I have a confession to make. I've never read The Catcher in the Rye. Not in school...not on my own...never. I can usually blame the Navy for literary oversights like this (I never read Where the Red Fern Grows either) because with all the moving and changing schools, it was inevitable that some assigned reading would fall through the cracks. It usually happened like this: a school I attended in the 4th grade assigned a book for the 5th grade to read, I'd move and start 5th grade at a new school and at the new school the book that the old school wanted me to read in the 5th grade would've been assigned for the 4th grade. (This is also how I managed to graduate high school without ever having a school nurse check me for scoliosis, lice or give me a hepatitis vaccine. It's amazing how attached schools are to arbitrary rules and time lines.)
In many cases (1984, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, Tuck Everlasting) where changing schools slipped me up, I managed at some point to find and read the book on my own. For whatever reason, this never happened with The Catcher in the Rye. I own a copy, it's on my bookshelf but I've never even cracked the spine. It's kind of embarrassing. When I'm in a conversation and somebody makes an allusion to Holden Caulfield, I nod and smile like I get it...and I sort of do...but in the same way you get Sex and the City from watching the TBS version. I know what I know about Catcher from listening to other people who have read it, from reading other books inspired by it and from reading the papers when J.D. Salinger died earlier this year. And the most insane part is that I feel guilty for not having read it before now!
Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of three books right now so The Catcher in the Rye is just going to have to wait a little bit longer (taunting me from the bookcase every time I walk by).
What books (or movies or tv shows) are you embarrassed to admit you never read (or watched)?
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I also own a copy of the book. Its on my bookshelf. I'm currently reading at least 43 books right now- The Count of Monte Cristo, Once Upon Stilettos, Their Eyes Were Watching God (Thanks, Amy and Patrick). I almost picked up a new one today at Target, but I told myself not to right now.
ReplyDeleteAnd I can totally help you on the Sex and The City thing, if you want ;)
Oh, don't worry, I have the real episodes on DVD :) (Thanks, Jamie!)
ReplyDeleteFor book #44: Little Bee by Chris Cleave--it's fabulous!
lol.....ok so i didn't read The Catcher in the Rye either....same reason as you :)
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