Catcher in the Rye

I finished Catcher in the Rye this weekend, my third reading of the book. I have to say, I totally understand why some people might not appreciate or like this book, but I love it. I absolutely love Holden Caufield even though he's kinda a jerk and really immature. His sense of humor and voice is just so classic and adorable. Love it!

"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." - p 18 Yes, Holden, I agree. That would knock me out too :)

One of the great ironies of the book is that Holden is fighting against his inevitable fate. He doesn't want to grow up because he sees all grown ups as "phony" and ...well, jerks. Newsflash Holden - you're a jerk too!! The meaning of the title (it's very complicated) is that he wants to catch children to save them from growing up. He fights so hard against what he's becoming but he can't turn back. It's heartbreaking, but his voice and his sense of humor is so poignant and so different that it's kind of interesting to follow him around in his journey.

I really loved his little sister Phoebe - I think she was like 10 or something but she seemed older in the way she talked. She was one of the only characters who shot Holden straight and kind of held him accountable. And one of the only characters he respected.

One of the best things about re-re-reading this book is I was big into underlining and writing in books when I read this book last. I remember I finished it my first week in Ireland... and reading it again with all the annotations and connotations to where I was last time I read it was kind of nostalgic. It was like finding little notes from myself in the past. Very cool.

On to Outlander by Diana Gabaldon... some girls at my book club were raving about it and as weird as it sounded, I realized my most favorite books, if boiled down to a synopsis sound a little weird too so where there's excitement and enthusiasm about a book, that's where I go.