A re-read for book club, the choice prompted by the death earlier this year of author, J.D. Salinger. I can't remember if I first read this book in high school or college. I remembered Holden Caulfield, his angst and depression, his special relationship with his younger sister, Phoebe, but I didn't recall all the details. Salinger's first person narrative captures Holden so well. Though some of the specifics seem dated, like the cost of things and Holden wearing a tie and sport coat, the themes of this story are timeless. As I could when I was younger as well, I could identify with much of what Holden was going through - the indecision, insecurity - either personally or via friend's experiences. Salinger so aptly describes Holden's mental state that I think there must be some of Salinger himself in Holden. Holden's "dream" of going west and living in a cabin seems to parallel Salinger's reclusive life.

"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish that the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it." (25)

"Here's what he said: 'The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one.'" (244)

"If you had a million years to do it in, you couldn't rub out even half the "Fuck you" signs in the world. It's impossible." (262)

I like that Holden wants to rub them all out in Phoebe's school.