21 May 2010

The J.D. Salinger Challenge

I love Mr. Salinger and his Holden Caulfield. I read 'Catcher in the Rye' when I was at school (Thanks to Diwa for introducing me to Mr.Salinger's work) and ever since then I have tried in vain to avoid his influence on my every other attempts to write a story. 'Catcher in the Rye' was all that I read of his works so far, and it was more than enough to cast an everlasting spell on me. But now I realise I haven't actually given all the attention my most favourite author deserved as apart from re-reading 'Catcher in the Rye' over and over again, I haven't really read any of his other works. I was totally smitten and spell-bound with 'Catcher in the Rye' that I almost believed that the world of J.D Salinger begun and ended with 'Catcher in the Rye'. But now I realise how silly and naive I had been. So, to make up for it I am gonna try and read all the literary works ever written by Mr. Salinger in the coming months and I take it as my first task to be completed on my journey towards discovering a 'Real Bibliophile's Delight'.  I am all excited as I know how reading a Salinger's book can leave its mark on me (people might think this as an overstatement, given that I have read only one of his books...but no it is NOT). And guess what? I am going to start this challenge with 'Catcher in the Rye'!!!

Just as a reminder to myself as to what I am upto, here's a complete list of all his works:
 Books

  1. The Catcher in the Rye (1951)

  2. Nine Stories (1953)

    • "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (1948)

    • "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" (1948)

    • "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" (1948)

    • "The Laughing Man" (1949)

    • "Down at the Dinghy" (1949)

    • "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" (1950)

    • "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" (1951)

    • "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" (1952)

    • "Teddy" (1953)

  3. Franny and Zooey (1961)

    • "Franny" (1955)

    • "Zooey" (1957)

  4. Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963)

  5. "Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters" (1955)

  6. "Seymour: An Introduction" (1959)

  7. Fifteen unpublished novels
Published and anthologized stories




  1. "Go See Eddie"

  2. "The Hang of It"

  3. "The Long Debut of Lois Taggett"

  4. "A Boy in France"

  5. "This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise"

  6. "A Girl I Knew"

  7. "Slight Rebellion off Madison"
Published and unanthologized stories

  1. "The Young Folks" (1940)

  2. "The Heart of a Broken Story" (1941)

  3. "Personal Notes of an Infantryman" (1942)

  4. "The Varioni Brothers" (1943)

  5. "Both Parties Concerned" (1944)

  6. "Soft-Boiled Sergeant" (1944)

  7. "Last Day of the Last Furlough" (1944)

  8. "Once a Week Won't Kill You" (1944)

  9. "Elaine" (1945)

  10. "The Stranger" (1945)

  11. "I'm Crazy" (1945)

  12. "A Young Girl in 1941 with No Waist at All" (1947)

  13. "The Inverted Forest" (1947)

  14. "Blue Melody" (1948)

  15. "Hapworth 16, 1924" (1965)
Unpublished and Unanthologized stories

  1. "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" (1947)
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20 May 2010

On the road to discovering Real Reading...:)

Yeah I know I would have let down those few good souls who had managed to read the first chapter of Nowhere and was expecting to read more and see me unravel the mystery behind the plot. But ironically, even after all the years of reading behind me, some how I still feel that I am not really ready yet in taking to write a full novel. When I look back I realise that my reading repertoir had so far been very restrictive, including only those written by authors who's style of writing I am extremely comfortable with and that I have never dared to go beyond the ordinary to get to know the world of the off-beat authors. So for the time being I have decided to take a break from continuing 'Nowhere' and embark on a journey discovering what I now wish to call the 'Real Bibliophile's Delight'.  But this doesnt mean that I have shelved the 'Nowhere' project forever. I plan to get back to it with full fervour as soon as I am convinced that I have atleast taken my first few steps in this journey. In the mean time I will keep you all posted on what I am reading and expect to see some of my wise cracks on the worst and most memorable experiences on my path towards attaining literary enlightenment.
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