Lisa’s
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(group member since Sep 23, 2009)
Lisa’s
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from the Should have read classics group.
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Hello and welcome to the group Sarah and Mary! I hope that you enjoy the group and find some wonderful classics!
I know that this synopsis is from Wikipedia, so take that with a grain of salt. I thought that it was helpful for some of the history of the book.The Catcher in the Rye
Rye catcher.jpg
First edition cover
Author J. D. Salinger
Cover artist E. Michael Mitchell[1][2]
Country United States
Language English
Genre Novel
Published July 16, 1951 (Little, Brown and Company)
Media type Print (hardback & paperback)
Pages 220
ISBN 0-316-76953-3
OCLC 287628
The Catcher in the Rye is a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger.[3] Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation.[4][5] It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages.[6] Around 250,000 copies are sold each year with total sales of more than 65 million books.[7] The novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, has become an icon for teenage rebellion.[8]
The novel was included on Time's 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923,[9] and it was named by Modern Library and its readers as one of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century.[10][11][12] In 2003 it was listed at number 15 on the BBC's survey The Big Read.[13] The novel also deals with complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation.
Writing style
The Catcher in the Rye is written in a subjective style from the point of view of its protagonist, Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought processes. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events, such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences.
Critical reviews agree that the novel accurately reflected the teenage colloquial speech of the time.[15] Words and phrases that appear frequently include:
"Phony": Superficial, hypocritical, and pretentious
"That killed me": I found that hilarious or astonishing
"Flit": Homosexual
"Crumby": Inadequate, insufficient, and/or disappointing
"Snowing": sweet-talking
"I got a bang out of that": I found it hilarious or exciting
"Shoot the bull": Have a conversation containing false elements
"Give her the time": sexual intercourse
Controversy
In 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Oklahoma was fired for assigning the novel in class; he was later reinstated.[27] Between 1961 and 1982, The Catcher in the Rye was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States.[28] The book was banned in the Issaquah, Washington high schools in 1978 as being part of an "overall communist plot."[29] In 1981 it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States.[30] According to the American Library Association, The Catcher in the Rye was the tenth most frequently challenged book from 1990 to 1999.[10] It was one of the ten most challenged books of 2005,[31] and although it had been off the list for three years, it reappeared in the list of most challenged books of 2009.[32]
The challenges generally begin with Holden's frequent use of vulgar language,[33][34] with other reasons including sexual references,[35] blasphemy, undermining of family values[34] and moral codes,[36] Holden's being a poor role model,[37] encouragement of rebellion,[38] and promotion of drinking, smoking, lying, and promiscuity.[36] Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.[28] Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that the challengers "are being just like Holden... They are trying to be catchers in the rye."[34] A reverse effect has been that this incident caused people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when there were none before.[39]
Several shootings have been associated with the novel, including Robert John Bardo's shooting of Rebecca Schaeffer and John Hinckley, Jr.'s assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. Following Mark David Chapman's shooting of John Lennon, Chapman was arrested with a copy of the book that he had purchased that day, inside which he had written, "To Holden Caulfield, From Holden Caulfield, This is my statement".[40][41]
In 2009, Salinger successfully sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man.[25][42] The novel's author, Fredrik Colting, commented, "call me an ignorant Swede, but the last thing I thought possible in the U.S. was that you banned books."[43] The issue is complicated by the nature of Colting's book, 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, which has been compared to fan fiction.[44] Although commonly not authorized by writers, no legal action is usually taken[45] against fan fiction since it is rarely published commercially and thus involves no profit. Colting, however, has published his book commercially. Unauthorized fan fiction on The Catcher in the Rye existed on the Internet for years without any legal action taken by Salinger before his death.[44]
Hello and welcome Sonya and Jami! I hope that this group helps you find some great classics to read. Enjoy!
This is the group read for March 2014. This is another book that I read in high school and I don't remember much about it, except some vague memory about climbing a tree. I hope that you enjoy the book!
How about starting a nomination list now for the next few months?
Hello and welcome Fernanda, Heather and Vinnie. I hope that you enjoy the group and I must say that Vinnie, your English is wonderful, so don't worry about that. Happy reading!
I have wondered if Fitzgerald made Gatsby a war hero to try and gain some respectability for his character? Or to try and bring down the idea of a war hero, to one of a normal human being?
Elizabeth wrote: "Hi guys! My name's Elizabeth. I'm an english major and believe it or not this is the first time I join a book club but I've been wanting to for some time now...What better way to do it than online!..."Hello and welcome Elizabeth, I'm glad that you joined our club! I hope that you enjoy it!
Christina wrote: "This month I have read: The House of Seven Gables, Xenocide, Children of the Mind, Oliver Twist, and [book:the curious incident of the dog in the ..."If you would like to start a buddy read, there is a folder for it in the discussion threads. I think that you can open up your own thread, if not let me know and I will do it for you. We had some spammers before and I had to put a stop to letting group members opening a thread, but buddy reads are great fun!
Hello and welcome Wyllow and Tammie! I hope that you enjoy the group,and I'm from Colorado also!
This month we are doing something different with the childrens read. We are going to focus on the author, Roald Dahl. You can either read one or multiple books by him. I hope that you enjoy this different format this month and as always, happy reading!
Hello and welcome Diana and Ryan! I think that we might be reading some Austin soon, so I hope that you stick around for that! Happy reading!
I finally finished and I enjoyed this book more this time than the previous ones. I liked how Fitzgerald used the seasons and weather to set up the book.
Hello and welcome Elizabeth, Carter, Amber, Paola, Bebs, Zoe and Christina! It is great to have you join and I hope that you enjoy the club! Happy reading!
Sharon wrote: "I read this one several years ago, and I read it back-to-back with C.S. Lewis's Abolition of Man. The two of them taken together were a great combination for digesting what 1984 was about, and ever..."I have not read that C.S. Lewis book, you makes me interested in finding it.
Alright, let's do March as Dahl month. It will be a read any book and then I will start a thread in the children's read folder. This should be fun!
Hello and welcome Rb, Sherri and Sharon! Rb- After being in this group, I realized that I was absolutely clueless as a teen.
I hope that all of you enjoy the group!
I forgot that this book had unrequited love in it. Totally forgot about Gatsby and Daisy's past history. I really need to rethink every book review that I posted on books I read before my 20's.
Isobel wrote: "I'm about half way through now. Really enjoying it. My favourite part is the the guy in the library who has been drunk for a week. It seems that he is a significant character but I'm not sure of wh..."I found the idea that he was surprised that the books on the shelf were real, funny and rather sad. It seems a sad commentary that one would try to fool the world with fake, cardboard books instead of real ones. Maybe, that was another idea for the scene?
