The Catcher in The RyeI have read three books since my last review in May. I read The Ghosts of Spain by Giles Tremlett, Memories of My Melancholy Whores by Gabriel Garcia Marquez and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. I could easily be suggesting any one of these three books, but given the history The Catcher in the Rye gets the nod.
I first bought this book from a used bookstore in Cedar Rapids. I don't remember how old I was, but I know that I walked to the bookstore, so I'm guessing around 13 or 14. The bookstore was called Basically Books and it was in the same strip mall that The Video Station used to be in. I picked up the book having heard of it, but having never read it. When I took it to the counter to ask about the price the woman at the checkout went into some rant about how she couldn't believe that I had found a hardback copy of the book in her store. Apparently this was a rare copy of the book and since I had found it first she would let me have it for $5. This is notwithstanding the fact that the first page had been torn out. Like a sucker for a good deal I bought the book thinking I would someday sell it back for my early retirement (I had just recently gotten out of baseball cards where everything had the potential to one day make you rich...I'm still waiting for that damn Ken Griffey Jr. rookie card to make me a millionaire, clumsy bastard). Needless to say I have since seen the hardback version that I purchased in nearly every other used bookstore in the Cedar Rapids/Iowa City area. The one difference being that the other copies have all of their pages intact.
I re-read the book this past week in order to prepare for teaching it to my group of 10th graders next year. I had forgotten how good of a book it was. Salinger gives the teacher a hand as Holden, the narrator, makes comparisons between himself and other literary heroes such as David Copperfield, Eustacia Vye and Lt. Henry.
Stadium Arcadium
I have already heard the complaints about the new Chili Peppers album, its too commercial, its too poppy or that they have sold out. If you line up their previous efforts I would beeline straight for Mother's Milk or Blood Sugar Sex Magik. Its not that I didn't like Californication or By The Way, I just thought that they were boring. Stadium Arcadium is poppy and it is commercial and I don't care. I don't think that commercialization is necessarily a bad thing. Commercialization is simply appealing to a mass audience, be it for better or for worse. Selling-out on the other hand is different. To me selling out is the notion of pulling back, resting on your laurels, or getting lazy in order to put out what you know will make a lot of money. I don't believe that the Chili Peppers have sold out with this album. Stadium Arcadium is intricate and filled with subtle nuances that reward the listener with each go around.
They weren't going to make a lasting career on "Give It Away", "Under the Bridge" or "Higher Ground". They had to develop the melody in their songs or today they'd be doing the country fair scene with Creedence Clearwater Revisited or The New Beach Boys. It would be a fat Anthony Kiedis and three other guys who for legal purposes would be called The Really Hot Chili Peepers. They'd be doing "Sir Psycho Sexy", while Kiedis would be dipping over trying to catch his breath at the sloppy bass breaks being performed by a tall lanky guy named Gnat or Mosquito.
Given the alternative, commercial isn't such a bad thing.
1 comment:
Ahh... Catcher in the Rye. When I was 14 I had an English teacher who wanted to recommend a book to me, but she said she "might get fired" for suggesting I read it. Can you dangle a better carrot than that? I coerced one of my juniors into reading it in the same manner Ms. Nielsen did to me. Have fun with it. See you had Flavor Saver's wedding.
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