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ACU Frank

JD Salinger just died. Is it too soon to discuss A Catcher In The Rye's place among America's most overrated books?

(Hint: It comes just after everything written by Ayn Rand.)

ACU Frank

(I added that last part for Sharon.)

Sharon McKnight SPHR

Frank,

Well, I have to say that you just made me, truly, laugh out loud. What a hoot. Maybe I should send you a copy of the paper I wrote for school about how Ayn Rand took the ideals she expressed in her writing to such an extreme that she ruined peoples lives. I enjoy her fiction but am not blind to her faults. But, oh how I enjoy debating Ms. Rand and her writing with you. Too much fun.

Now, about [I]Catcher in the Rye[/I]. What a load of hooey! Even at the tender age of 15 (when I first read it) I could see it was one big whine. How it ever got to be such a big deal, I'll never understand. I'd much rather read a good pirate tale. Speaking of which, have you ever read [I]Wyvern[/I] by A.A. Attanasio? Wonderful pirate tale. You should check it out.

If you'd like more book recommendations, just let me know. I'll read almost anything.

Sharon

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ha.. I was just driving home tonight thinking about "Catcher In The Rye" and wondering what was so special about the book. Maybe I need to reread it.

If we are talking books, I just finished two science fiction classics "Ender's Game" and "Ender's Shadow" by Orson Scott Card. Definitely worth a look if you enjoy science fiction (and I really dont but I enjoyed these).

My next book is "Heaven" by Randy Alcorn.

ACU Frank

Ender's Game was excellent. I haven't moved to Shadow yet. My next read will be Contortionist's Handbook by Craig Clevenger. It's psychodrama fiction, not to be confused with the other Contortionist's Handbook, which is literally a guide for people who want to be contortionists. I would not have expected there to be such a thing if Amazon had not asked me if that was the one I wanted.

NaeNae55

Now see? My thought when I first starting reading your post was, "Why does he want to learn how to be a contortionist?" Glad you clarified. ::pb&J::

Still Need Coffee

I'm so glad some of you have discovered the Ender series!! I'm not a huge SciFi fan, but those books are wonderful - a former professor got me hooked on them, and it didn't take long before I was through the whole series. Orson Scott Card had a lot of foresight with the early books, and I think some of the themes represented in there about mankind are just fascinating.

I just finished a book by Alice Sebold (known for The Lovely Bones) called The Almost Moon. It was one of the most disturbing books I've ever read...

I must admit I never read Catcher in the Rye - sounds like I'm not missing much...

Paul in Cannon Beach

Coffee,

Do you recommend I continue on the series? If so, what comes next?

Personally I found Ender's Game both fascinating and disturbing. It was written 25 years ago but you wouldn't know it by the reference to the "nets" and what appears to be an Apple iPad that the students use for "desks".

There is something very real and timely about what Card was discussing and it stays with you.

Still Need Coffee

Paul, you should absolutely continue - by the 7th or 8th book, it starts to get a little strange, but absorbing nonetheless.

I would do the series in order, as it chronicle's Ender's aging - let me know what you think! After looking it up, it seems there are a few books that were published after I read the series, so I have something to look forward to!

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ender's_Game_series[/url]

Paul in Cannon Beach

Ok, I will keep going. I might take a break for awhile and read something a little different.