J.D. Salinger

Today J.D. Salinger died at age 91 after living in complete seclusion for over 45 years. I can't even imagine what that must have been like, but I do know that his writing is extremely unique and shaped much of my teenage years. I remember first hearing about Salinger when I was about 15 years old. I overheard someone talking about a controversial book named "Catcher in the Rye" that was neither in the school library, or taught by any teacher at our school. I remember immediately being somewhat drawn to a book that teachers (and possibly parents) didn't want students to read. I went to the city library and they had the book, so I checked it out. I'll admit though, I never got around to reading it. I almost forgot completely about Salinger and my initial interest in his literature until the night before the A.P. English test my senior year of high school. I was at my dear friend Colby Seegmiller's house just hanging out (like I usually did at that time) when he gave me the book "Franny and Zooey" to read. I hadn't done hardly any studying for the test, nor did I have a book that I knew well enough for an exam to write about the following day...so I sat down and read the book until I finished. I was mesmerized. I think it was the first time I ever really paid attention to grammar in a book (which may sound silly, but it's true and oh well), and the content really made an impact on the way I thought. I got up off my bed after that and wrote about 9 pages in my journal until 4 or 5 AM about all the thoughts I had, and what I thought this and that meant, etc. I passed the A.P. test with using Franny as an example. I went to Barnes and Noble the day after that and bought all his books and read them that summer. Since then I've had some pretty great conversations with Colby about the things that we like most, the parts that make us think, the parts that make us cry. Thanks J.D. Salinger. RIP.

"For all that "The Catcher in the Rye" made him famous, "Franny and Zooey" is Salinger's masterpiece, an evocation of loss and longing within the bonds of family. Composed of two novellas, it introduces the youngest members of the Glass family, about whom Salinger would devote more than half of his published work."
Los Angeles Times

"The studio audience were all morons, the announcer was a moron, the sponsors were all morons, and I damn well wasn't going to shine my shoes for them, I told Seymour. He said to shine them anyway. He said to shine them for the Fat Lady. I didn't know what the hell he was talking about but he had a very Seymour look on his face , and so I did it. He never did tell me who the Fat Lady was.....But I'll tell you a terrible secret--Are you listening to me? There isn't anyone out there who isn't Seymour's Fat Lady....And don't you know who that Fat Lady really is? . . . Ah, Buddy. It's Christ. Christ himself."
Franny and Zooey

"My last guest had evidently let himself out of the apartment. Only his empty glass, and his cigar end in the pewter ashtray, indicated that he ever existed. I still rather think that his cigar end should have been forwarded on to Seymour, the usual run of wedding gifts being what it is. Just the cigar, in a small, nice box. Possibly with a blank sheet of paper enclosed, by way of explanation."
Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters