Well, Gabrielle, it's certainly not true in all cases -- just some cases -- that your tastes take a drastic change with age.
For instance, when I was a young man, I went through a big Hermann Hesse stage where I devoured everything the man wrote. I thought he was the second coming of Shakespeare or something. I especially enjoyed a lesser work of his, Peter Camenzind. Three years ago I reread PC and no, I didn't loathe it, but I did say to myself, "What was I thinking?" I should place quotations around "I," though, because it was almost as if "I" was another person.
As for The Catcher in the Rye, it's funny you bring it up. I loved that book, too, and at an even younger age than the Hesse stuff. It was with great trepidation that I tried it again a few years ago because I honestly expected the magic would be gone.
But eureka! I loved it as much as ever. And I noticed things that I didn't as a kid -- like how Salinger set it at Christmas time and how he slipped in some (not only still current, but more so) anti-commercialism in there. It's not unusual for people to get depressed at this time of year and this book about nails it in that respect.
Hey, how can you spank a depressed kid? He's clinical, but funny as hell. He's also spot on. What's weird (if you make the link from Holden to Jerome David himself) is how he would grow up to be so weird. You know, hiding out from the phonies in the New Hampshire woods.
It was Salinger in that book, by the way, who brought up the idea of phoning an author when you finish a book you really love -- similar to a neighboring CR thread here about writing an author ("Have You Ever Written an Author After Reading a Book?").
My question is, "Have you ever written a DEAD author after loving (or, maybe even more entertaining, LOATHING) his or her book?" Now THAT would make for a creative and entertaining thread (unless, of course, it was frowned upon as "distasteful"). I think I'd write to Nat King Hawthorne for starters. I still haven't forgiven him the Scarlet Letter my English teacher refused to give me junior year.... I got a B, as I recall. It was vermilion. ]]>
Try Kate's Buttermilk (I can drink it straight up) and kefir (ditto) if you prefer your dairy with a tinge of sour. ]]>
Never read them, but once saw them on TV as I passed through the channels (Poldark was reason to pass quickly). ]]>
The Boredoms of Blueberry Begin ]]>
Park (RIP) ]]>
Newengland
added a quote:
"This is the Hour of Lead --
Remembered, if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the Snow --
First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go --" — Emily Dickinson
"This is the Hour of Lead --
Remembered, if outlived,
As freezing persons recollect the Snow --
First -- Chill -- then Stupor -- then the letting go --" — Emily Dickinson
bookshelves: currently-reading
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