"I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work." Reclusive author J. D. Salinger today celebrates his 90th birthday. [more inside]
posted by Knappster on Jan 1, 2009 - 73 comments

Read J.D. Salinger's "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" if you're bored at work this week (or stuck in a Mexican hotel). And when you're done with that dig into the rest (with a couple of exceptions) of Salinger's published work.
posted by cmaxmagee on Jan 16, 2005 - 50 comments

What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though.

Holden Caulfield in Catcher In The Rye

J.D. Salinger did not quite agree but then, if you can't hang out with his secretive self, or any other chosen literary icon, you can build her or him a fitting shrine or two or three. It's not quite Smoking Dope with Thomas Pynchon but...
posted by y2karl on Mar 26, 2004 - 13 comments

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where all these profits came from, and why all these acquisitions went sour, what our net income is, and why WorldCom stock prices are in the toilet, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth." Holden Caulfield, caught up in the boom.
posted by luser on Aug 20, 2002 - 7 comments

Happy birthday, Holden. Catcher in the Rye turns 50 years old today.
posted by honkzilla on Jul 16, 2001 - 31 comments