundred Years Of Solitude” if you are in to family saga, tragedy and comedy all rolled into something spectacular.
Pia: Doug is the taker of all the good commentary, isn’t he.
Maybe I’m a clever dog, Cooper.
Mojo, know you know what I always suspected. Our teachers no more read our papers than we read their assignments.
Does that mean I was never as smart as they led me to believe, and they were never as stupid as I thought? You mean they were just LAZY, and perhaps just wanted to sit down to dinner with their family and watch “Masterpiece Theater”, or “The Simpson’s”.
I’m scared of heights, or I’d be higher on that ladder right now.
Hey, I don’t diss Heathcliff, or Natalya Rostova and Boris do I?
Naw your right, “The Catcher in the Rye” is no “Life of Pi”.
;)
Re: Teachers not reading their students’ work
Well, actually, there was one time in my Junior year where I happened to be having breakfast at the same time as one of my English instructors. We got to talking and she asked if I had my paper for her class. Now I thought I’d written a decent paper–God knows I was acing her class so I wasn’t worried that I didn’t have a clue about the topic. Well, I gave it to her and she proceeded to grade it right then and there.
A scant seven minutes later I see her sprawling a perfect score as the grade across the front page.
“One less paper for me to grade this weekend, you know?” she told me as she left for her office.
Now I’m not saying there was any impropriety going on because I worked my ass off for that class, as I did with all my English courses, high school and college. But it was the one instance where I think my reputation as a great paper writer/average test taker preceded me. Like I said, I liked the paper, but there was no way she could have read the entire thing in detail as she supposedly was doing with the rest of the class. I honestly think she had my grade in mind before even reading word one based on my previous work and work habits.
I’ve always wondered if other teachers, indeed, teachers everywhere really pigeonhole their students to a degree and use previous efforts as the template for grading current work. I know they’ve always said stuff like “I’ve seen you do better and you’re just not trying hard enough.” But I wonder if they’ve ever thought to themselves, “Well, he’s done good work in the past and I don’t really want to spend all night reading this, so I’ll just give him the benefit of the doubt and assume it’s up to his usual standards.”
I’ll come back here and vote for Steppenwolf over Catcher in the Rye.
Cooper he’s one smart dawg
But this post is very inspirational
If I wait long enough I get to read a great post and some very entertaining commentary.
Congrats on the first paragraph.
“Steppenwolf ” it is. Isn’t everything we read in some form or other about liberation of the soul?
I couldn’t make a list ot ten.
There is much to suspect teachers of skipping a read once in awhile. I know my high school English Lit teacher would just breeze through papers of kids who seemed on track while spending more time really reading the papers of kids who were having trouble.
Now that the Times endorsed Hillary–all five people–my family–friends were always for him— I talked into voting for Obama will listen to The Times
Can’t help but think he can help unify this country and we need healing
Budget surpluses? When I took Economics in college–my first economic class–were taught that a government could never owe money to itself
It’s really the way the stats are manipulated and that’s so easy
COOPER! What a hoot!
I always enjoy coming to your site and you have a pretty avid and righteous fan following – as rightly you should.
I read “Catcher In the Rye” – blah, my favorite Salinger book is “Franny & Zooey” (originally published in the New Yorker as two separate short stories).
What gets me is the tripe that made the list who are they polling anyway?- Rowlings, Brown, wonder how Hosseini got picked twice?, Middlesex was a gift and I haven’t read it yet (after reading what Marvulus said – it will be the next one in line), Fitzgerald, yes, but I think “Tender is the Night” far out weighs Gatsby as well as “This Side of Paradise”. And why the hell isn’t Ayn Rand (and a hundred more I could list) in the top ten? Enough book reviewing let’s get down to the nitty gritty.
Quite honestly, I can’t seem to be able to choose a candidate that I would vote for amongst this paltry and pathetic group. But I can tell you whom we shouldn’t vote for and that is the Clintonians nor that homophobic former Baptist Sinister, oops, Minister. (I can feel the hate mail coming).
I like some other(s) might just end up voting for Barack – and that’s coming from a dyed-in-the-wool-Republican who has morphed into a Republindecrat – my father is now rolling in his grave – but I see no one else on the slate that really gets me excited, well, quasi-excited.
Enough – you all have better things to do.
Ayn Rand doesn’t belong in any top 10, except perhaps that of Alan Greenspan (and he’d have 20 Ayn Rand books in his top 10).
Heathcliff makes me want to go find my Kate Bush cd. …
I never liked “Catcher . . .”. It struck me as an adolescent, idiotic, whiny brat of a book. It is full of “poor little rich boy” angst, and really doesn’t belong on any top-ten list.
But that’s just my opinion :P
Inde: I’ll call and throw in Gulliver’s Travels and Siddhartha.
Pia: It doesn’t take much with Dogs.
Yea, The Times sinks lower in my book every day.
John: Can’t say I blame them, yawn.
Morgan; I think I’ve pointed it out before but people come here to read the comments, not the post so much.
I’ve never read “Franny and Zoe”.
That list was from good reads, as the top ten read this year…
But many of the lists list Catcher,,,strange. I think it’s by habit.
OMG……………….a Republican in Wonderland or Not………………
Yes, I have a few more doughnuts to eat.
SK: Is it a Liberal aversion you have for Rand SK?
I will never show you my bookshelf.
I love “Wuthering Heights”, at the time I read it.
Coyote: Yes, and for that fact it bored me to tears.
Having grown up in a career military family what would you expect I was – emphasis on the was. You’ll learn more when I launch two new sites!
sauerkraut – Have you ever read “The Fountainhead” by Rand? If not, then read it – you might just change your opinion.
cooper – it really is “Franny & Zooey” in it’s original state.
casey – you might wish to read Tolstoy’s “Anna Karena” just to get the flavor of Russian writers before you jump into Dostoevsky. I also, in the same vein, encourage you to read Solzhenitsyn, but not his seminal work ” The Gulag Archipelago” but rather his “The Red Wheel”.
No you do not have to vote for our sweet Hillary. If she wins the nomination, I will not vote for her. It becomes write in vote time. The democrats are going to win, the question is by how much. Write in a prospect for the 2012 election as a push to promt a candidate to enter that race as either a Democrat or Independent. Of course that is chancy strategy but there is an answer. There is an answer to every problem, it just takes scratching your ass and head long enough till the bulb goes off. The answer is vote late in the day when the returns will be showing landslide or no landslide. Then you can comfortably follow above strategy guilt free. You will also be slaping her in the face. Think about that. Dare to soar over that ladder of contempt and feel proud and pleased.
KAK