2) The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger (.co.uk, .com)
Another one of my reading resolutions. It is mercifully short, which is the best thing I can say about it. Holden Caulfield is a spoilt teenager of the east coast elite; he keeps getting thrown out of expensive boarding schools for doing no work. He is an unattractive character; he learns nothing in the course of the book (a narrative of a couple of days hiding from his family in New York); it’s rather difficult to see why his mentors waste much time on him. In addition I found no common ground whatever with his easy access to money and confidence with girls as a sixteen-year-old; my experience was much closer to Brian Jackson’s in Starter for Ten. So I am mystified by why this has achieved the cult status that it has, and am left wondering again if there is something about American (non-sf) writing that I have simply failed to grasp.
Top UnSuggestions for this book:
- The supremacy of God in preaching by John Piper
- God’s passion for His glory by John Piper
- Path of the fury by David Weber
- Dark destiny by Christine Feehan
- The Valley of vision by Arthur G. Bennett
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