From the Bookshelf of Breaking The Code To The Catcher In The Rye…

The 39 Steps (Richard Hannay, #1)

John Buchan

Start date: March 1, 2014

Finish date: April 30, 2014

Why we're reading this: The movie The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock was based on this book. Holden takes his sister to see it 10 t…more
[close] The movie The 39 Steps by Alfred Hitchcock was based on this book. Holden takes his sister to see it 10 times. Is is significant to watch the movie and read the book in order to break the code to The Catcher In The Rye

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Jan 15, 2014 Cosmic Arcata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: classics, favorites

"He had played about with politics, he told me, at first for the interest of them, and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him as a sharp, restless fellow, who always wanted to get down to the roots of things. He got a little further down than he wanted.

"I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident; it fasci "He had played about with politics, he told me, at first for the interest of them, and then because he couldn't help himself. I read him as a sharp, restless fellow, who always wanted to get down to the roots of things. He got a little further down than he wanted.

"I am giving you what he told me as well as I could make it out. Away behind all the Governments and the armies there was a big subterranean movement going on, engineered by very dangerous people. He had come on it by accident; it fascinated him; he went further, and then he got caught. I gathered that most of the people in it were the sort of educated anarchists that make revolutions, but that beside them there were financiers who were playing for money. A clever man can make big profits on a falling market, and it suited the book of both classes to set Europe by the ears.

"He told me some queer things that explained a lot that had puzzled me—things that happened in the Balkan War, how one state suddenly came out on top, why alliances were made and broken, why certain men disappeared, and where the sinews of war came from. The aim of the whole conspiracy was to get Russia and Germany at loggerheads.

When I asked why, he said that the anarchist lot thought it would give them their chance. Everything would be in the melting-pot, and they looked to see a new world emerge. The capitalists would rake in the shekels, and make fortunes by buying up wreckage. Capital, he said, had no conscience and no fatherland. "

I read this book because it was mentioned in The Catcher In The Rye. I watched the movie first but realized the book was a very different story. I think this game is the one that Holden is referring to on page 8.
"What'd he say to you?"
"Oh...well, about Life being a game and all. And how you should play it according to the rules. He was pretty nice about it. Imean he didn't hit the ceiling or anything. He just kept talking about Life being a game and all. You know."
"Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules."
"Yes, sir. I know it is. I know it."
Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right- I'll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game." - The Catcher in the Rye
When Holden tries to get a good good bye he is throwing a foot football with two other guys. A teacher opens the window p.5 his name is Mr. Zambesi.

"I told Sir Walter about tiger-fish in Zambesi that bite off your fingers if you give them a chance and we discussed sports up and down the globe." 39 steps

I think this refers back to page 4 in The Catcher In The Rye..."I only had on my reversible and no gloves or anything. The week before that, somebody'd stolen my camel hair coat right out of my room, with m fur-lined gloves right in the poket and all. Pencey was ful of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has - I'm not kidding." The Catcher in the Rye

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Apr 17, 2014 Cosmic Arcata rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

I did a Buddy Read here:

https://www.goodreads.com/topic/show/...

The book was very good! It is mentioned in the Catcher in The Rye. It gives more evidence that the Catcher is a book that is coded. And it was in the Catcher because the book is about a conspiracy of power to undermine people's freedom and to create wars for profit.

This is the first place that I have heard the term New World (Order). ...more

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